blah blah blah, about nothing in marticular – may contain traces of aaaarrrggghh
What a massive month October has been:
During this month I explored the works of Neal Elias, paid tribute to Eric Joisel and much more. Lots of lovely things and a terrifying amount of time expended creating them.
Two months to go until the one-a-day pressure lets up.
…so I was approached by 612 ABC Radio to come in and talk about the 365 project, having been dobbed in by Michelle Williams (thanks Shelly) initially for Friday morning. Given I had a fairly full teaching day they re-scheduled to Monday morning as a pre-record in at the Toowong studios.
Over the weekend I also developed a streaming headcold (totally predictable) but soldiered on regardless and completed the brief interview, and folded a little hoodie also in the process – red for studio colours.
I am not naturally at ease talking like that, I get all nervy, but it seemed to go ok apart from a little nervy stammering intially. Terri Begley was very supportive and coaxed me through the thick of it. It was nice to meet her and I hope the adoring public found it a valuable use of airtime.
For those interested, the podcast of the interview is available here
1. Paper is not paper
This may seem obvious but it is really not. I started this challenge determined to see what I could get copy paper to do and to my surprise it can be coaxed through many a torture.
Wood-pulp based papers are damaged each time you crease them – the crease breaks the fibers and hence weakens the paper at that point. Given most folds have common fold axes and vertices, after repeated manipulation the paper disintegrates at those points first – often just before you finish the model.
I have discovered that large format does not obviate the problem, actually it makes it worse. 80GSM copy paper is pretty fragile, the torsion of a large piece actually stresses common folds and vertices more.
I have folded with tissue foil (well, origami shop’s tissue foil which is different to laminated tissue+foil) which has a lot of cotton in it, and lithography paper – both take creases well, do not disintegrate easily and hold their shape after folding also which is a good thing. I am always on the look out for nie folding paper. Surprisingly, brown paper (as used for kitchen cooking etc) also takes folds well and is remarkably strong. I have also folded vellum (plasticised tracing paper) and it is strange – it is really hard to crease but once creased it stays creased. All papers vary in their re-foldability (the ability to take a crease and reverse it’s direction).
Most papers are hygroscopic meaning they absorb water – oddly copy paper is milled on one side which means it uptakes moisture unevenly causing it to curl and unfold. I have taken to storing my finished models in an airtight box with silica gel sachets to keep them dry. Continue reading
It was announced today that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer passed away today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer:
It is my considered opinion that Apple Computers lead a revolution in personal computing for many reasons, an important one being the re-introduction of the computer mouse as an integral pointing device for a graphical user interface that drove the computer.
They did not invent it – that particular landmark belongs to Douglas Engelbart’s computer mouse, whose patent was issued in 1970 for a X-Y Position Indicator For A Display System, but I think the Macintosh computer helped popularise it and it seemed to take the PC world years to catch on to this great idea – Jobs saw it immediately.
The world needs visionaries – good visionaries persist as figureheads of successful ventures and Apple’s success in part is directly attributable to the charisma and marketability of the man. Rest in Peace Steve Jobs.
A more complete photo diagram is here:
Have a go at it using this diagram
September was a busy month, they all have been. Looking back at the models achieved this month I am amazed:
Amazed that I was able to do some of them, that I somehow found the time to complete them and amazed I am still just as determined to complete this challenge as I was when I started.
3 months to go means I have completed 3/4 of the journey so far … roll on January.
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
Now in my quest to fold 365 models, one a day for a whole year, it seems like I have been doing this forever already. Not having an infinite amount of time, I thought I wold fold an INFINITY in paper:
this is a rather ingenious pair of interlocking rings, the whole of which (hole … a ring joke there, lol) was folded from a single square, no cuts, no glue.
This ingenious fold is from Jeremy Shafers book “Origami to Astonish and Amuse” and is the first step towards achieving a snarly fold that features EIGHT rings (again, from ONE piece of paper)
A lovely accordion fold and some tidy end pleating and presto, an infinity symbol which I think is splendid. Even the wife did not believe it was only one sheet until I unfolded it and proved it was.
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.
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.
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.
Today schools (well some of them) started activities to do with National Science Week so I thought it only fitting to fold the logo for this celebration:
An interesting exercise in sixths, with a pleasing design in relief, this model is tidy front and back and I am just a little disappointed it is not as 3d as it looked on the instructions
Hope your week is filled with all things Science – the scientific method is the basis of all great discoveries man has laid claim to.
Tonight is Census Night – lots of demographic questions and a bunch of boxes to tick:
Naturally I wracked my brain as to what to fold on such an occasion (it only happens every 5 years or so) and drew a blank, then thought of the response style for some questions and that was my inspiration for this original fold
Fairly happy I can think of something and then make it with a reasonable resemblance to the original idea. Next time, if I had time, I would try to do this with only ONE piece of paper (via box pleating)
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945 and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.
For my birthday this year (June 4), my daughter bought me 1000 sheets of coloured origami paper so that I could attempt to fold 1000 cranes by today, August 6, Hiroshima Day.
The First and Last folds were done here at home – first was a microgami version (folded from a 1cm square) to pay homage to the importance of the individual in the enormous task; the last was a simple white fold, completed in the relative safety and warmth of my lounge room while watching telly last night.
I had many helpers – many hands make light work – thank you to the hundreds of kids and teachers who helped, provided encouragement or simply asked what I was doing and why – I hope it was instructive. I also had a passive collection (I positioned a piggy bank near by for punters to deposit change if they felt so moved) and have a tidy sum to donate to Japan Red Cross.
So what does 1000 cranes look like when amassed?
I will organise to give these away – hopefully students will think about things when/if they take one.
Why?
I must say that when I visited the Hiroshima memorial site in 2003 the place upset me for a bunch or reasons – primary school kids ran and giggled and filled in worksheets, collecting information on casualties, counting demolished buildings on scale models, being photographed beside the scale model of “little boy” the first bomb dropped and coloured in pictures of the shadow left by someone as they vaporised in a doorstep. I know I should have been heartened by the obvious celebration of life and love around me but it made me ashamed to be allied with a group that could do this or even contemplate it.
I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb… It is an awful responsibility which has come to us… We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.—President Harry S. Truman, August 9, 1945
Now I was asked to speak publicly today to farewell a work colleague about to begin a period of maternity leave and so thought a Baby was appropriate:
Robert Lang, in “Origami Design Secrets” has a box pleated baby I was interested in trying. When I had done the first fold, I decided the presentation fold (to be mounted on cardstock) should be blue because everything associated with Amanda is, then I decided the little blue baby beeded a teddy bear (having already mastered Kirschenbaum’s fluffy teddy bear) so the card project was on
When it came time for the speech, I am a very nervy public speaker but I got a little geeky – below is most of the speech (well those bits I did not make up on the spot) –
As spokesgeek, I was asked to “get my geek on” and talk on behalf of Rablin and Rablin in the prototyping of an all new product:iBaby 1.0Making a baby takes time, here is a prototype I prepared earlier [reveal baby] although I have not worked out where the USB cable goes yet.This prototype may not be to scale, may appear bigger in a rear vision mirror than it actually is, is available in any colour so long as you want BLUE, represents a choking hazard for small children but does not contain any traces of nut, so I am lead to believe (having seen the scans, it is a little girl you see).iBaby1.0 is being prepared for release at the Rablin household September 4, developers Amanda with seed funding by Travis are busily planning for the release. We hope the download proceeds without issue but believe there us a bad language and drugs plug-in available to assist with the data transfer.Those of us who are experienced users know that iBaby1.0 may be incompatible with realLife3.0 and may cause the sleep process to behave erratically for a while but that is within normal parameters.We would like to warn of the potential newtooth incompatibility causing iBoob 1 and 2 to crash erractically. We are also unsure how compatible the iBaby capsule is with the blue vw, but work arounds and kludges are being investigated.We look forward to iBaby’s first tweet, and are confident she will post photos of herself on Facebook for her legion of iGen friends to drool over whilst they are teething.Can you join with me in wishing Amanda, Travis and accompanying iBaby all the best in the exciting journey towards parenthood.
Huge month, so much happening and some awesome folds contained within:
“simpler” models are now nearly all used up (unless you can suggest some interesting ones), got the ball-breakers left so some interesting and time-consuming models ahead I guess.
Who would have thought I would actually make 7 months of this insane project … that leaves only … 5 *sigh* more to do…
