On the 10th of October, 2010, the origami world lost a living treasure and master of the art of Origami – Monsieur Eric Joisel.
To “breathe life into paper” is something I am inspired to do as a DIRECT reaction and influence of his work. To think more about the art and less about the technique is challenging, but a worthy struggle.
Eric Joisel – your legacy lives on. May all paper folders learn a little from your art, be inspired by your spirit and fold from the heart.
Not quite sure how I missed this little beauty in the flurry of folding fishies, but Sensei Koh messaged me on fakebook and asked why I had not folded it. Truth is I was dazed and confused (and just a little fished out) and must have just missed it:
That is a pity, this little charmer is one of my favourites in the collection. Lovely aquiline body shape. flowing find and well formed head. Continue reading
Fun Fact – the collective noun for goldfish is either “Glint” or “Troubling” – now you know:
Now to choose which of these will make it to the actual goldfish bowl – suggestions….? Continue reading
Interestingly (for me), I have had goldfish over the years. At one stage I had a tank with 3 of these in it – Blackmoors – lovely plump little goggle-eyed black goldfish:
I remember as they got sicker, they became less black until, as they floated upside down ready to be scooped and flushed to an early grave they were almost a deep purple colour. Continue reading
A completely different folding technique was a nice change with this much tortured bit of paper:
An odd-shaped goldfish, famously all white except for a colourful growth on the head, this thin-waisted fantail was actually really hard work even at this scale. Continue reading
…continuing on the “fishy” journey, the final in this technique’s series of plump full-bodied goldfish, Ronald Koh’s Ranchu:
Oddly, this mutant is known for the cancer-like orange growth on it’s head, the model approximates this. Continue reading
…continuing the fishy theme, this is Ronald Koh’s Oranda Goldfish:
A lovely plump little fellow, I am sure I have had these at one time or another – round body, abundance of thin fins and round head. Continue reading
Continuing the fishy theme, this “goldfish” looks more like a salmon:
The base, similar to the previous two manages to devote more to body, less to fins so that it looks like you would get a decent fillet of this little fishy. Continue reading
Continuing on the “something fishy” theme, I thought i would have a go at the Veiltail:
This goldfish mutant is nuts – bred for the profundity of tail, the body is stunted and a small muscular tail necessary to drove the massive drapery of tail fins. Continue reading
I have been searching for something “fishy” to make with some lovely paper gifted by a friend when Ronald Koh came to the rescue with some amazing mutant goldfish designs:
This is a Ryukin, and has a lovely 3d body, staring eyes and beautiful flowing fantail. Characterised by a hunched back, chunky body and pot belly, they swim slowly and provide decorative elements to any aquarium. Continue reading
As part of my JOAS membership, I get sent magazines with models to try – a really excellent collection of complex models from the worlds best designers. When I saw Satoshi Kamiya’s Dragonfly, I was really scared of it.
The level of pleat management and re-arrangement of flaps and layers is truly terrifying when viewed as a whole.
As a “treat”, to reward my marking progress (I am a teacher, I set assessment but hate marking it) I allowed myself to complete a couple of steps each sitting. This fold has taken place over the period of 3 weeks, a little at a time. the advantage of this method is that I did not get freaked out by what was to come, just concentrating on the couple of steps I was allowed to complete. Continue reading
Rowing is huge at my school – a veritable machine that hundreds of kids get very passionate about, a gear-fest like few others:
Seems the purpose of the sport is to put boys in lycra, sitting atop tiny fiberglass shells, armed with a paddle rowing furiously backwards across vast distances of water. The competitive nature sees rowers exerting huge amounts of energy, enthusiasm and biomass in singles, teams of 2,4,and 8 with or without cox against other equally keyed-up teams. Quite a spectacle.
Jeremy Shafer is a prolific and super talented Origami Designer:
When I saw his video of the Super Dragon Deluxe I knew I wanted to have a go – such a fun “cartoony” dragon with a lot of detail packed into such an accessible fold. Continue reading
I am on constant awe of folders from the Vietnamese Origami Group (VOG):
Hoang Trung Thanh’s Eagle 3.5 is an astonishing and dense fold that really tests patience, accuracy and paper but the result, even this partially incomplete rendition is lovely. Continue reading
To celebrate the 500th unique fold documented on this blog, I thought I would hold a guessing game whilst trying a fold I have been considering for a while.
This is “Horse Laugh” by Kunsulu Jilkishiyeva from Nicholas Terry’s “Drawing Origami Tome 1” – a fun fold that sees some amazing box pleating and layer management to make a really detailed head (with lips, teeth, eyes, the works), tail, rather lovely mane and some funky legs. Continue reading
