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781: (231/365) Naomiki Sato’s First Pentagonal Rose

| wonko

I am seriously attempting to perfect the “rose” form in Origami. In my mind, there is no better master of this flower than Naomiki Sato:

I bought his book (and DVD) entitled “Rose” and am determined to work though the various forms presented therein.

This is called his “first pentagonal rose” and I can see ancestor forms in the one that are also in the one I fold freehand currently. This is essentially a bud, but has a unique spiral centre and a nicely controlled twirl terminating in some lovely little petals. the base is also fully closed. Continue reading →

761: (211/365) Spirit House

| wonko

When I went to Japan in the early Noughties, I loved so much of the culture I encountered in the everyday. On my return I decided our house deserved a “Spirit House”. The principle is simple, it guards our front door, traps the bad spirits from entering and amplifies the good:

Since it’s install, it has worked a charm and today I brought it into this century by adding a solar-charged light inside the stone lantern section, that glows softly at night. To commemorate the renovation I was looking for a fold of a spirit house and happened across one designed by Ichiro Kinoshita. Continue reading →

727: (177/365) Anibal Voyer’s Pegasus

| wonko

I am Pegasus, my name means “horse”:

I have had this “must try someday” pile for ages, thought I would give it a go. The fold sequence is tricky and that was not helped but the fact that the square I started with was not .. actually … square. Continue reading →

721: (171/365) Kythera Dreaming

| wonko

A colleague recently spent an extended time back home on Kythera, a lovely island in Greece:

Returning to work is never easy after such time away, but I can feel and understand her longing to return. This shell is meant to evoke dream memories of Kythera. Continue reading →

706: (156/365) Finger Gyro

| wonko

A craze among the young kids at the moment is the “fidgit spinner“, that little toy that … spins, and … well, that is just about it:

According to some fairly shady “research”, these toys improve concentration, and that may be correct for a limited number of kids with specific learning issues, but, yeah.

Enterprising businesses sell these, advertise “tricks” you can do with them, and offer ways to pimp out your rig in ways that, well, make it more fully sick. Continue reading →

702: (152/365) Burning Down The House

| wonko

I have been a fan of Talking Heads pretty well as long as it was possible to be one. “Burning down the house” remains one of the great songs of all time:

This is Martin Wall’s “Matchbox”, an ingenious model folded from a single, much tortured, piece of paper. A lovely little life-size matchbox, folded from a 50x17cm rectangle (3×1), it comprises an outer tray and a movable tray that slides open and closed. Continue reading →

699: (149/365) Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty …

| wonko

…little ball of fur! Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr:

When I saw this model, I was fascinated by the whiskers, and wondered if I could fold it at the scale I had origami paper for.

After finger-nail breaking manipulations, I managed to form the head complete with colour changed whiskers and was happy with my first fold. Continue reading →

697: (147/365) Flowered Window Cube

| wonko

Tomoko Fuse is a living legend in the Origami Community, her designs are numerous, intricate, ingenious and challenging to fold:

This is a 12 part modular with double-locks, frilly bits and framed holes in each face. Continue reading →

683: (133/365) Pet Gripe

| wonko

Last weekend I mowed the lawn – that is not so much a revelation as a statement of fact – I enjoy mowing, always have. I do not, however, enjoy the “presents” that dog owners allow their pets to leave on my lawn:

I recognise that part of the pleasure of owning a dog is that you have to take it for walks to empty it. It does however infuriate me when owners do not clean up after their newly emptied pet. Continue reading →

657: (107/365) Le Chat Noir

| wonko

I have had this model on my “must try” list for ages but there was something about the fold sequence that made me uneasy, couldn’t put my finger on it:

I decided to fold it in black, because…reasons. faithfully following the folding diagrams unexpected things began to happen – layers on the wrong side, meridians not aligning etc.

I got a little “creative” and it worked out fine, but I think there are errors in the sequence (or steps missing). I followed the diagrams faithfully until … I didn’t, really. Continue reading →

652: (102/365) Sleep In

| wonko

Now you are set to sleep in, for the first time in ages right? Your neighbour, bless him, decides this morning is the time to chainsaw and woodchip the hedgerow:

As amusing as this sounds, this actually happened to me this morning. Coincidentally I had just completed Fernando Gilgado’s “Sleeping In” model – seems the universe was conspiring against me. Continue reading →

618: (68/365) Plesiosaurus

| wonko

Prehistory must have been an amazing time, evidence of such fantastical beasts continue to boggle the mind. The air was full of ferocious snappy things, land was populated by ferocious snappy things and the oceans were the same:

This is Lu Hao’s “Plesiosaurus”, a rich, dense and interesting fold that results in a serpentine necked swimming snappy thing after a complex process of hiding most of the sheet. Continue reading →

616: (66/365) Nollentonk

| wonko

When I was a kid, apparently I used to call elephants “Nollentonks”, not sure why but there you go:

This is Chuya Miyamoto’s Elephant, a wonderfully complex fold that, like most folds of this critter, focuses on the head and trunk first then sorts a body out of what paper is left. Continue reading →