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576: (26/365) Ornithorhynchus

| wonko

It is a little known fact that people will believe just about anything. Tell them that a furry, egg laying, duck-billed, webbed footed, egg laying, pouch carrying mammal that lives in burrows underwater and protects itself with poisonous spines … and they believe it:

There are few things more distinctly Australian then the Ornithorhynchus (colloquially called a “Platypus”) and it seems in the origami world there are nearly none of them.

Stupid me, I did a poll on Fakebook about what I should fold to commemorate (or mourn, depending on your perspective) Australia day – today’s national holiday. Annoyingly the Platypus won hands down. Continue reading →

575: (25/365) A Cautionary Tale (Part 3)

| wonko

Look away, look away … we are going to need a bigger boat:

Interestingly, people’s opinions of sharks in Australia, particularly by those who do not live here, varies from reality markedly. One would believe, if one believed what you see in the media, that sharks are a problem, everyone gets attacked – this is far from the truth.

Although this is a stereotypical tale of woe, I was interested in the folding sequence as each of the tree parts use different bases, wildly different techniques initially and yet there is consistency when you get to the final shaping. Continue reading →

574: (24/365) A Cautionary Tale (Part 2)

| wonko

…you went in, the water was fine. You notice a nice fishy, it seems to want to be friends:

This is part 2 of a series by Fernando Gilgado, again, like part 1 it uses bicolour paper and clever colour changes to highlight details. Continue reading →

573: (23/365) A Cautionary Tale (Part 1)

| wonko

It is a beautiful day, waters clear, the water beckons, it would be wrong not to go for a swim. You put your toe in, the water is lovely, swimming gives you a new found freedom:

This is part 1 of a 3 part story – what could possibly go wrong- we rarely see the danger, far off in the distance, and why would we consider it, we are ok, nothing could go wrong. Continue reading →

572: (22/365) Origami On The Brain

| wonko

Those who know me realise I am a little obsessed with paper folding, some would say to excess. The truth of the matter is I am constantly amazed what you can coax a flat sheet to do. I think I missed my calling as a materials engineer:

I like models that I can visualise, as I am folding. Equally, I am fascinating when there is a tangle and then, out of the mess, something wonderful emerges. Continue reading →

571: (21/365) OMG!!!!

| wonko

Needless to say the media is abuzz with reactions to Trump’s inauguration. Let us hope that the he does not become the “Bane” of their existence (even though part of his speech was plagiarised from the Marvel Universes’ fictitious tyrant presidential coup, I am sure this is merely coincidence):

One has to have hope in the power of intellect, value of human dignity, common sense and sane application of spray tanning solutions. Continue reading →

569: (19/365) Japanese Macaque

| wonko

Emergent behaviour is fascinating, apparently where these Japanese Macaque monkeys live gets snowy in winter, they have learned that sitting in thermal pools near bathhouses (Onsen) is one way of staving off the cold:

This is Fumiaki Kawahata’s Japanese Macaque – a model I had intended to fold ages ago because it was in a Tanteidan I had shelved.  Continue reading →

568: (18/365) TRex

| wonko

Working in the same school for 28 years makes me feel a little like a dinosaur at times:

This is Jo Nakashima’s TRex – a lovely little cartoony Trex that is fun to fold and simple enough to do with smaller coloured squares. I followed along with the video tutorial on Jo’s Youtube channel. Continue reading →

567: (17/365) Jo Nakashima’s Penguin

| wonko

Returning to work, we balance between the stinking hot outside temperature and the painfully cold airconditioning (yes, I know this sounds like a first world problem, and it is), but I decided to fold a critter that has evolved to put up with intolerable temperatures:

This is Jo Nakashima’s Penguin, a lovely little model with a blocky, cartoony feel to it. Continue reading →

566: (16/365) Dave Stephenson’s Tiny Turtle

| wonko

Over the holiday break I have taken up swimming laps again. The aim was to be a little bit fitter and a little less fatter – it is sort of working. Naturally I wanted to choose a model for my last day swimming that itself swam, and a turtle/tortoise (who knows what the difference is) seemed to fit the bill:

This lovely little model is deceptively simple. Using a surprisingly small number of folds, a lovely sea turtle emerges from a waterbomb base. This photo reminds us that the fate of all wildlife is in our hands. We dwarf the natural world based on our effect on it. Continue reading →

565: (15/365) Golden Carp

| wonko

Leafing through “Folding Australia 2016”, the Sydney Origami Society Convention book (in which I have a model published :)) I came across a cute little carp designed by Mindaugas Cesnavicius:

An ingenious design based on the pony base that teases lovely eyes and mouth, fins and a tail while managing the colour changes beautifully. Continue reading →

561: (11/365) Robert Lang’s Minamimachi Butterfly

| wonko

I must admit to not having folded many butterflies – not sure why, hopefully this year I will remedy this situation:

This is Robert Lang’s Minamimachi Butterfly – I know it looks simple but there are some wonderfully complex techniques in it’s fabrication. Continue reading →

559: (9/365) Shuki Kato’s Western Dragon V3.1w

| wonko

In a true testament to sheer bloody-mindedness and perseverance, I present to you for my self-satisfaction my first SUCCESSFUL attempt at Shuki Kato’s “Western Dragon”:

Some explanation: This is a western dragon because it has wings (westerners reason that to fly it needs wings). Potter nerds would naturally recognise that this is a “Hungarian Horntail“. It is version 3.1w because I used the “modified” instructions for v3 and then added some of my own variations to improve the model (I closed the breast and used the otherwise wasted flap as a bottom jaw allowing me to model a tongue).


Continue reading →

558: (8/365) Mike Case’s Campfire CP

| wonko

Now I am not really new to the whole “fold from a CP” approach to origami, but I am not consistently good at it either, many models have just baffled me. Initially this CP was beyond my understanding also but you know, when you keep at something eventually something gives and it can make sense:

This is Mike case’s “Campfire” – a devilishly clever use of a colour change, box pleat and concertina folding that results quite magically in a set of pointy flames and 6 modellable stickey-outey things that become the logs. Continue reading →

555: (5/365) Maple Leaf Bookmark

| wonko

Naturally, I blame Canada, as any good Southparkian would:

This is Inayoshi Hidehisa’s Maple Leaf chopstick holder but I rather think it works (at this scale at least) much better as a bookmark. Continue reading →