The dragon is a favourite subject for origami designers – most have tried their hand at one:
This is Joseph Wu’s “Eastern Dragon” – how can we tell it is an eastern dragon? It has no wings and does not need them to fly. It is only us silly westerners that decided to rationalise the dragon morphology.
I have been meaning to fold this for ages – nothing like a 365 challenge to bring out the models on hold. Continue reading
I must admit to liking folding insects in Origami – something about the extreme paper wrangling necessary to separate out features from the sheet is a great challenge:
This is Eduardo Clemente’s “Mariposa” or Butterfly. An interesting fold indeed. Continue reading
Yoshizawa Sensei once said “The Horse and the rider are not one, nor should a model of them be”, or words to that effect and I think this model is an interesting reflection of that sentiment:
This is Eduardo Clemente’s “Burro con Carro” which I think means “Donkey and Cart”. Fashioned from a 3×1 rectangle, the technique involves completely wasting the middle square to provide a join that more or less makes sense between the cart and the tail of the donkey.
The trouble is, the join is so thick that modelling the hindquarters of the donkey is compromised, the cart does not sit quite right and the front of the model is so light that modelling front legs and head/ears is flimsy and a bit of a fail. Continue reading
I like a challenge, so started with a huge (60cm) square of spotty bi-colour kraft paper and began the process of folding this model:
Formed, initially from a base that is 4 adjacent bird bases that are then sunk to make 8 long flaps, 4 short ones and a shedload of hidden paper, you then tease the long flaps into position for axles, spoilers, tyres and more. Continue reading
I bought some hand-made paper with inclusions from Daiso and wondered how it would fold, so looked for a punishing model to test it out:
This is Jason Ku’s Lizard – a lovely little critter with toes, an elegant tail and a funky face with gaping mouth and bulby eyes. Continue reading
A folder I follow on Facebook asked for volunteers to test his diagrams for a new crab design so naturally I put my hand up:
This is Tuan Hoang Pham’s “Shore Crab” design, a delightfully dense creation that is morphologically fairly close to a ghost crab in my opinion. Continue reading
When a member of the British Origami Society, I purchased “Selected works of Neal Elias” and continue to find gems within it – this is one such treasure:
Modeled after a classical guitarist in 1970, this model starts with a 3×1 rectangle (8×23 to be exact) and, via miracles of box pleating (a pioneering technique back then) we tease an artist and his instrument. Continue reading
Now I am not really new to the whole “fold from a CP” approach to origami, but I am not consistently good at it either, many models have just baffled me. Initially this CP was beyond my understanding also but you know, when you keep at something eventually something gives and it can make sense:
This is Mike case’s “Campfire” – a devilishly clever use of a colour change, box pleat and concertina folding that results quite magically in a set of pointy flames and 6 modellable stickey-outey things that become the logs. Continue reading
My son and his partner (Hi Matt and Alix!) came back from a recent trip to Canada and the US and had some greenbacks left over in their wallet.
They are paper, you can fold them, there is a whole branch of Origami that does this intensively, led by artists like Won Park.
I find it fascinating that there are so many models and folding techniques I have yet to try. The “Magic Rose Cube” is a case in point – I am amazed I have never folded it:
Such a beautiful little modular, 3 pieces the flower, 3 slightly different pieces the leaves, slots together into a cube easily, unfurls beautifully. Continue reading
I will admit it, I have been a Star Wars fan since it was possible to be one. I saw the original movies many times in the cinema DECADES before my kids thought it would be cool to do the same with the new ones:
The original 3 movies were special (well, they WERE before Lucas began messing with them again), the “Force” was this unexplained thing that made sense (subsequently RUINED by the introduction of “midiclorians” or some such shit), space ships where sterile white, blasters went “pew pew pew” but left no blood spatter and it was kind of ok to crush on your sister until you realised she was your sister. Continue reading
Ever since first watching the telly series “Vikings” (currently 3 seasons, worth looking for) I was a fan of the gritty realism and glimpse into the lifestyle (albeit cinematicised) of what I imagine was a hard working and noble race:
The character “Floki” was an odd inventor genius and ship builder, I think he would have approved of this design – a teensy weensy longboat complete with oars, sail and dragon bow sprit.
The design is challenging, for as much as it requires a really odd 10×1 sheet of paper as for the instructions in cryptic Spanish – quite a challenge in themselves as the diagrams were heavily stylised and gave hints as to where to fold rather than solid landmarks. Continue reading
As a member of Origami USA (OUSA), we get access to some member designs and this one stuck out as something fun to try:
Jason Ku’s Convertible uses some standard (and not so standard) box pleating tricks to sculpt a fully formed car from a flat sheet. Continue reading
A completely different folding technique was a nice change with this much tortured bit of paper:
An odd-shaped goldfish, famously all white except for a colourful growth on the head, this thin-waisted fantail was actually really hard work even at this scale. Continue reading
…continuing on the “fishy” journey, the final in this technique’s series of plump full-bodied goldfish, Ronald Koh’s Ranchu:
Oddly, this mutant is known for the cancer-like orange growth on it’s head, the model approximates this. Continue reading
