When I first saw pictures of this Bull, I knew I wanted to try to make it:
I love the pose, the power, the majestic playfulness of this, a proud bull.
There are many junctures in this fold where there are no landmarks, you guess places of folds so this, my first fold, is lucky to look even vaguely bull-like. I will fold this model again, I want to try to fold this from memory. Continue reading
Ladies and Gentleffolke, may I introduce to you Ms Thelma Tiggywinkle – Eric Joisel’s Adult Echidna: 
I had folded Eric Joisel’s “Baby Hedgehog” early last year and noticed as part of the instructions that a scaled up version (9 ranks of quills instead of 5, based on 32ths instead of 16ths) would result in a “mother” and he was right – what a mofo of a fold, honestly!
Starting on Friday evening with a 60cm square of brown Kraft paper, I started pre-creasing – dividing up into 32nds vertically and horizontally, then diagonal creasing to create hex-grids which ended up tiny.
I had long been fascinated with the process of forming the quills – crease-crimp/collapse diamonds and then making a zig-zag trough beside one row to raise the next results in lovely paper geometry both on the outside and the underside,
After over an hour each rank of spines, the resultant paper is box-pleated into legs and the ends inside-reverse folded into toes.
The ranks are then teased out to form tail and face – a lovely fold that is soooo very cute although it is punishingly time-consuming.
Very satisfying – folds ONLY, no cuts, no glue, she needs some “wet folding” shaping but she is already very echidna-like. No idea what we will do with her, but for now she is snuffling around our house. Hope you enjoyed the journey as it played out on facebook.
Exploring an Origami Tanteidan Convention book I came upon a model designed by Peter Farina I just had to try:
Being an out and proud Harry Potter fan, I know that the golden snitch is an essential component of any game of Quidditch, this one is a beauty.
Essentially using overlaying fan-pleats, you create the wings and enough paper to tease and shape round to make the body. Initially, my test fold was done in white paper and I found I had to be very careful (copy paper is so brittle) not to tear/split it – the middle section gets really damaged. Continue reading
I have been exploring the wonderful work of Victor Coeurjoly, in particular his human figure (hombres) work which is very distinctive.
I came upon a crease pattern in his Flickr stream and knew I had to try it. I have been exploring these guides more and more as I find super complex models exist only in this form sometimes – doing the whole instruction/diagram sequence is hard work if you are busy and creative:
I am pretty sure he uses tissue foil (really thin, metallic-backed paper) and methyl cellulose (an “acceptable” paper stiffener and setting agent) to keep the limbs thin and posed but the style is amazing.
I set about using normal paper, failed miserable because there are 4 places where the creases become so intense that the paper just disintegrated. I tried a chunk of litho paper and it was better (if a bit thick to do the final limb and torso modelling, but demonstrative of form none the less. Continue reading
….Puis je vous présenter Monsier Pierre Mâché, my first internationally folded gnome:
You see, we are currently in Paris, on a vacation that has been in the planning stages for years, and we had an astonishing meal at a local restaurant Les Enfants Perdus, and I noticed they topped their tables with a square of sueded cream colored paper.
In my best French, I asked pour Le paper sur la table and they gave me a fresh one to fold. The paper was stiff but really strong, so I was able to model this guy a lot more than I usually can, or maybe I am just getting better.
I like how his posture worked out, he definitely looks French and is gesturing as if to express exasperation that he cannot understand us odd Australians, we get that a lot.
We will leave him as a gift to our hosts here in Paris, the apartment we have rented from them is wonderful, very well appointed, comfortable and essential to us keeping going each busy day.
Au revoir Paris, our first visit has been magical
As a travelling Australian, the “flying kangaroo” is something I wish I could afford to travel using, but we are using the the “flying wallaby”:
I decided that trying to memorise a kangaroo fold would be a good idea for an aussie abroad, and what better than the kangaroo by Robert Lang from the book “Origami Zoo”.
On making, then re-making it I am convinced that this model is much more like a wallaby than a roo, but it is a lovely form none the less.
I can now fold this from memory, but it is very dense and requires thin paper else it gets bunchy early. Will practise it and hopefully, leave a stream of them all over Europe.
…now many of you know I am travelling overseas real soon. Whilst in London, we decided to take our pick of shows playing at London’s West End, and decided on “The Lion King”:
I then got part way through the fold and posed a development shot on Fakebook for people to try and guess what the model would end up as. I am pleased to say that Janet C was the successful guesser.
This model is lovely – a real mask, folded with a larger bit of paper it would be a person-sized thingy, neato with design details. Designed by Victoria Serova (with instructions in Russian which made it an interesting challenge), it has a lovely 3D muzzle, sleepy feline eyes and potential for modelling a lovely mane.
Next time I fold this I think I will rough up the mane a little, still, very happy with this as a first fold.
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.
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).
I have pleasure in introducing to you Master Dweezil Allegory Quercus Esq, or Daq to his friends:
Dweezil loves to read, and can often be found with his nose in a book, idling the day away. Fond of mysteries, amazing adventures, current affairs and other dwarfish literature, subscriber to “Rolling Stonework”, “Wood Working Monthly” and “PlayDwarf” (but only for the articles), he is very well read.
My attempt at an original Joisel Gnome, using the crease pattern from my newly purchased Joisel treasury book, I wanted this little chap to appear bookish, nerdy and absorbed. I folded 4 hard cover books – it seemed natural to have him perched atop a stack of books.
I fashioned a set of glasses, because all that reading underground, with poor lighting would play merry hell to even the keenest of dwarf eyes. He also has cutie curly toed shoes, a necessary fashion accessory for the dwarf about town.
In the end, I like this little chap a lot, he seems full of character and life. I think he might be a worthy addition to the School Library for their year of reading theme because it clearly shows that it is not just humans that like a good tale. I crowd-sourced the name – Quercus is the genus of most OAK trees, a continuing theme and “Allegory” because it is cool – thx Lindy and Julie for your help.
I vodcasted some of his genesis on Kondoot, if you are interested.
Dweezil will live, strangely enough, in the School Library, at least for a while. Our RE Department had a timber lantern they were throwing out so I purloined it as a suitable dwarf-enclosure and now have him ensconced within. I fashioned labels that make him look like a preserved museum specimen, and have placed “Warning, do not feed the dwarf” labels on the outside to warn the young people who are likely to try and mess with him.
All in all, a nice character study – it is interesting because, although his base fold was similar to all the other dwarves I have folded, his personality became apparent as I folded him – as though the paper knew how it wanted to end up and I merely channelled it. I do not understand that process but am constantly delighted by it.
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce Master Mortimer Greenoak Esq. A young but not inexperienced forest dwarf who has a particular talent with timber:
This lovely fellow is destined for greater things but I am thrilled with him, my second Eric Joisel-inspired dwarf.
It was hot, I needed to get out of the house for a couple of hours so took a large square of paper and the ourPAD to out local library and sat, and folded. Interestingly I also conversed with complete strangers who gathered to watch the paper mangling – they were interested and I was relaxed enough to explain what I was attempting.
In the end, I made Morty slimmer and so made him look younger, and played around with the face a bit – another step closer to mastering the face, will keep at it. he is quite tidy apart from his beaten up face – I ended up modelling a pendulous nose and pushed out his cheekbones to suggest eyes under the brim of his hat. Quite happy with the beard and mouth though.
His posture called for a walking stick, and I envisaged a base that would allow him to be displayed easily. The name? It just seemed to work, and references his eventual owner in interesting ways.
He is not free-standing, I do not know how to make them so (the ankles and feat are so thin that they defy attempts to support the weight above. All versions of this model I have seen are plastered with methyl cellulose (apparently the Origamist’s goop of choice) but I think that is cheating a little.
Determined to solve the display issue, I cut a rectangle of timber (shock, horror, I picked up a SAW), covered it with the same paper he was made from (the sheet off-cut actually), drilled a small hole nearly all the way through and then made a wire brace that fits inside him neatly and exits down one leg, so he is pose-able now. I added a bent paper clip amongst the folds of his elbow to keep it bent – it kept wanting to straighten because of the thickness of layers there – all acceptable cheats I think for the longevity of the model.
Took a leisurely walk through some rainforest and noticed these perfect blue wrens, flitting from trunk to vine:
Exploring a new book called Origami Essence by Roman Diaz, this little beauty was amongst the models I have decided to try.
I like the “wrenny”ness of this model. Some lovely techniques here for this keeper of a freestanding bird model
Now I am aware that a certain “Brent” recently had a birthday, and on that birthday I folded a creepy crawly, so thought it appropriate to counter the scary with “unicorns and rainbows”:
This is Roman Diaz’s Unicorn, lovely thing – mane, tail, beautiful ears, splendid horn.
Happy Birthday (all be it belated) Michael the Brent – may you live long and prosper. Folded amidst the rainforests of northern NSW
Amongst the plethora of models I still have not yet tried, there are some beauties:
This is Roman Diaz’s Deer and it is a lovely specimen indeed. 10 points on his antlers, proud stance and a spring in his step.
This model, though lovely, was a cow to fold – hand drawn instructions that were not to scale, step 41 I missed altogether, which caused no end of peril and a re-fold (so sue me).
In the end this is fantastic – you get a real sense of the animal, the proportions and stance feel quite natural, the ingenious mangling to get enough points for the antlers amazing and the wrangling to get the majority of the paper tucked away to reveal the body nothing short of breathtaking. 
Diaz has a unique style, this model features closed sinks in abundance (quite difficult to do well) and so provided me with some valuable practice.
For me the sounds of summer always include the trill of cicadas:
This is Robert Lang’s “Periodical Cicada” which is similar to the adult form we hear but rarely see. They spend most of their lives underground, emerge as wierd wingless mutants, clumb up something and moult, leaving the most beautiful exoskeletons behind.
Many a summer day was spent as a kid collecting these and terrifying my sister with them … well, kids are kids I suppose.
There is much to admire about this fold – the layer management, proportions of body to wing and ensuring there was enough for some lovely legs is one amazing design. Folded from an ebook on my iPad (why have I not been doing this before???), it was a nice way to spend an afternoon whilst an afternoon storm rolled in. I folded it big (60cm square) and cannot imagine folding it much smaller without extraordinary paper.
It is a relief to have achieve this, as I had a model fail before it (a hand-drawn set of spanish instrucitons started out a bit iffy and after 2 hours went nowhere – you get that sometimes).
