Author: wonko

982: Satoshi Kamiya’s “Tiger”

| wonko

I have been on a mission for months now to try and render a tiger as realistically as I can in paper. Apart from being feline in shape, tigers have stripes – finding a model that has these stripes was difficult:

Kamiya's Tiger

I bought Satoshi Kamiya’s latest book because of the tiger diagrams it contained – on flicking through the 200+ steps I initially thought it too difficult to try. But try I did, initially with large format red-natural Ikea Kraft paper. I was surprised that I was able to make it through the most torturous steps, so set about re-folding it with black/natural, ensuring the black was the stripes, natural was the residual body colour.

The genius of this design is the subtle and precise control of both sides of the sheet – the stripes are the result of folds, not cuts. The model requires you manipulate raw edges (the sheet border) fan-folded, while wrestling all the other details (legs, head, tail) from the INSIDE of the sheet – quite amazing.

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T-Rex Revisited

| wonko

I love a well-designed model and Fumiaki Kawahata’s T-Rex is no exception:

Trex

Folded from a 50cm square of medium green Tant paper, this lovely snapper has a splendid mobile jaw with teeth, fabulous feet and tail, and frustratingly useless front legs. The result is a fantastic free-standing model that looks simultaneously cute and terrifying.

The model structure is intense, this is the smallest I have tried it, and at this scale the pre-creasing is torturous (to be polite). The folds that raise the teeth from a series of accordion pleats are ingenious and tough work for fat clumsy fingers.

I have folded this before, and will probably return to it, as it is a great exercise in accuracy and patience – really good fold-therapy for a fragged and shagged brain.

trex view

Pride

| wonko

…so, as part of a commission, I decided to explore the concept of “pride”, using a feline metaphor:

I folded a family of lions, designed by Lionel Albertini, and then posed them in a Daiso display box. “Pride” is an interesting concept – we see the lioness, as the head of the family, provider, strong, carer. We see cubs looking up to her. We see the Lion, in the background, as supporter and partner.

pride

I like the minimalist composition of this piece. I used crumpled VOG paper as “grass” and have resisted adding any other decoration, because everything I have tried added makes the family grouping less powerful.

I hope the client likes it, we shall see.

981: Lion Cubs

| wonko

Completing the theme of “pride”, these adorable Lion Cubs are part of the set designed by Lionel Albertino, from his book “Safari Origami”:

lion cubs

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.

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980: Lioness

| wonko

Exploring the theme of “Pride” some more, the lioness is the worker of the group, mother, hunter, general all purpose carer:

lioness

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.

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979: Lion

| wonko

Folding 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”:

lion

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.

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978: Vixen

| wonko

Continuing my journey into the world of Origami Foxes, I came upon a folding sequence from Hoang Tien Quyet:

vixen

This is a vixen (the quaint name biologists call a female fox, not sure why) – quite fluid, feminine and organic – compare it with the previous post and you will see a stylistic difference, but also a similarity in the colour management.

This was a really tricky model to fold, lots of paper packed away in very sophisticated ways, I love the serpentine backbone that ends in a beautiful bushy tail.

This feels much more modern a fold, HT Quyet is known for his curved folds, this was fun yet a real challenge to work on the proportions. The body has a real volume and movement about it.

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977: Fantastic Mr Fox

| wonko

I have been looking for foxes, long story. I stumbled across Roman Diaz’s Fox from “Origami Essence” and thought I should give it a try:

Mr fox

This is a lovely stylised model, careful management of colour, nice big tail and some solidity to the body.

In many ways it feels like an “old school” model – flat, angular and difficult to balance the curved folds that define the face with the otherwise flat structure. I was also surprised it stands, but hte weight balance is good, he stands regal and magnificent.

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976: Snek

| wonko

Now I am not a fan of sneks … at all … but folding one so cute seemed like a good idea at the time:

snek views

This is Christophe Boudias’ “Serpent”, and is a natty use of duo kami.

The detail here is worth noting – lovely mesmerising eyes, gaping mouth with fangs, and a lovely stripey body.

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Tetsuya Gotani’s Elephant

| wonko

In need of an elephantine fold, I remembered proof-reading a diagram set from Tetsuya Gotani’s latest book “Origamix”, and remember a test fold that went awry, so decided to try again:

Gotani Elephant

What a lovely sequence – some complex layer manipulation and need for accuracy early on pays off later when shaping.

There is lots to love about this model – lovely big ears (an African elephant then?), trunk and tusks, lovely bum and fabulous sturdy legs. A test of a model is how it is with folds only – you can see an inherent elephantine shape that is stable and free-standing.

Gotani Elephant scale

I will do some posing, and tidy up some gaping seams, otherwise there is little to do to make this a presentation fold. I really like this model – my pick of elephants (perhaps even ahead of Sipho Mabona’s) so far, and I have folded LOTS of them.

975: Ten to Fifteen Flushes

| wonko

A certain orange cretin recently said that one of the most important issues in his dangerous foreign land was water usage due to low flow, causing it’s people to need to flush 10 or 15 times instead of just once:

fernando Gilgado's Pensive Man

I for one am worried for him – one has to be concerned about a diet that creates such a terminally un-flushable turd like him.

scale of pensive man

This is Fernando Gilgado’s “Pensador” (or pensive man, I think) – the loo is the best place to contemplate life, the universe and everything … and TWEET about it (which is where I think he generates his content) – hence requiring 10-15 flushes to get rid of it.

974: Xiao’s Styracosaurus

| wonko

I have had a partially completed test fold of Chen Xiao’s “Styracosaurus” on my desk for months – in truth I started it before we went on holidays (8ish weeks ago) and just sort of discarded it part way through the fold sequence.

chen xiao styracosaur

Returning from holidays, having tied up the editing of the new origami book, I decided rather than discard the model I should finish it, and am glad I did. this model’s structure is amazing, the sensitive use of colour and complex collapses make this a challenging fold.

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973: Square Rosebud

| wonko

Continuing the exploration of a square rose, this is Naomiki Sato’s square rosebud:

rosebud

Made with a trademark “Kawasaki twist” with different landmarks, this is a rose just opening – simple, pretty.

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972: “Simple” Square Rose

| wonko

I bought Naomiki Sato’s first book on origami roses to satisfy an obsession with mastering his pentagonal rose (a quest that is still in progress). Recently, he has published a second book (this one in English) and I knew I had to buy it:

complete

Perhaps starting my journey in the new book with a 15cm square of red washi was possibly not the most sensible thing to do (waay smaller than suggested), however I ploughed on and much to my delight fashioned a fairly decent rendering of the simple square rose – the first rose I have folded from a square that actually looks like a rose.

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Entomologists Unite

| wonko

In a meeting with other Brisbane Origami enthusiasts, we floated the idea of a Brisbane Origami Group (BORG).

media 9

Although in its infancy, eventually one of us will get organised enough to get a little more formal.

exhibition 1

In the interim, Vivian Sandoval (a practicing Entomologist and origamist) suggested we might be able to provide some models for a forthcoming conference.

media3

The Perkins Memorial Dinner was held by The Entomological Society of Queensland on the 8th of October 2019 – decorated by displays from us 🙂

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