20mins

1157: Fairy Penwings

| wonko

I fell down an internet rabbit hole and stumbled across a Graeme Norton interview of Benedict Cumberbatch who, during a nature documentary commentary seemed singularly unable to say the word “penguin”:

I was approached by fellow Aussie origami designer Gary Fonarik to test his ‘Fairy Penguin” diagram. I fired up a 15cm blue/white square and completed his charming design. The result, to me, looks a lot like a penguin chick wanting to be fed by an exhausted parent.

Then Steven Casey, another Aussie origami designer asked me to try his (more correctly names “Little Penguin” as the scientific community has moved away from the Fairy label apparently).

Both design are charming, and I will add them to my growing flock of penguins. Fun instance of synchronicity.

1133: Pelican

| wonko

Perusing origami books, as you do, I chanced upon a delightful little pelican:

Designed by @tommy03, making use of a beige/white duo 6″ kami square, this delightful model captures the essence of a pelican better than any other I have seen.

“What a wonderful bird is a Pelican – whose beak can hold more than it’s belly can.” – A rhyme my mum used to say to me as a little tacker – hoping to gift this to another mother tomorrow.

Sometimes simple is stunning too.

Travel Fold 2019

| wonko

We are about to travel again and, as is our tradition, we will leave origami folds wherever we go.

We decided this time it would be a Koala – they are cute and a definitive Australian animal (albeit critically endangered) so I set about to find a design I liked.

After much to-ing and fro-ing I returned to a model I first folded in 2011, designed by Jozsef Zsebe, from Hungary of all places – interestingly the best Koala designs generally come from places other than Oz – go figure.

I manufactured fur paper, using wet polar bear fleece. Do not start on how a Koala is not a bear, I know, but … meh … the texture works and the colour gradation (I found a dirty polar bear) from ears to arse works nicely I think.

I have committed this fold to memory (no mean feat given the state of my brain at the moment) an look forward to leaving them all around Vietnam and Cambodia.

929: Penrose Triangle

| wonko

I love geometry that messes with your head, and a “penrose triangle” is a faux 3d shape that is clearly impossible as a whole:

Looking at any 2 adjacent vertices, it looks fine.  The twist of dimensions is what makes it difficult for our brains to comprehend. Continue reading →

690: (140/365) Max Hulme’s Chess Queen

| wonko

Behind every good man there is often an even better woman:

The Queen in chess is a valuable piece, being the master of all skills, often the most deadly of opponents. Continue reading →

544: ‘Ball

| wonko

Now apparently, when faces with a wee beastie, you throw a pokeball at it and that, somehow, traps the beastie …inside.. the ball for safe keeping – truly, I cannot make this shit up:544poke

This is Jeremy Shafer’s Pokeball – a genius modular fold using 2 bits of paper that interlock at the hinge, forming a rather lovely clasp at the front. Continue reading →

525: Tadashi Mori’s Darth Vader

| wonko

Needing to fold something and having a lovely sheet of Elephant Hide paper means something is going to get creased:525MoriVader

I saw this model in a video tutorial just published by Tadashi Mori and knew I had to try it. It reminds me of one of those cute little plastic dolly’s that are all the rage now – bobble-headed stylized versions of movie and telly characters.525MoriVaderScale

This lovely little Vader comes with helmet, breathing things, cape and the cutest little arms and legs, and is self-standing!

Such a fun fold, you should try it.

520: Blackstar

| wonko

Having pre-ordered the new album by David Bowie, I was delighted when it arrived in my postbox yesterday morning (Monday 11 January 2016). Much hyped, I put it on loud, in high rotation for the day, each listen affirming a new favorite Bowie Album.520BlackStarCover

In the afternoon we went grocery shopping, to return home to the news that Bowie had passed on, after a long and private battle with cancer.520BlackStarScale

Few aspects of the music industry were not influenced by this artist.

His music woke me up as a teenager, a welcome relief from the bang and twang that monopolised the music charts. Continue reading →