Lately I have been folding a lot of faces – some free-form, some crease pattern (CP) based:

This is Mask #16, designed by Flynn Jackson, folded from cardstock, painted bronze.

I am beginning to get a “feel” for facial features – repetition and practice of free-folding helps me realise nuances between face structured, position of key anchors (brow ridge, nose, mouth) and how to set the eyes.

I have this idea of, one day, being able to fold caricatures of actual people, based on sight or perhaps photograph. Not sure how realistic a dream that is but I have already made a number of striking facsimiles of faces of my students (so much so that their friends recognise them), so that is a start.

Flynn Jackson has a HUGE collection of detailed CPs and folding instructions, and presents a multitude of feature “widgets” (ie. paper formations to achieve a particular feature) that are generalisable – I must explore further.

This little chap started as “Blue Steel” (because it was folded in blue cardstock) but I think bronzing him makes him appear more sculptural. I like that a lot.