wtf

436: Sydney Opera House

| wonko

Anyone who knows me understands my fascination with the Sydney Opera House, as a kid I saw the sails of it being built:

Set magnificently on Bennelong Point right in the heart of the harbour, it together with the Sydney Harbour Bridge (no, do not panic, I am not making that) are quintessential Australian icons.

Googling one day I stumbled across a design idea from Gerwin Sturm (2007) for a box pleated version of my fav building on earth, and some vague explanations of how it “should be possible to collapse and shape based on a 32×32 grid”. Continue reading →

WTF (What’s That Fold?) #7

| wonko

…so it has been a while I know, and it is raining, and I am too lethargic to do much more than bend paper so I thought it a good plan to do another WTF competition.

This fold is experimental in that I only have a kinda-sorta vague idea how to do it, but will bend it like … well … me I guess

After taking a 70cm square (yes, it is HUGE) and dividing it up into 32nds horizontally and vertically, I lay in some odd diagonal zig zags (you can make them out if you squint one eye, close the other, raise your left leg and hop on the spot), you get to this (the stage before the first round of collapses:

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WTF (What’s That Fold?) #6

| wonko

Ok boys, girls and small green aliens from alpha centauri, I present to you clues for this week’s WTF (What’s That Fold?) also model #434

I start with an enormous square (using a square cut from an a1 ish sheet of litho, no idea if it should be nice side up or down so I just guessed. Using the ourPAD as the repository of instructions and not yet known if I will need anything from my origami toolbox:

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WTF (What’s That Fold?) #5

| wonko

For this week’s WTF (What’s That Fold?) #5 we go to a Japanese Designer.

I thought I should try something easier to guess (but harder to fold). This model is complicated (has over 100 steps) but the end result is really obvious

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430: Lang’s Spider Conch

| wonko

Those of you who were guessers for the WTF (What’s That Fold?) #4 will be interested to know that this model was actually a Spider Conch designed by Robert Lang:

I once taught on Palm Island – which is seaward from Townsville, North Queensland. Whilst there I loved to snorkel the reef nearby. Whilst doing so, I managed to find a pair of “spider shells” that I still have today.

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WTF (What’s That Fold?) #4

| wonko

Ok kids, this week’s WTF (What’s That Fold?) #4 is a doozie, it is from a fairly old publication and is NOT land-based (that is what is called a hint people).

Step 1 (the fish/camel base) looks like this:

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WTF (What’s That Fold) #3

| wonko

So I hope you are getting the hang of this, follows is this week’s WTF (what’s that fold):

the successful guesser can have the model if they assist me with the postage (if necessary), so put your best thinking caps on and begin guessing.

After some clever asymmetric bending, you get this at step 9:

After some inside reverse folds and assorted bending, you get this:

With a few swivels and a bit more bending, you get this:

…this is your LAST CLUE – any closer to guessing?

Give up? CHECK OUT THE ANSWER – no guesser this week – get your act together people!

WTF (What’s That Fold) #2

| wonko

So, last week’s fold became obvious, I gave LOTS of clues and many guessed not only what the model was but also the designer and the book it features in – nice work.

On a different tack this week, I present the first clue in WTF#2:

Take guesses as to what this will become (assuming I can achieve the model and it does not end up a scrunched up mess in the bin).

Depending on how it turns out, you can win either this actual model or a refold of it (the refold will be tidier I suspect).

Thinking caps on, suggest away (and expect less clues this time)

After Step 25, the model looks like this:

And a little later, it looks like this:

After a LOT of open/close sinks, it looks like this:

And with some nifty wrangling, it looks like this:

Follow that up with some shaping and modelling and you have this:

A critter only a mother could love – a Xenomorph that is fairly faithful to the HR Geiger original – Alien, designed by Kade Chan and wrangled to it’s final shape by me.

I have yet to apply MC to stabilise and pose this chap, but already I like him a lot – the paper is so very thick in many places (my prototype fold actually disintegrated in my hands as I was folding it – litho paper fell apart at important creases) – I had to get creative with the shaping as, although the video instructions are great at getting the base, the modelling and shaping is not covered well at all.

WTF (What’s That Fold) #1

| wonko

As a weekly treat, I am starting a WTF competition (What’s That Fold?) that can net the successful guesser the model if they want it.

If the model is to be posted, I just ask your assistance with the postage, that is as complicated as it needs to be.

WTF WEEK 1: Precreasing done, any guessers?

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