Completing the theme of “pride”, these adorable Lion Cubs are part of the set designed by Lionel Albertino, from his book “Safari Origami”:
I like how the proportions of the cub suggest younger, cuddlier, clumsier bodies they have yet to grow into. This fold uses a completely different base to the parents, and I managed to pose one standing and the other sitting.
Continue readingExploring the theme of “Pride” some more, the lioness is the worker of the group, mother, hunter, general all purpose carer:
Lionel Albertino’s Lioness is an interesting fold, made from the same base as the Lion, you manage the head completely differently. I like the strong haunches, shoulders and noble head. The tail structure is fun and there is some pose-ability about the body. She looks like she is ready for anything.
Continue readingFolding feline shapes is hard work, making them look realistic is harder. This is the first of a series of Lion studies, designed by Lionel Albertino from his book “Safari Origami”:
Colour management here is lovely – folded from natural/black Ikea Kraft, hiding away the black except for the mane and tip of tail is hard work. When I close up the seams and pose it he will be tidier, but “folds only” it is a stable, self-standing model.
Continue readingCruising through my copy of “Origamania” by Lionel Albertino, I came across a little creepy crawley I had not folded:
This scorpion is pretty clever – remarkably (by other scorpion standards) simple really for the effect, it efficiently creates the legs and leaves a nice body that can be made into a tail. Continue reading
Now in arid areas of Australia life is hard. Some animals never drink, some come out an night, some live underground – the gerboa does all these things and more:
Sometimes called the “Kangaroo rat” because of its rather splendid tail and hoppy back legs, it has always fascinated me.
When I saw this model I knew I would have to try it – copy paper, to be honest, is a terrible media for this but I soldiered on and am actually very happy with this as a first fold.
An ingenious use of the bird base, I will fold this again – it is poseable, has lots of character and the most lovely feet and tail – very clever design.
I have seen many models of various complicated insects, and intend to try many – my first foray is not an insect at all, but a scorpion:
This is a well designed model with 8 legs, a pair of lovely claws and a crab-like carapace underneath
The tail, IWHO, is a major oversight – it ends up so thick and fatigued that it was very difficult to model and you can see (if you look close) paper fatigue took it’s toll along the back primary crease and part way up the tail. Copy paper is not up to this job but I found out waaay to late in the fold to even consider re-starting it with different paper.
Some interesting and precise folds beforehand mean a collapse and a bunch of reverse folds easily make the legs and claws, quite impressed – could see also how this technique could be used to make a squid as well, will keep that in my toolbox of folds to consider.
Now in posh car circles, a Rolls Royce is called a “Roller” – how do I know this? Well, I don’t, but that is what it is called on the telly. I am going driving today, so thought I would do it in style (at least in my head):
A tortured and fiddly design that hints at a sort of grandeur (notice the grille and fancy flaring of this boxy, limo-type body).
When I casually regarded this model I thought “yeah, that should only take a few minutes” but in reality it took me an age which meant I was late setting out for my long drive – I did not account for the poor diagramming and almost random steps half-way in or the annotations in colloquial French – you get that.
In truth, I would not really enjoy this sort of car – too frightened to drive it unless someone dinged it, unable to pay for servicing etc – I like my little zippy car that runs on the smell of an oily mechanic.
