There are lots of origami tigers – few actually look like tigers – you know, the stripey thing. This model is radically different:

Using a HUGE square (I hand-made a large piece of double tissue – black and yellow), you start with a birdbase, then torture the paper for 2 days to create a pleated ruffle either side of the back ridge that is then zig-zagged to reveal colour slices that become the tiger stripes.

This model is really really intense – it took me ages to even work out what half the folds mean, let alone how to achieve them. Thankfully the double tissue was thin and terrifically strong, so it withstood the torture unscathed.

Hideo Komatsu is one of many genius designers that bless the origami community. His designs are almost always challenging but rewarding to fold. I learned a LOT about fine adjustment and symmetricality folding this model, and think I could fold it much better next time. that said I am not sure I would rush back to fold this again – it is punishing, and gets derailed quickly with inaccuracy. I could not imagine folding this smaller – as it was I needed tweezers for many of the folds here.

This model was folded for a friend of my wife, who is a “Tigers” fan – not sure what sport that is, but apparently the team mascot is a yellow and black tiger, so … there you go.