The principle of Yin and Yang is a fundamental concept in Chinese philosophy and culture in general dating from the third century BCE or even earlier. This principle is that all things exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites, for example female-male, dark-light and old-young:
Right now I am trying to balance rest with exhaustion due to a punishing marking schedule. The Yang is winning over the Yin at the moment. Continue reading
So when invigilating, you cannot mark or do anything that productively uses the time, so sometimes I choose a simple but repetitive fold that I can do without looking anywhere but in the direction of students being examined:
This is Michal Kosmulski’s “Oxi” module – an interesting variation of Tom Hull’s “Phiz” unit. Continue reading
Looking for today’s fold, I returned to a collection of bookmarked models from my growing collection of Tanteidan magazines:
Made of 4 tetrahedral modules, each with deep tabs along a pair of adjacent sides, you then fold a pair of interlocking preliminary bases as the core. Continue reading
Speaking of fractals, as I was (well, kinda sorta) I realised I had never tried the Fujimoto Hydrangea fold before:
This is an interesting thing, with each iteration folded inside the previous – in theory you can keep folding this infinitely. In reality the tryanny of paper thickness and fat clumsy fingers stops you. Continue reading
Browsing a MiniNeo eZine that I follow, I noticed a rather interesting looking hexagonal flower and thought it worth a try:
You triangle grid a hexagon into 16ths, then put a hex twist in the middle, then add the swing-back on petals and tidy up the tessellation to make a swirl. Continue reading
Asked by a colleague whether I still do rose folding commissions, I lied and said “sure”, realising this was the opportunity to learn something new:
Working my way through Naomiki Sato’s book “Rose”, I had never tried his “Simple Rose” until this point. Continue reading
A Masu (or box) was traditionally square and used to measure rice in Japanese kitchens. These days, masu are typically used to sip Sake out of:
Having mastered David Brill’s Square Masu, I thought it time to try the pentagonal one. Apparently the pentagonal masu exists only in Origami circles – this makes sense as the woodworking skill necessary to make this in timber breaks my brain.
Page division into 6ths (to allow overlap/join) then gentle faceting and a magic corner hinge joint results in a lovely 3d shape that feels like it has volume.
I used thickish paper and found some of the internal collapses tough work to make them behave and sit tidily but overall it is a fin fold because you really have to think through how it works before trying the collapse.
I quite like the apparent simplicity of this design:
Folded from a square split on the 1/3 line, larger piece making the base, smaller for the lid, this ingenious design neatly makes a moneybox, coin slot and all. Continue reading
Topologically convoluted geometric modulars confuse the brain – shapes that morph into different shapes in stable but seemingly unpredictable ways are fascinating:
This is a wedge-flex – a modular hinged construction of a series of triangular prisms (wedges) that fold, bend, twist and re-align in interesting configurations. Continue reading
I am seriously attempting to perfect the “rose” form in Origami. In my mind, there is no better master of this flower than Naomiki Sato:
I bought his book (and DVD) entitled “Rose” and am determined to work though the various forms presented therein.
This is called his “first pentagonal rose” and I can see ancestor forms in the one that are also in the one I fold freehand currently. This is essentially a bud, but has a unique spiral centre and a nicely controlled twirl terminating in some lovely little petals. the base is also fully closed. Continue reading
So I was messing with a low-grade triangle grid and what to do with it (I often fold grids to keep my eye in) and came across a rather neat geodesic hemisphere that used a section of it:
So I cut 2 the same size and proceeded to collapse – one fits inside the other and makes a rather lovely icosahedral prism box. Continue reading
I am clearly in the wrong business, if making money is the aim. Being slightly (well, I think it is healthy) obsessed with paper, when a new dealer arrives on the scene I take notice. A colleague asked if I knew of “The Paper Empire” – a new QLD outlet in Newfarm:
I had not heard about them, but visited and found some papers of interest. They are the second outlet in a franchise that has been in Melbourne for a while, and their online shop has some interesting paper products imported from Norway. Continue reading
David Mitchell is a legendary origami designer, responsible for countless geometric wrangles:
This is an “Oyster Box” – a box that resembles a bivalve, that locks together rather satisfyingly and opens to reveal a spacious interior. Continue reading
Busy times indeed – perfect for folding a 12 piece modular:
Fairly simple modules that sit over one, inside another adjacent module, locking fairly positively into swirls of 4 “petals”, you get a shape that describes a cube when you look just at the points. Continue reading
Anyone who has seen any of the “Lord of the Rings/Hobbit” movies will recognise the profile of this hat:
Gandalf the Grey wore a wondrous felt hat like this, Mike Luo’s “Witches Hat”. Continue reading
