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.
Anyone who knows me realizes the terror I experience when visiting the dentist:
Don’t get me wrong, our dentist is awesome, and very aware that I have an irrational fear that I cannot control when being worked on.
A red frog (chewy lolly) was the latest culprit, taking away most of a huge filling on one of my molars so today I face a molar re-build and thought origami teeth – there’s an idea.
This delightful model is a compact little box pleating exercise designed by Robin Glynn. When folded from an A4 cut square they turn out essentially lifesize, although they have much fewer teeth than a real set, they are demonstrative of form and look a lot like those chattering teeth wind-up toys sold in joke shops.
Quite happy with this as a first fold.
Now I am going visiting to the Sunshine Coast today, so thought something marine would be appropriate:
This lovely dolphin reminds me of “flipper” who appeared to frolic in the sea. The sad truth about captive dolphins however is that they lead miserable, confused lives and have a really short lifespan due to stress and noise in their tanks. There is increasing and justified pressure to release dolphins and orcas from captivity as it is inhumane.
The design for this model is ingenius, the body is triangular in cross-section, lovely tail flukes, sharp dorsal and pectoral fins and a beak, with open mouth.
It was difficult to photograph this model, so I perched it (via a blob of blutac) atop a mangled paperclip. Well dome Mr Brill
When I first saw this design I put it in the “yeah, prolly not” because it looked hard:
A twisted shell, claws, legs, eyes on stalks and a seemingly impossible series of paper torture instructions. Previewing instructions, many of them made no sense until you were in the moment – the impossible collapse to get the legs and claws together was so poorly described I just sort of improvised, symmetrically, and it turns out what I did was what I was supposed to – psyche!
I am really chuffed that this model worked – a real challenge to manage the paper fatigue as some of the major axes are bent, swiveled and stretched to the point of splitting, fortunately I was able to shepherd the paper through to the end.
A trecherous fold really as, just when you think you are on top of it, the instructions require you to fold it inside out – arrrgghhh! It makes sense, the critter needs to be inside the shell but I wish there was another method to get there as I nearly tore it asunder in an attempt to turn it inside out without losing the already folded body – ended up unfolding it nearly completely and then re-forming as best as I could inside.
Quite happy with the result, it does look hermit-crabby, although it looks like he is ready to trade up to a larger shell.
When my sister was little, she used to call elephants “Nollentonks“:
No idea why, the name just stuck. My daughter also likes elephants so i am on the search for a good one. This little beauty measures in at 8cm trunk to tail.
This is John Montroll’s African Elephant. A lovely model that I now regret folding at this scale (I am running short of A3-cut squares, so used an A4 instead). Getting the elephantine proportions and general shape were tough work at this scale, but the model is a good one and the inner nollentonk shone through in the end,
Lovely ears and tusks, waggly tail and nice solid body make this model a winner, one I will fold again.
Now I know I have, early on in this project, folded a figurative yoda but I thought it about time I did real justice to this loveable muppet (well, before he became pure CGI in the prequel abominations):
This lovely model is by Fumiaki Kawahata and is deliciously detailed.
I like that he has a 3 fingered hand, walking stick, lovely facial expression replete with crinkled brow and flowing robe. He also free-stands which is a bonus.
I am very pleased with this as a first fold – the diagramming was a bit of a mystery at many junctures so I found I had to improvise, but the model did not suffer for it I think.
The force is strong with this one, could do with a dose of the force actually to propel me over the 365 finish line, it has been a long haul so far.
The Spanish Origami Society (ASOCIACIÓN ESPAÑOLA DE PAPIROFLEXIA) feature a number of folders with unique approaches to model design, this is a cute rat:
A fairly compact model, suggestive of features rather than folding every detail.
I think it captures the spirit of a rat quite well, well a nice playful one rather than a plague-infested nasty.
Nice ears, face and tail, and a plump little 3d body combine to make a neat model for today.
I mowed yesterday, and noticed my citrus trees were once again infested with stinkbugs:
I would dearly love a solution to this annual pest – not only do they smell, they damage the new growth of the tree and mark the fruit. Worse, I am allergic to the stuff they spray in defense when disturbed – I come up in horrible blistery sores that take ages to heal.
The trees are quite large, individually picking off the bugs is impractical, I am open to suggestions.
This little bug was very badly diagrammed (sorry whever did it), I had to improvise at many junctures and would fold it differently if I were to fold this again – you live and learn however.
Morphologically, this is a fairly good stink bug actually, just a pain to fold at this scale.
Those who know me know that I am a bit of a trekker, always on the lookout for Star Trek related stuff:
When I saw this simple model I knew I would give it a go some day. Tonight my mate Mike and I watch some retro Trek (Original Series) and I thought it opportune to roll out the micromachine version – not sure if you remember the concept – there was a sort of “matchbox” to that was tiny versions of other things – this looks a lot like the micro machine version of the enterprise.
At this scale it was very fiddly indeed – tiny little folds in a very dense mid-section, but it figuratively represents the model so I am happy enough with it. If I were to fold it again I wold start with a much bigger sheet of paper.
Cute saucer-section, nacelles in more or less the right place, I even fashioned a deflector dish in the right place – cute if torturous.
Space, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the starship Enterprise …
Ahoy me Hearties, so today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so I looked for somethin’ suitably Piratical t’ fold in celebration.
I decided on a Treasure Chest by Robyn Glynn, a lovely folded and pleated folly that looks like it be made o’ planks o’ wood, has a curved top and a rather nice clasp latch.
Avast! T’ scale o’ this model was problematic, particularly t’ internal lockin’ o’ t’ corners o’ t’ box, but t’ fantastic crease pattern you do prior t’ collapsin’ makes it all fall into place.
I be quite happy with this as a first fold, and hope more than just me celebrate this important day by talkin’ like a Pirate.
Although I be not a great jack tar, I could quite fancy a wooden leg, eye patch and parrot and imagine t’ tricorner hat and overcoat would go down a treat.
“I am Pegasus, my name means horse…” – I am old enough to remember a folksey song by Ross Ryan about a mythological winged horse:
I had some time, amidst trips and other things today so thought I would give Satoshi Kamiya’s Pegasus a go – it has been taunting me from the pages of his book.
This delightful horse is remarkably horse-like (which I guess is a bonus) but also has the most lovely wings, I am very pleased with how it turned out.
Dainty little ears, lovely head, nifty legs – one bent as if about to take flight, with hooves, a flowing tail, just a masterpiece of design that takes such a big sheet of paper (over 30cm square of tissue foil) and reduces it to a lovely little 8-10 cm model).
There were many instances where i had to just get up and leave this model for a while – tricky, precise and the layers get so thick – I cannot imagine attempting this with regular paper. Keeping the legs sharp and shaping the body through all those layers was tough work – very happy with this as a first fold however.
Yes, a discrete round of applause would be appropriate.
Went to lunch with some friends from Uni yesterday, wonderful to catch up.
Teresa gave me a present, it was a “because I saw it and it remined me of you” gift – so wonderful:
A china crane, persistent homage to the 1000 Cranes for Peace project I completed earlier in the year for Hiroshima Day.
The designer has been faithful to the actual origami model – such loving detail, proportions, nice. Love it to bits – many thanks.
Now most who know me know that I am up for a challenge and when I saw this one I knew I had to give it a go:
90 pieces of paper (60 small and 30 long) individually folded and locked together, no glue make an astonishing lump of awesomeness:
This has taken me AGES – folded over a the course of last week, the last two prisms were added today and we have this lovely thing. Designed by Daniel Kwan, based in part of a Francis Ow unit, the angles necessary to make a pentagon are tricksey.
The tab and pocket construction technique is, in theory, really simple but when the model has 3 simultaneous tabs (for any vertex) keeping them all in before locking them was really fiddly and resulted in much swearing. As the model got more and more crowded the problems increased to the point where I nearly gave up, having mangled a set of tabs so badly they were not going to insert, requiring a refold.
Very satisfying to finally finish – there is a lovely symmetry with this model – pentagonal swirls framed by pentagons. I think my term 3 modular is cool – hope you like it also.
Want to make it? Download my intersectingPentagularPrismsPattern and print it on an A3 page, cut out the shapes and get bending – tab A goes into slot B etc. Originally this was designed to be made from STARBURST lolly wrappers but I scaled them up to be double that to make it easier. Achievable with copy paper, probably much easier with a different colour for each prism in retrospect.
Little Red was off to visit Kit:
Oh Jake, what big eyes you have, what big ears you have, what big teeth you have…
These are revisits of Stephen Weiss’ “Girl in a dress” and Kade Chan’s “Werewolf” for Kit and Jake.
Lunch with friends, nice. Lunch with friends and their kids, even nicer 
Barbz asked me to make a deer, I decided to look for a stag (antlers etc) and found one by Neal Elias:
I like this model – out of a severe box pleat a fairly graceful body, legs and head with lovely ears and antlers emerges.
This was a tough fold – the thicknesses near the nead are really difficult to fold, but the result is quite satisfying as a forst fold – hope you ike it Barbz.
I have also found a bunch of deer-like animals, will experiment more with the form.
