816: (266/365) Spring Solstice

For purists, today marks the Spring Solstice, the “official” first day of spring (as per lunar cycles). 

As a member of OUSA, I was asked to participate in the “Annual Gift”, which consists of contributing a fold to be used as a Xmas tree decoration at The American Museum of Natural History. Apparently this has become something of a tradition. Continue reading

815: (265/365) Pez 3

Browsing through Eduardo Clemente’s “Papiroflexia”, I am amazed at how prolific a designer he was, and how many variations on models he published:

This is Pez#3 – a rather handsome fish with lovely colour changes. Continue reading

813: (263/365) Llook out, there are Llamas!

PART 2: THE LLAMA, LIVE FROM GOLDERS GREEN
The llama is a quadruped
which lives in big rivers like the Amazon.

It has two ears,
a heart,
a forehead,
and a beak for eating honey,
but it is provided with fins for swimming.
Llamas are bigger than frogs. Continue reading

812: (262/365) Tiny T-Rex

This rather adorable tiny dino is designed cleverly by Eduardo Clemente:

I am so impressed with the body morphology of this model, position and proportion of limbs seems really well considered. Continue reading

811: (261/365) Stink Bug

My citrus trees have a problem that starts about now in the season:

Infestations of stinkbugs arrive and soon they are thick with debilitating sucking insects. It would not be so bad but I seem allergic to their secretions, making getting rid of them difficult.

I have tried garlic, chilli spray, soapy water, using an old vacuum cleaner to suck them off but to no avail. Poisons are not something I want to use but seem to have no choice. Continue reading

806: (256/365) The Gift that keeps Giving

‘Tis marking season (I am a teacher) and I hate marking – do not get me wrong, I love designing assessment, just hate having to mark it, especially under ridiculous deadlines:

This is Xiaoxian Huang’s gift box – a delicate little fold that I had to modify heavily to get the lid to fit given I think the design does not allow for paper thickness. Still it is a lovely thing that is designed to highlight duo paper – expusing a “ribbon” of it all the way round, as if it is gift-wrapped. Continue reading

802: (252/365) Swallowtail

Scrambling for a model for the day, and finding time to actually fold it, I found a lovely butterfly by Yoshihide Momotani:

This is a Swallowtail, and was designed to be folded in bicolour blue, like this. Continue reading

796: (246/365) Japanese Andon Lamp

Paper is an amazing thing. In Japanese culture, for centuries, walls and furnishings were made from timber and Washi (hand-made Kozo fibre paper). Candle-driven laps made of paper (counter-intuitively) are still common, this is an Andon Lamp:

There are 2 versions of this – one that uses 4 squares (this one) and another minor variation makes the frame with 4 bits of paper and then you put in other paper inserts into frames formed on each side of a contrasting colour/texture. Continue reading

787: (237/365) Daffy Down Dilly

Today (August 25) is Daffodil Day, daffodils being the icon associated with cancer awareness and fundraising for an eventual cure. You can get involved, donate or buy badges and sponsored bunches of flowers to show your support:

This seems to be a traditional model (sorry, I have yet to identify the designer) but is related to folds I have been exploring for a week or so based on non-squares. Continue reading

784: (234/365) Fold-me Elmo

Flipping through Tanteidan convention books I have I came across a delightful little figure that was screaming to be folded in orange:

This is Riki Saito’s “Mr Puppet Man”, but I reckon he looks a lot like “Elmo” so I am calling it so. (On second thoughts, isn’t Elmo Red? Oh well, never mind) Continue reading

783: (233/365) Simple Money Box

I quite like the apparent simplicity of this design:

Folded from a square split on the 1/3 line, larger piece making the base, smaller for the lid, this ingenious design neatly makes a moneybox, coin slot and all. Continue reading

780: (230/365) Bernie Peyton’s Woman In A Burqa

Elected members of the senate have a responsibility to represent their constituents:

When an elected member plans and then executes a stunt designed to trivialise, demonise and poke fun at an Islamic traditional garment some women choose to wear, I find deeply it offensive. Continue reading

778: (228/365) Ferris Wheel

In the Brisbane CBD today is a public holiday for the RNA Show:

I stopped going to the show when our kids asked whether we had to go again this year – it is huge, full of people, end of winter and full of flu.

 

I also had a go at capturing it in 3d, using Fyuse, to give you a sense of the movement. Continue reading

774: (224/365) Boney McBoneface – Backbone

So I am stepping up and doing a charity walk tomorrow. 35km for Mitochondrial Disease research. I would like to pretend I am super fit, but in reality I am a walker and am not really sure if I can make it:

I am however willing to give it a go. YOU can support my efforts by adding to the money I have already had pledged here: https://blw-brisbane-2017.everydayhero.com/au/peter-2

This is a section of BoneyM’s spine, a little backbone that bridges the ribcage to the pelvis. Continue reading