P Whitehouse

441: Ballerina Kit

| wonko

Most parents know little girls go through the “I want to be a Ballerina” stage:

This is a wonderful thing; dance, culture, beauty and movement are all things that make our lives richer. Few go on to be professional ballet dancers (more’s the pity, few fit the fragile stick-insect archetype) but learning dance improves coordination, flexibility and overall fitness.

A lovely little lady called Kit has started ballet – she is gorgeous and will be fabulous, so thought it appropriate to celebrate by designing an original model inspired by the work of Stephen Weiss (girl in a dress) and Claudio Acuna (hoodie) that captures the special elegance of a child and her first tutu.

Continue reading →

409: Wedding Blossoms

| wonko

A little over a year ago, my daughter as part of the very early planning stages for her wedding asked (in only the way a daughter can) if we could do something different with the flowers:

After much looking around, experimentation and reject schemes we came up with a 5-sheet rose (4 2×1 rectangles for the petals and 1 square for the calyx) secured by wire to make pose-able stems. We have folded for a year, making hundreds of blooms, to be deployed in each of the floral components of the ceremony and reception.

Bouquets

The original idea was to create enough flowers so the bouquet was a little wider than a hemisphere – each containing 3½-4 dozen roses based on 2 colour schemes: the bride wanted dark blue with occasional white blooms, the bridesmaids were predominantly white with occasional sky-blue blooms.

After the roses were stemmed and calyxed, the were wrangled into bunches, stems bent equidistant from the bud to later help in the whole ball effect.

We then bound the wire in white gaffer tape to form a preliminary handle and the tweaked the flowers to be evenly distributed and ball-shaped. On the evening before the wedding we added baby’s breath (gypsophylla) and a sheath of spathyphyllum and bound them with florists green tape (a goopy, stretchy stuff that sticks on contact).

The morning of the wedding I then frapped (macramé term) the handles with white ribbon, trimmed the tail and they were done

– every bit as lovely as I had imagined them, perfect foil to the lovely bridal party.

Buttonholes

Grooms-men, parents and siblings needed a buttonhole – single bloom, amidst baby’s breath, atop a sprig of asparagus fern from the garden.

The scheme was simple – powder blue for the grooms-men to match the bridesmaids bouquets, white for parents and siblings.

We wrapped them with florists tape to store-bought brooch pins, presto, done

– quite smart I think and a nice tie in to the rest of the floral theme.

Table Decorations

To tie in the floral accents, we decided to do something with flowers on the tables, containing all the colours we used (3 shades of blue and white).

Originally it was going to be just a sheath or arrangement, but the bride to be found candle holders so I found wicker rings that encircled those, then we made circular wreaths of randomly scattered blooms.

The day before the reception, we added baby’s breath and twigs off our needed to be pruned miniature camellia from the garden, creating lush and beautiful garlands which, when the candles were lit were really magical. I was a little concerned that the waterproofing spray (a plasticiser I thought might be necessary to stop moisture making the petals droop) would increase the flammability but all was safe in the end.

Guest Gifts

We wanted each guest to leave with a little of the floral loveliness, and also tie in who was at what table, where.

We hatched a plan to make a bloom for everyone, attached an embossed leaf to each (bone-folder to impress “veins”) and hand-written names for all invited guests.

Those that could not make it will receive their blooms via some other means – nice memento of what was a lovely wedding.

406: Zombie Uprising

| wonko

Trapped in a particularly uninteresting supervision (I am a teacher, sometimes we have to supervise other teacher’s classes), I began bending paper unsure what I was going to make.

First I fashioned a hand, devising some lovely slender (skeletal almost) hands and looked at the paper I had left and then it came ot me – zombie hand emerging from a grave.

After much experimentation on the tombstone mostly, abandoning a full cross (yes, I did successfully box pleat one but in the end it seemed unnecessarily fiddly for the concept) I settled on a simple headstone.

This is the second time, whilst doodling, a new model has emerged (the other being superdude) and I am quite chuffed with it.

If you KNOW what you are looking at, it is obvious: basic scenario of undead digging themselves out out the grave; but honestly I had some hilarious guesses from passers by who noticed I was folding and wondered what it was.

I have included the dev sequence in 2 parts (partly because I wanted to document it clearly enough so someone else could have a go at it and partly because I wanted to remember how I did it – the box-pleat on the tombstone is neat, but I have not yet come up with a scheme to eradicate the seam down it’s face.

This is a little early for Halloween, but would love someone else to have a go at folding this to see if the photsequence is stand-alone or needs extra annotation.

Any takers?

396: Cutting Out The Deadwood

| wonko

It is rare that an idea comes to me so fully formed as this, but I was doodling with a sheet of copy paper and started thinking about forming an organic shape, initially by crumpling (which is sort of cheating) and later via pleats:

Nature is odd, working in 3’s and 5’s looks much more natural so I decided on a pentagon, decided against a regular one and plopped that in the centre-ish of a sheet. The challenge was to collapse to that pentagon, the theory was that pentagon would form the rootstock and the rest of the paper would be the trunk. Continue reading →

385: Beer Mug/TeaCup

| wonko

… so I was thinking through a waterproof container, being inspired by a paper cup I dismantled from a water cooler, and came across this design:

Working with an A4 page, and inscribing, via a simple half-third intersection and some simple geometric construction, an octagonal base, sides radiating from it and pleats to tuck away the excess paper, a container was born.

Because the base was centred 1/3 of the way down the page, there was, by design, enough paper to fashion a rather nice handle.

Very happy with this – rare that a design in my head so closely matches what later manifests on paper, and I might get around to diagramming it someday – the basic form however is pretty obvious in retrospect.

By varying the size of the base you get a taller or squatter container. By flaring the radiating sides, the container is more conical than cylindrical – all interesting. Mastering the pleats necessary to make the handle is interesting and as an added bonus the ends tuck away locking in position inside a facet gusset – neat indeed.

I trialled it in clear plastic, scoring the creases with a stylus before reinforcing them – tough going actually as the plastic had memory and continued to try to unfold. Interestingly, the finished article was waterproof and strong enough to be held by the handle while containing water so it is functional as well as pretty beautiful.

I know a gnome that needs this, so the next step was to make one to size and put it in his hands:

Squiffy now has his pint.

384: Squiffy “Woombye” Larch

| wonko

Ladies and Gentlefolk, may I introduce young Squiffy Larch, “Woombye” to his friends:

During a mad weekend, we visited Woombye Pub for a fantastic lunch and I noticed they put on their square tables, a beautiful big square of brown paper.

Naturally I put 2 and 2 together and got 7, and decided it needed to be folded into a gnome, and Squiffy was born.

The paper is amazing, takes folds well, is tough and the resultant gnome is the largest I have folded so far.

Quite happy with the face, he has a lovely grin amongst a full beard, noble nose and a quaint, slightly sozzled look in his eyes. His hands were crying out for something drink-related so I invented a beer stein and all was good.

Will organise to send Squiffy to Woombye – he belongs in a bar. He is very happy (that will be the pint he is working on) to be joining the ranks of the “other” seven dwarfs.

380: Project Davros

| wonko

I had this idea in my head that is should be possible to fold a DALEK (you know, that improbable plunger-wielding arch nemesis of Dr Who) from a single sheet of paper:

I began over a two week period to explore the morphology of a Dalek, to come to the conclusion that it is most certainly possible, and that this attempt is very nearly it.

I decided to start with an A2 sheet, figuring that it would be bent in half eventually and curved to make the recognisable armature and leaving paper for eye, manipulators and a nice domed head. Numerous trial scraps of paper were mangled to test various collapse/crinkle ideas that in the end informed the final shaping. The odd shape, the necessary texturing (bumps are essential, apparently, to Daleks), the position of the eye stalk in relation to the plunger/laser hand thingies proved very troublesome with this shape paper and, in retrospect, it would have been better to start with a square – live and learn I guess.

I learnt a lot about myself in this fold – resisting the urge to set a crease is HARD, regretting a misplaced crease later is worse. I found I could, in my head, envisage something and then create it within the limitations of paper fairly faithfully. A LOT of maths-type thinking went in to the original sheet division and that both helped and hindered in the final model as I found taking the highly geometric shapes and making them more organically round was very challenging.

In the end this is NOT a great dalek, it is however a fantastic start. Should I attempt this again I now know more about the final shape to plan better for it – I assumed, you see, that it would sort of just “sort itself out” – this was far from true – much time was spent looking at the mess I had made and working out how to make it less messy (or just hide it and deny it was there).

The final model is not pure origami – given the time and paper torsion, I had to help some parts stay together with little buts of stickey tape on the inside – some of those fine pesky pleats splay over time I found. With different paper (tissue foil for instance) the folds would stay folded a lot better I would guess.

Given this is my FIRST FOLD of this design, and I was working to designs in my head, it was very satisfying. Should I attempt it again I would do it slightly differently, arrange things on the sheet with the final shaping in mind a little better. I think Davros would be proud of my efforts at resurrecting the master race however. Good work if you bothered to read this far, say HI to your mum for me.

377: Balthazaar Quercus

| wonko

So, it emerges that Dweezil has a little brother. Ladies and Gentleffolk, if I may introduce Master Balthazaar Quercus, aged 6¾:

I was asked to liberate this cute little chap from the flat sheet of lithography paper he was trapped in as a parting gift for a colleague. Aware this may create precedent, this is my first COMMISSIONED dwarf (my charities will be well pleased with the extra injection of funds).

I took what I had learned from wrangling Dweez’ and refined the model – this is free standing, on a base (a bit of wood covered also in litho paper offcuts – like the one I used for Mortimer). I liked the sitting on a stack of books idea, so pierced a stack of three with some structural wire that goes into a hole in the base and goes up Balthy’s bottom, carries on up his back and across his shoulders to support him.

The result is charming – I think I nailed the facial expression (although how a 6¾ year old dward has such a full beard is something only another dwarf could answer) and am getting quite good at the whole pointed, curley shoes thing.

There seems a demand for dwarves, they are all different indeed and this one was folded entirely by memory (quite proud of that, given how unreliable my memory is). If YOU want one, have your people call my people, we can agree on the finances (charity days are numbered, once ALL the 365 origami debt is cleared then I guess the funds should be redirected to the paper wrangler).

376: Langton Willow III

| wonko

Ladies and Gentleffolk, if I may be so bold as to introduce to you Mr Langton Willow III:

…so I bought a lovely book about an Origamist I worship, Eric Joisel, and was scanning pages prior to an in-depth read and came accross what seemed like an impossibility – a dwarf in a box. There were some photos of a couple of versions of the finished model and some sketches of crease patterns that might have been used to make it and nothing else …

So I decided to give it a whirl. The crease patterns gave no clues on what were mountain and valley folds (fairly important if you are going to make the model) so I sort of “guessed” most, and added a bunch of lines that would make the folding easier later, so I thought. I chose a large format paper – 1.2m x 0.6m, and in brown paper – thank goodness as even laying in the creases (a 2.5 hour job) put massive strain on a number of key points.

When it came to the collapse I must admit to being nervous – odd in retrospect but I had pre-announced to the social notwerks that I was attempting it and that was a mistake because psychologically that meant I could not fail in my attempt.

Studying the illustrations carefully, it became clear that when Joisel had his first try, there were odd gusset pleats on the OUTSIDE of the box that the dwarf sits in, I figured with some deft folding I could remove them and tuck that paper inside the box.

I must admit to grinning ear to ear when I worked out how I could do that tidily. This model was a fascinating exercise in not rushing to set a crease. After getting up, making another cup of tea, doing something else, coming back, leaving it a while then returning to it etc. I found a tidy method of tucking away what seemed like acres of paper inside the box to leave … well .. the box.

Conceptually we have split a dwarf – the head/arms and the legs/feet are split apart and the paper for a box is inserted between – the only difficult is ensuring a box-like remnant that lets you also tuck the dwarf-bits inside.

Oddly, the proportions of the dwarf necessitate lanky legs and a gaunt head, but that is in-keeping with the overall feeling of the model. It is like the dwarf is trying to get out of the box – what he was doing in there in the first place is a mystery, but there you go.

I have to admit to being very proud of achieving this model – the result is delightful, there is an astonishing amount of paper tucked away to reveal a lanky dwarf with real character.  I have no idea what I will do with this chap – it was originally going to be something I tried for shits and giggles, fully expecting to fail but the grinning has not stopped. I have “cheated” by using a few paper clips to keep the box corners together but I think Joisel would forgive me that.

365: Turn a New Leaf

| wonko

Our lives are a lot like a blank sheet of paper – WE decide when to put creases, who adds folds, how permanent they are and we are constantly given a fresh sheet to start over:

This is my interpretation of Eric Joisel’s “Self-Made Man”, a little origami man that is folding himself and I am stoked that this worked, given how little information I had to go on and the scale of the materials.

I started with a 78x130cm rectangle (3:5 for those trying to do the maths) and then transferred a crease pattern (the only clue I had as to how to actually achieve this model) on to the sheet.

The “collapse” was an exercise in self control really as the paper was really brittle and there were some complicated accordion pleats that seemed to turn in on themselves. The aim was to leave a square of paper (26x26cm) unfolded and build the little man (arms, legs, head) to seemingly appear from behind this sheet.

In the end, the layers were thick, it weighs a ton but more importantly he has loads of personality and is a fitting end to my 365 Origami Challenge.

In retrospect, this is an amazing fold and with some careful planning, patience and ample cups of tea I am so very proud to have folded it. Hope you like him too.

This little fellow has a special purpose, so will not be auctioned, sorry.

363: Tree of Wisdom

| wonko

You know that feeling when you plan (and see quite clearly in your head) something and then it turns out exactly like you envisaged it? This is one of those moments:

I had a model fail on a large sheet of lithography paper and considered binning the resultant crumpled mess, but remembered an origami technique pioneered by Paul Jackson in 1972 called “crumpling”. You take a piece of paper (I carefully unfolded the model fail) and systematically crumple it, unfold it, re-crumple in a different place and direction, unfold and repeat. The result is a deliciously textured and malleable sheet that can then be formed, when dampened slightly, into lovely organic shapes.

I had this idea of a gnarled tree (modelled on a bonsai I have had since before my 23yo son was born) and so set about fashioning one, twisted and poorly pruned though it is. I then wet it, and bound it with a little twine while it dried.

Atop this lovely tree is the most lovely owl by Hideo Komatsu – I have held off folding this because he is designed to be perched (as in he does not stand on flat surface but rather sits astride some horizontal thing.  1+1=a million. I love this, it is still making me smile and I know the perfect thing for him – sorry, NO auction for this one.

It is so rare that an idea so perfectly matches the expression of that idea but this is one such occasion. I have learnt so much about myself and paper over the course of this year that this model seems fitting as the project winds up.

341: Jolly Roger

| wonko

Now I do not know much about pirates, nor why a skeletal chap called Roger should be jolly, but there you go:

When I first saw Hojyo Takashi’s 3d looking skull I knew I had to try it. A torturous box pleat in 12ths, the collapse to get the face right was nearly as complicated as the pre-creasing.

Saying that, the resultant model was screaming out for a set of cross-bones, so I sort of improvised them from a second sheet of A3 split lengthwise.

I think this turned out splendidly – amazing given the copy paper was disintegrating in my hands due to the high humidity (it is miserable, cold and grey outside – odd for summer, but there you go) as the paper is hygroscopic and kept going limp. I was sure it was going to split at the bottom of the eye sockets where the most difficult pleating takes place, but no.

The beautifully proportioned skull is 3d up to a point – it is backless, but none the less lovely – I love the eye sockets and nose hole, the teeth are also nice (but if I had folded it bigger scale I reckon I could have crimped some gums and gaps between them also.

Why a “Jolly Roger” I hear you ask – WHY NOT says I.

328: Superdude

| wonko

Now I tried something, for the first time ever. I planned a NEW model, then folded it in prototype, then adjusted the proportions and now there is a NEW ORIGAMI FIGURE in the world – cool hey:

I must admit to giggling when it just sort of … worked. I then got the class (who had finished and had their papers collected) involved – “look up there in the sky, is it a bird, a plane? No, it’s Superdude“.

I had a clear idea in my mind, rare that it coalesces so perfectly.

This is “Superdude” – like Superman but not yet franchised. He is inspired by “Girl in a dress” by Stephen Weiss and the box pleating work of Neal Elias, but I can find nothing quite like him anywhere but at my place, right here, right now so I will claim copyright.

I was messing around with proportions of an A4 sheet – not having any scissors (I was in an exam supervision and someone carelessly left an un-written on sheet lying around) with out cutting. The basic “S” bend, when combined with a 1/16th pleat provides the frame for this model.

You then tease out the “cape”, splay each ripple a little, box pleat some arms and a head one end, legs the other and you have the base.

Shaping the arms, neck, head and legs gives you a nicely proportioned super being in mid-flight (although someone should tell him that capes are so 90’s – no one wears capes these days)

221: Census Night

| wonko

Tonight is Census Night – lots of demographic questions and a bunch of boxes to tick:

Naturally I wracked my brain as to what to fold on such an occasion (it only happens every 5 years or so) and drew a blank, then thought of the response style for some questions and that was my inspiration for this original fold

Fairly happy I can think of something and then make it with a reasonable resemblance to the original idea. Next time, if I had time, I would try to do this with only ONE piece of paper (via box pleating)

178: Scuba Steve

| wonko

Now I was watching this stop motion animation by Sipho Mabona, and saw a humanoid emerge from a sheet of paper, so began doodling with a square of parchment not really having any plan. Oddly a figure emerged with what looked (to me at least initially) like a shell on his back.

Immediately I thought of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” but my son said version 1 looked a lot like a skindiver (he has diving qualifications so I was not going to argue).

Surprisingly, I was able to fold it a second time and discovered a bunch of paper that was useable for a facemask, a nice 3d head, was able to fashion a pair of airtanks of his back and some lovely flippers and…

“Scuba Steve” now lives – I have NO IDEA where i got the name from, but depressingly when I googled it it seems associated with an Adam Sandler movle – my bad. The name stuck.

I am actually pretty proud of this model – i knew where I was going and, without reference to anything else I have folded (well, maybe the arms and legs are influenced by the Hoodie) I think this is pretty neat.

A PADI AOW diver in Florida offered to professionally diagram it for me (which is kind of cool, we shall see if that results in anything – he is a renowned origami author, fingers crossed).

Here is an interim set of instructions: scubasteve (PDF)

Addendum: Version 4 has been submitted to OrigamiUSA and 4Esquinas (the Latin American Origami Society) also seem interested in publishing it – we shall see. Interestingly because it has already been mentioned online, Creased magazine does not want to touch it – curious but fair enough.