Charming folds are charming whether they take 6 hours or 12 minutes, this is a charming fold:
A figurative koala, seated lazily – lovely rounded rump, flat nose and fluffy ears, not bad for under 20 creases.
Busy day, some of the work I did was mine, you get that.
It is a year since Eric Joisel passed away in Paris. The origami community still mourns his passing:
This proud and “cocky” rooster is a Joisel masterpiece, I feel privileged to fold it. I had a sheet of A2 architectural drawing paper so made a square from it (nearly 1m x 1m) and folded the rooster from that – it was a tough fold to be honest as so much paper is gathered into the body. So tough a fold in fact that the paper failed on both legs and neck – I will fold this again with more resilient paper I think.
I see so much potential in this model – given thinner, larger paper I can see you could model wing feathers, eyes and more – as it is it has a lovely tail, beautiful chicken feet (including spurs), a glorious comb and an up-turned beak mid “cock-a-doodle-doo!).
You too can have a go at this model here, and learn a little more about the life and times of Eric Joisel here. Few would argue that Joisel was the greatest character folder the world has yet seen. I hope his family and friends take solace in the fact that he added so much beauty to the world over so many years. RIP Eric Joisel.
Now I freely admit as a kid I was an origami wimp – seeing complicated folds of this “comfy chair” and running a mile, or half-ass trying them, crumpling the paper and sulking. This fold, by Jack Skillman, seemed too hard way back then so I never tried it:
As it turns out, the only confusing part is that you pre-fold a chair shape, unfold it completely and collapse it inside out so all the stickey-outy bits are hidden.
Certainly 12months ago I would have thought this tricksey, but not now. One of the side-effects of the dailt fold is that previously tricksey steps now are automatic to me – oddly I now tackle models really differently and that is a good thing.
This simple exercise in box-pleating is a nice sturdy design with a modern feel to it, even though it was designed by an architect/mathematician in the 60s. Folded from “Secrets of Origami” by Robert Harbin, my oldest book.
Happy finally to try this model, pleased with the first fold of it also – choosing today’s model seemed to take ages for some reason – so much choice I guess.
Throughout history, people have acted “the fool” for many and varied reasons. In medieval court, Jesters acted the fool in a bid for self-preservation and increased favour:
All too often the jester is actually pretty bright, but uses that intelligence to work out ways of appearing foolish, doing comically silly things and overtly hiding in plain sight. The often painful “notice me” behavior is more of an indication of their own insecurity often than the bravado it exemplifies.
We all know jesters (more correctly, people who “act the fool”) – one can only wonder, when the retrospect finally kicks in (or when someone in the real world finally has had enough and punches them in the face and finally tells them to STFU), how they contemplate the time wasted avoiding behaving like everyone else and realise they actually had to work harder to appear so silly.
This is a wonderful character piece designed by Spanish origamist Fernando Gilgado. A hideous exercise in box pleating, made more so by the use of copy paper, which I struggled to prevent from disintegrating along commonly folded creases. After the initial pre-creasing, nearly no new folds are introduced in this brilliant design. He looks happy, a little silly, and has detailed face, a wonderful pointed hat with bells on. With duo paper, the face, hands and feet end up one colour, the rest (clothes and hat) are the other colour – again, genius in design.
I am very happy with this as a first fold – even if it seem to take an age it was a great way to weather a morning thunderstorm, and I will fold this again.
Because this model is flat, and great on one side (less so on the other), it suits card mounting, like this:
Now I got thinking about infinity, as you do, and that I could beat it by cubing it, then a modular idea struck – make an infinity out of cubes:
So I began collecting business cards – white on the back, and performed 2 simple bends (and ONLY 2) per card – then explored ways of linking them together securely using techniques I had previously discovered.
This sort of construction eats up a LOT of cards – 426 in this construction – each cube side has an inner and outer skin card, making it finished, white, smooth and lovely. This thing is HUGE, surdy and really rigid.
This took a bit of thinking out, I started it on Tuesday and, bit by bit, it coalesced into something wonderful and profoundly beautiful (well, I think it is) – such a nice intervention between old discarded business cards and the landfill they will eventually become.
It was announced today that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer passed away today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer:
It is my considered opinion that Apple Computers lead a revolution in personal computing for many reasons, an important one being the re-introduction of the computer mouse as an integral pointing device for a graphical user interface that drove the computer.
They did not invent it – that particular landmark belongs to Douglas Engelbart’s computer mouse, whose patent was issued in 1970 for a X-Y Position Indicator For A Display System, but I think the Macintosh computer helped popularise it and it seemed to take the PC world years to catch on to this great idea – Jobs saw it immediately.
The world needs visionaries – good visionaries persist as figureheads of successful ventures and Apple’s success in part is directly attributable to the charisma and marketability of the man. Rest in Peace Steve Jobs.
A more complete photo diagram is here:
Have a go at it using this diagram
Now those who know me realise 2 things – I love music but I cannot read those little black dots on the lines for nuts:
It was doubly problematic when I was in a choir as all those around me were able to sight-read and I … sort of … faked it (I have good pitch and developed a skill of singing along).
It was/is a frustration that is heightened when I am confused, tired, stressed and … well … pretty well all the time really.
This model, designed by Jeremy Shaffer is a neat little cluster of notes and is very tidy, considering it came from a square there is lots of tough hiding of paper inside to make a polished model.
WHY fold this? Well, today JJJ released a new radio station – “Unearthed” that promises to give a whole bunch of unsigned bands a place for their music to be broadcast – this is a wonderful thing IWHO.
I realise I have not folded many flowers – in my opinion not a lot of them look like flowers:
This azalea is pretty good – yes my first fold is a little wonky but I can see how if I were to fold it again I could improve it.
A nice design using Rhodes double-bird base, I can see applications for this flower and may try it again when I am less busy.
Tomoko Fuse is undeniably a genius, her work with exacting spiral forms unequalled:
This is her “Nautilus”, a lovely recursive form that, after the pre-creasing, almost folds itself.
Elegant and graceful curve, perfectly planned pleats and a tidy shell end make this model a keeper for sheer geometric beauty alone.
I want to pretend that I go tthis first try – truth is I folded a set of folds wrong way round first go (bloody Japanese instructions), but restarted because I wanted to make the model (so sue me)
Will be folding this again – would love to fold this in large format, will see how I go. really happy with this – who said geometric sequences were not beautiful (it is just mathematicians that wring the joy out of them :P)
It is a well known fact that I am a little obsessed with all things Cow. I used to have a plush cow (called Terry the Moo) but I loaned her to a student who cared about her less than I do and now she is lost:
A paper replacement is no real substitute but this little beauty is easily the most lovely paper cow I have seen so far.
Taken from a book by Roman Diaz “Origami for Interpreters”, there is much to admire about the ingenious design – a full set of curled horns, lovely pendulous ears, a fantastic rounded muzzle and face, strong shoulders, cute swishy tail and general cow-ness.
Folded from an A3-cut square, the proportions and fiddlyness is just about right and amazingly it is possible to nurse copy paper through this fold – the head was the most problematic and likely to split asunder, obviated by rounding the central axis rather than attempting to bend all those layers into a sharp crease.
Very happy with this model – it is a keeper and i will fold it again – I can imagine a paddock full of them, all slightly different as the model is poseable as well – bravo Mr Diaz, I am in awe of your design.
The beginning of another month, and I am finding it difficult to find rabbits to fold:
This is Stephen O’Hanlon’s rabbit – a simple figurative fold that is suitably rabbitty for the “pinch and punch first day of the month”.
I cannot believe this heralds the last quarter of this project (10th month starting).
September was a busy month, they all have been. Looking back at the models achieved this month I am amazed:
Amazed that I was able to do some of them, that I somehow found the time to complete them and amazed I am still just as determined to complete this challenge as I was when I started.
3 months to go means I have completed 3/4 of the journey so far … roll on January.
I was playing with a modular technique that uses 6 business cards, some simple bends that create a stable modular cube:
You can then either link these cubes in any direction or “face” the sides with an additional set of 6 cards. I made these during a conference session that talked about creativity – I thought I should walk the walk.
I must consider a larger structure using this technique – a little like minecraft-style building but with paper.
Now I am a little bit merry after the QSITE drinks mid way through their annual conference:
So decided to give some pleating a go to form a martini glass – the principle is based on a technique designed by Stephen Hecht and involves exhaustive pre-creasing followed by an elegant twist/collapse
The resultant sculptural form is lovely – the scale I calculated also makes it life-size and convincingly a martini glass.
QSITE Peeps are off to the conference dinner tonight – I raise my glass to a bunch of talented and enthusiastic colleagues. I hope they have fun.
Very happy with this as a first fold, it is based on a similar technique I used to invent a trophy for my son with the only really tricksey part determining scale. Satisfied with this one however. hope you like it too (lol, kidding myself that people are actually reading this shite).
I have been looking for a nice pelican (yes, I know that is an odd thing to say, but good pelican origami models are hard to find):
This is the best I have found so far, and although it is not free-standing, contains much that is pelicanny.
Lovely bill, nice feet (if a little thin and spindly) and the vestiges of nice wings, I think I will keep looking.
Folded after returning home from a conference (lots of nice people sharing). Busy times, sometimes you get that.
