I bought some hand-made paper with inclusions from Daiso and wondered how it would fold, so looked for a punishing model to test it out:
This is Jason Ku’s Lizard – a lovely little critter with toes, an elegant tail and a funky face with gaping mouth and bulby eyes. Continue reading
Over the holiday break I have taken up swimming laps again. The aim was to be a little bit fitter and a little less fatter – it is sort of working. Naturally I wanted to choose a model for my last day swimming that itself swam, and a turtle/tortoise (who knows what the difference is) seemed to fit the bill:
This lovely little model is deceptively simple. Using a surprisingly small number of folds, a lovely sea turtle emerges from a waterbomb base. This photo reminds us that the fate of all wildlife is in our hands. We dwarf the natural world based on our effect on it. Continue reading
In a true testament to sheer bloody-mindedness and perseverance, I present to you for my self-satisfaction my first SUCCESSFUL attempt at Shuki Kato’s “Western Dragon”:
Some explanation: This is a western dragon because it has wings (westerners reason that to fly it needs wings). Potter nerds would naturally recognise that this is a “Hungarian Horntail“. It is version 3.1w because I used the “modified” instructions for v3 and then added some of my own variations to improve the model (I closed the breast and used the otherwise wasted flap as a bottom jaw allowing me to model a tongue).
In exploring the “Tiny Snek” interwebs phenomenon, I stumbled across a money fold that resulted in a simple cobra:
This is a variation on Vu Dung’s Cobra, folded from a 2×1 rectangle. Although relatively simple it was made more difficult by the size of the fold – this is tiny but still has a recognisable hood and lovely mouth/set of fangs. Continue reading
There are many subjects for origami models that are sort of a “holy grail” of folding, dragons are one such thing:
This is Shuki Kato’s “Simple” Dragon – the term simple is a relative term, naturally, as most of Shuki’s models are not for beginners and this little charmer is no exception.
I decided to try it on 50cm Daiso origami paper, fully expecting the paper to fail (as it is fairly ordinary wood-pulp paper) but I managed to coax it into a relatively huge dragon that has simple features but recognizably dragony morphology. Continue reading
Determined not to let Shuki Kato’s “Western Dragon” beat me, I decided to isolate the part of the model that I had failed on each of the 4 times I have attempted this nightmare of bent paper – the head:
Using the crease pattern, I isolated the corner that is the head and made that section HUGE, then ignoring the rest of the model (that I have successfully folded twice) I only did instructions that effected the bit of the crease pattern that I had on my 60cm square section.
Yee gods! Continue reading
I _want_ to pretend that every bit of paper I touch turns into a magnificent model that everyone gasps at, but that is FAR from the truth. This is my FOURTH attempt at Shuki Kato’s “Western Dragon”. It joins a LARGE collection of landfill (discarded unsuccessful models) and was responsible for many BAD WORDS but I have just about calmed down and will lick my wounds before re-engaging with the demon paper.
This is a western dragon because, apparently, people in the west need “wings” to make a flying dinosaur make sense. In the East, wings are not necessary because they just fly – humans do not need to wonder how.
This is the furthest I have gotten with this model, and managed to wrangle all parts of the model (first attempt 2 years ago) but I did not achieve the head – it is supposed to be a glorious 12-horned snarling grimace (as opposed to the crumpled mess I made). Continue reading
I often fold for relaxation and therapy, this design “Gargoyle” by Alessandro Beber is a fold I took up to keep my mind busy during some tough times near Easter:
I find folding calming, and I started this to keep mentally busy as my Dad got sicker and sicker in hospital. He passed before I completed it and for weeks I put the paper aside, the model became associated with that event. Continue reading
I stumbled across low res hand-drawn diagrams of a Ryu (Chinese dragon) and with a cursory glance said “why not give that a go”:
Two weeks later and a whole bunch of improvising helped me realise that may not have been a wise choice but I have something that is at least based on Hoang Trung Thanh’s model but not faithful to it.
On folding the range of pleats I added a ziggy zaggy spine, decided on 3 rows of scales and invented a method of locking the leg units (each leg is a separate sheet of paper) into the body pleats. I also stuffed the body (with neutral facial tissues) for a little shape and added a nice row of belly scales which I think make it look pretty nice.
The head instructions were un-followable (to me at least) so I sort of wrangled a new head with some lovely horns and a nice open mouth. Continue reading
Satoshi Kamiya’s Ryujin series is legendary in the Origami Community. Starting at the relatively simple 1.0 (folded here), the next iteration is 1.2, then a new morphology 2.1 culminating in the insane 3.5:
Whilst I am not sure I have the time nor skill to even attempt 2.1 (let alone 3.5), my attempt at 1 is chronicled here.
After finding much discussion about it on the HK Origami Forum, and only being able to find a blurry (published by Satoshi himself deliberately blurry) I reasoned “how hard could this be?” Continue reading
I have been a little down, sick and my hands are not working as well as they should be so needed something to boost my spirits:
I took a sheet of 35x35cm Olive Tant and decided to try and re-make a model I have only ever achieved once, much much bigger. Logic would suggest, in retrospect, that it should not have been possible – the paper is too small and too thick, but I sort of decided I would stop when I could not fold anymore.
The net result is quite my favourite bit of bent paper at the moment – a lovely little baby Loggerhead Turtle (designed by Satoshi Kamiya), posed with a little MC but she is beautiful. Sure there were things that would have worked out a little better if the paper were thinner, but I am stoked it worked – it is a jewel indeed.
This is not my first fold of this model – I last folded it in 70cm Kraft and that too is a lovely thing, this little treasure however is nicer IWHO.
Sir Terry Pratchett, one of my favourite authors, imagined a world like no other, a “disk” world, held aloft on the back of 4 gigantic elephants, standing on the back of a giant star turtle called “Great A’ Tuin”:
The breadth of imagination, depth of character, intricacy of story arc and obvious love he lavishes on his books are an amazing legacy. Everyone who is a fan starts somewhere – for me, it was the book “Mort” but there are dozens, each clever, funny and beautifully written.
When presented with such a lovely TURTLE it seemed only natural to attepmt to pay homage to a literary favourite of mine, so set about assembling the component bits. It was as if the stars had aligned, having just folded ELEPHANTS I set about making 4 of them, only to realise they were too big and so made 4 smaller ones.
The disk was paper craft – a circle of cardboard, MAP of Diskworld on top, covered with paper, toilet roll holder cut to be support and bracket that elephants could rest on and a balance for the pitched back of the turtle – voila.
I am quite chuffed with the end result – partly because it matches the image I had in my head, partly because it works as a whole, and is able to be dismantled to boggle and the component parts as well.
I posted photos on terry Pratchett’s Facebook page, I hope he sees them – I hope the model brings his even a small amount of the joy his writings have brought me.
When our kids were little tackers, we went on a summer holiday to Mon Repos, North Queensland, to see the turtles laying and hatching:
During the night, exhausted loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles haul themselves out of the surf, up the beach, gig holes and lay eggs – on the same beach they, themselves hatched from years earlier.
When I first saw this turtle, I assumes it MUST have been papercraft – you know, glue, cuts – very neat but none the less it could NOT be a single bit of paper.
Browsing my JOAS Tanteidan Convention books, to me delight, I stumbled across Satoshi Kamiya’s instructions (HUNDREDS of them) for the turtle (not sure what version) and knew I had to give it a try.
The shell corrugation/tesselation alone is a masterpiece, but then you wrap the unused paper around and inside (forming an internal support for the shell to keep it peaked) and form flippers and a lovely head.
I am so thrilled with this, my first fold – I am itching to fold it again, but cannot for the moment justify the nearly 8 hours necessary, to then have 2 turtles in the house. I cannot imagine folding it smaller – I have seen it tiny but I am not sure my fat clumsy fingers would let me achieve it as so many of the shaping manoeuvres are millimetre precise when folded from a 60cm sq.
I love this model, it takes pride of place in my paper shrine. I have resisted the urge to tape it up solid, as it holds it’s form without assistance – genius design.
…what can one do with a turtle I ask?
I was leafing through my latest Tanteidan Magazing (Japan Origami Society journal) and came across a layer management exercise by Hideo Komatsu:
Having bought a pack of 2-colour (different colour front and back) paper, some green/brown, I was looking for something to try it out on.
This is slightly complicated, but ends up looking a little like a little snake curling back on itself a couple of times – layer management and colour changes mean the snake and it’s background are fairly distinct.
Hideo has many other models, I like the strong style, heavy abstraction and interesting sheet management evident in his work (having a few in the 365+ collection already) – I must track down more of his work.
I have been looking for a nice dragon, you know, in celebration of the forthcoming release of “The Hobbit” (being a bit of a fan):
I saw a coloured/cut version of this dragon on Deviantart and thought it worth trying, turns out it is a WIP from Tadashi Mori, who released a video of how to fold it so I was away.
It reminds me a little of the “Ancient Dragon” by Satoshi Kamiya, but is much easier to fold and is a lot less brutal to the paper.
I can see huge modelling potential for this dragon, Tadashi calls it a “darkness Dragon” and I hope he is continuing the development of the model. I added knees, claws and modified the wings slightly so they stay out in display.
I like the tail and general morphology of this dragon – the central body length (betwixt fore and aft legs is a little compact, neck a little long and hind legs a little bunched but it is a nice fold none the less.
I am very happy with this as a first fold, and will probably fold it again. I used 55cm square Kraft paper and it seemed to hold up pretty well.
Soooo … who would like this little beauty? He needs a home, is only a little bit bitey but 100% dragon (well, 74% dragon, 26% paper, but with imagination…)
edit: smaug long since found a home, sorry
