247: Alix’s Giraffe

| wonko

Now I have been on a mission to find and fold Alix a giraffe for her birthday (Happy Birthday Alix!) and the model had some criteria:

  • * it needed to look “giraffey” – so many do not
  • * it needed to be achievable with  square of cardstock I found in a Landsborough scrapbooking shop (don’t ask) – the giraffe hide was tough to fold, so the model had to be simpler- No margin for error, you cannot re-fold this stuff as the design is only screen printed on so cracks when you fold it
  • * it needs to stand freely

Voila! We have a Giraffe – I found these instructions on the interweb but no credit was given to the designer – can anyone help me here?

I rejected models by Peter Engel, Robert Lang, John Montrol for one or all 3 reasons above having folded them and barely achieving an acceptable model using plain copy paper (which is much more forgiving that the giraffe print I had).

It was an interesting investigation – there will be more giraffes to come – the challenge is to adequately represent the “spirit” of the animal rather than necessarily be accurate with the morphology as they are such an odd collection of animal bits really (almost as odd as a platypus). No model I found had the lovely long knobbly kneed legs and the vaguely trapezoidal body for instance but various models had aspects that looked correct.

To get the long neck and distant body when using a square so much paper has to be tucked away that it gets really dense, but it ends up with lovely ears, and vestigial “horns” which I have never worked out what they do.

Hope Alix likes it;

Happy Fathers Day also to all those Dads out there, hope you also have a good day.

246: Satoshi’s Chocobo

| wonko

There is a yellow bird that features in Final Fantasy called Chocobo:

Satoshi Kamiya calls it a “yellow bird” and advises not to attempt this model in anything other than tissue foil – reviewing the instructions I figured I could (maybe, perhaps, possibly) nurse copy paper through the torturous process and so set about to push an A3 cut square to it’s limits

I am so chuffed that I succeeded, managing to complete all folds, using plain copy paper – yes, that IS an achievement and yes, you should applaud now!

Based on some interesting box pleating, sinks and swivel folds, the tweety bird shape evolves rapidly – look at the feet, even beautiful claws, feathered wings and a tail, very pleasing

This is the second model I have folded from “Works of Satoshi Kamiya”, I am working my way towards the “Ancient Dragon” (yes Josh, soon, soon, sheesh!). I had my good paper out for when I finally admitted defeat but, who would have guessed it worked first fold – yay me!

245: You Shall NOT Pass!!

| wonko

Now I am an out and proud “Lord of the Rings” fan – loved the books, liked the movies – the standoff betwixt Gandalf the Grey and the Balrog was such an amazing bit of cinema:

This here is a (sort of) Balrog – pity the photos do not do it justice. Nice leathery wings, a grimace on his face and sort of snarly hands and a lovely tail.

I am writing exams at the moment and the phrase “you shall not pass” is something I try to keep furthest from my mind whilst doing it – I am sure my students would hope that is the case also.

Some interesting teasing of a blintzed preliminary base that is crimped and petal folded in interesting ways – the base that results I can see huge potential in as it has 8 symmetrical flaps asking to be bent into something else – must have a play with it. I found the instructions for this critter on the interwebs and have NO idea whose model it is – anyone help me out? … anyone out there?

244: White Rabbits!

| wonko

A Pinch and a punch (well, more correctly a sink, pleat and reverse fold – lol, origamist joke there) for the first of the month:

This nice little rabbit is a clever use of a 2×1 rectangle and has a pleasing shape – heaps of modelling potential beyond the base fold.

Designed in 2008 by Hoang Tine Quyet, it is in my top 5 rabbit models already – such a cute tail and some flopsy ears also.

It was also Helpdesk Chris’s 21st Birthday today – yay – I made him a user-friendly computer guy, because, well, Chris is a user-friendly computer guy:

Happy 21st Birthday Chris, hope you had a fun day!

August, Done and Dusted

| wonko

Another huge month, some super snarly models and good riddance to winter:
I am finding it easier to select models based on a cursory glance at their diagrams but shudder to think of the time used here when I am sure I should be doing something else – there are worse habits I suppose.

243: Cessna Plane

| wonko

I have had this model, described via hand-drawn diagrams for ages and thought it a good one to finish the month with:

This is a tidy little plane, named Cessna after the style of modern single engine aircraft it is modeled on. I am not, however, sure who the designer is – can anyone enlighten me?

A clever use of the bird base with some ingenious accordion pleating to liberate the wings and some interesting pucker pleating to form tail and propeller, there is some very dense folding to shape the fusilage and a cute domed cover for the cockpit, even some vestigial landing gear underneath.

Happy with this as a first fold, can see myself trying to refine it so it is tidier – am sure I could tease some wheels and maybe master the propeller a little better in subsequent folds.

242: Trainset

| wonko

Now when I was a kid I did not have a trainset – you know, one of those Hornsby jobbies with the locomotive, carriages and transformer-powered track:

Not sure if I actually wanted one, but there you go – I had friends who did, right down to the chemical you put a drop of in the smokestack to generate puffs of steam in a (from a kids eye perspective at least) realistic way.

This is a set of folds based on the same box-pleating trick, and really there is little to stop you making a whole swagger of types of carriages using it – I made 3 variations but can imagine more. An interesting cross pleat and collapse was used (in some cases many times) in each model, useful to remember.

Although these are technically separate models, I present them as one as they would, individually, be uninspiring.

241: Un Papillion de Joisel

| wonko

Eric Joisel was a treasure in the paper folding community – this is a butterfly designed by Michael LaFosse in memory of him:

A simple fold with much potential for modelling, the body ends up being thick and the wings delicate

Happy with this as a first fold, hope you like it.

240: The Stork Brings Babies

| wonko

That’s right children, when the mummy and the daddy love each other very much, the stork visits them and brings them a baby:

Such a strange lie so often promulgated in years gone by to obviate an awkward conversation about the details of how birds and bees … well, you know … actually, that is even more confusing than the facts when you think about it – and what have birds and bees got to do with the process anyway?

This  is a simple and cute origami model to celebrate the many recent births (Dianne, Amanda, Brendan) – now the adventure really begins for these parents.

This is an old-school origami model that would probably be labelled “Kirigami” (a model that involves a cut sheet of paper) from Neal Elias – essentially it is 2 bird-bases grafted together via s split, allowing the 2 parts of the model to be folded carefully with each other.

Taken from Robert Harbin’s “Secrets of Origami”, a book in much need of repair nowadays as it’s binding is failing. Today’s folders would look to see if they could achieve this model from one sheet, with some clever box pleating to boot i suspect – interestingly no one has tried as of yet (well, that I can find at least).

New parentage – I remember those years with great fondness – that exhilarating (and daunting) moment when you realise that pink, wrinkled alien is relying on you totally for love and attention. Cherish the time you have with your kids – they grow up all too fast.

239: Little Red Riding Hood

| wonko

Someone gave me a copy of foreign version of “Red Riding Hood” that I missed in the cinema that I thought was artistically interesting. A modern slant on a village terrorised by a werewolf, so I thought I would fold “Red”:

“Oh Grandma, what big eyes you have, ears, teeth …”, yeah, it was never going to end well. This model is designed by Stephen Weiss and reminds me a lot of the box pleating figure work of Neal Elias.

From a single A3-cut square we tease out a ruffled skirt, arms, head and feet and it results in a poseable model – very neat indeed. The instructions stop at the basic figure, so I added elbows, knees and tried to fashion feet (the thickness of the paper there made anything but “club feet” problematic – with thinner paper I think I could have fashioned shoes and socks for her.

When I first saw this model I thought that I would have to use tissue foil for it – indeed the recommended paper was much bigger and thinner but I decided to try and nurse copy paper through the fold and am delighted with the results. This would be a perfect little “dolly” for a well behaved little girl (Kit, are you listening? )

238: Daffodil Day

| wonko

In Australia, August 26 this year is nominated as “Daffodil Day”:

We celebrate the lives of those brave people who have fought cancer in all it’s forms – to do so we use a flower, the fragile symbol of hope and beauty:

I made a white one, then folded 4 in colour and scattered then strategically around my school. I remembered, if few others did initially. I do this in memory of some dear friends that lost the fight and suffer no more.

A complex and time-consuming fold,  the flower head is dense and made, unusually from a hexagon cut from an A3 sheet, it collapses down to a life-size bloom via some interesting sinking, swivels and squash folds. An interesting (and cathartic) fold designed by Paul Jackson, taken from a book loaned to me by Amanda (thanks @ackygirl)

I hope you remembered Daffodil Day, or at the very least people you know who have been touched by Cancer.

237: Fuse’s Triangle Box

| wonko

Tomoko Fuse is renowned for her intricate boxes – this one is a version of her triangle box:

A modular, top and bottom each made up of 3 modules that interlock and lace together to create a curious container

I must explore these modular boxes some more, when I have more time, quite happy with this as my first fold however.

236: Sipho Mabona’s Koi Carp

| wonko

When I first saw installation art, in origami, folded and designed by Sipho Mabona, I knew I wanted to do stuff like that also – this koi is elegant and beautiful:

Lovely dorsal and pectoral fins, graceful tail and head complete with gaping mouth.

There is much to admire about this model – it is tricksey to tease the fish from a square and Mabona achieves this fiarly simply – very happy with this as my first fold, althought it was a little fiddly to do the mouth crimps at this scale (I used an A4 cut square).

I can imagine schools of these, and indeed that is how Mabona displays them – in slight size variations floating in groups as if being fed in a pond – lovely stuff, feel privileged to fold it.

You can have a go here: pdf

235: Charlie the Unicorn

| wonko

Now I have been told off by Dr Winston O’Boogie for folding creepy crawlys and scary things and was told I should concentrate on unicorns and rainbows:

This is John Montrol’s Unicorn – a relatively simple fold with a nice horsey shape.

So much paper folded inside, it ends up having a plump body and very thick legs and a lovely twirly unicorn stickey-uppey horney thing

This will do me for unicorns for the moment, although I will be on the look out for another one as the horse shape is one much folded by origami designers as it is quite difficult to capture the equine profile.

234: Goat

| wonko

A simple model for today:

A nice little goat – poseable, with some lovely horns, this goaty model is free standing and an interesting use of a waterbomb at one end of a 2×1 rectangle.

Staff meeting, late home, felt a little like livestock being led to slaughter, you get that. Top that off with falling asleep in front of the telly.