874: (324/365) Fifteen Degree Cat

There are many strategies when designing an origami figure – many of them originate in a number of degrees as the main division:

This cat is based on angles of mainly 15 degrees, different to 22.5 degrees that is usual from bisecting right angles twice. Continue reading

873: (323/365) Elephant Trophies

When an orange clown decides that rich stupid people should be allowed to hunt wild animals for fun, hack bits of them off and use them as trophies it makes me cross:

When that same “ass hat” orange clown then tweets that he might change an existing law to allow this banned activity to happen again (presumably so his stupid rich family can go shoot things again) it SHOULD make the world furious. When will ENOUGH BE ENOUGH? Continue reading

872: (322/365) MATRICULATE!

I have this image in my head – last day of Dalek highschool, a bunch of Daleks more and more excitedly rattling off “Matriculate! Matriculate!”:

Yesterday another cohort of seniors left school to join the journey to the next phase of their life. I am blessed to have taught some of them. For a teacher there is no greater gift than an enquiring mind that wants to learn. Continue reading

867: (317/365) Not Drowning, Waving?

This time of year is horrible. The plain truth of it is that, for a teacher, we have more marking than a reasonable person can do, and deadlines that seem impenetrable:

I guess it is why teachers in Australia are payed the big bucks, right? Continue reading

864: (314/365) 6-part Rhombicuboctahedron

…yes, I know, a day late but, meh! Always on the look out for fascinating geometry, I had put this 6-part Rhombicuboctahedron, designed by David Mitchell, in my “fold this when you get a moment” pile:

6 relatively simple modules interlock to make a fascinating ball-like structure but the devil is in the details. Continue reading

860: (310/365) Pizza Slice

You know, I thought I understood Pizza, then I went to Naples, Italy, and realised I knew nothing about pizza at all:

There are moments in your life when things just make sense – that moment of clarity where the perfect combination of crushed tomato, basil and mozzarella on a thin crisp base spends 90 seconds in the wood fired oven and emerges perfect in every way. Continue reading

857: (307/365) Maekawa’s One Sheet Flower Stalk

Many origami designers have tried to pack lots of details into the one sheet. I have folded Brian Chan’s One sheet Rose many times but I like the simplicity of this flower, stem and leaves:

Using some interesting box pleating and colour management make a rather nice simple flower atop a divided stem and pair of leaves. Continue reading

855: (305/365) White Rabbits!

As is customary on the first day of a new month, we say “white rabbits!”:

This is an old design, and I am not sure i have the shaping quite right yet. Akira Yoshizawa is credited as founding modern Origami and this is one of his designs. Continue reading

849: (299/365) Squirrel!

It is well known that dogs and middle school – squirrel! – children are easily distracted – Squirrel!:

I am reminded of Doug the dog from the movie “UP” every time I see my students trying to focus but being unable to notice everything else around them but what they are asked to notice. Continue reading

847: (297/365) Tigger

Perusing my copy of Drawing Origami – Tome 2, I noticed a lovely little tiger designed by Oriol Esteve:

This teensy weensy tiger is very cute, has resplendent stripes and terrific proportions from paws to tail. Continue reading

840: (290/365) Gaff’s Electric Sheep

Origami has featured in cinema in many ways. The Blade Runner franchise uses origami figures to accentuate certain story points and the most recent movie features an elderly “Gaff”, in a retirement home, folding a sheep:

After some research it seems the model was a tweaked Jun Maekawa model. tweaked because the original has curled horns that would make a quick-shot less clear on screen. Continue reading

836: (286/365) Pteranodon

I for one think collectors of fossils need to be really careful piecing together extinct animals from scant remains.

Many a time illogical collections of bones have been cobbled together to bamboozle the public and, at first glance, a Pteranodon seems about illogical as a platypus. Continue reading

831: (281/365) Swimming Fishie

Perusing my copy of Tanteidan Magazine #163, I came across a cute 2-part model that I thought I should try:

Using orange for the fish and blue for the waves seemed to make sense at the time. Continue reading

826: (276/365) Pelican

What a wonderful bird is a Pelican, whose beak can hold more than it’s belly can:

We saw lots of pelicans when on holiday up the mid-north coast in the holidays just ended. Majestic gregarious birds that seem to be an odd sum of parts. Continue reading

823: (273/365) Owl

Cruising through my copy of Drawing Origami (Tome 1), I noticed a bunch of folds from there that I had not yet tried:

This little fellow is a bi-colour owl designed by Juan Hibou. Owls seem popular in origami design and this one cleverly manages layers and colours. Continue reading