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566: (16/365) Dave Stephenson’s Tiny Turtle

| wonko

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 →

565: (15/365) Golden Carp

| wonko

Leafing through “Folding Australia 2016”, the Sydney Origami Society Convention book (in which I have a model published :)) I came across a cute little carp designed by Mindaugas Cesnavicius:

An ingenious design based on the pony base that teases lovely eyes and mouth, fins and a tail while managing the colour changes beautifully. Continue reading →

563: (13/365) Jacky Chan’s Little Chinese Mammon

| wonko

Paper dolls are big in Chinese and Japanese culture, this little charmer is a two-piece model from Jacky Chan:

Head and body are folded separately from the same size bits of paper and then the head neatly slots into the shoulders of the body.

When folding this I started with the head and was convinced that the body square would never be big enough to make something that worked with the head but it worked out fine.

Lovely traditional headdress, robes, proportions and self-standing. Happy with this first fold, I can see how you would pose this little guy in other positions, bling it up with fans and walking stick etc.

561: (11/365) Robert Lang’s Minamimachi Butterfly

| wonko

I must admit to not having folded many butterflies – not sure why, hopefully this year I will remedy this situation:

This is Robert Lang’s Minamimachi Butterfly – I know it looks simple but there are some wonderfully complex techniques in it’s fabrication. Continue reading →

559: (9/365) Shuki Kato’s Western Dragon V3.1w

| wonko

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).


Continue reading →

556: (6/365) Tiny Cobra

| wonko

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 →

554: (4/365) Shuki Kato’s Simple Dragon

| wonko

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 →

553: (3/365) Yamaguchi’s Giant Panda

| wonko

Apparently Pandas are endangered – seems they have lost their mojo (or are perhaps shy and do not like being observed so closely by people):

This is Makoto Yamaguchi’s Giant Panda – a lovely 2 part model made for bi-colour origami paper, folded from one of my Tanteidan Magazines. In deciding whether I would attempt another 365, I began looking through my stack of JOAS and BOS magazines and found dozens of un-attempted models – that sort of greenlighted the project to an extent. Continue reading →

552: (2/365) Tiny Snek

| wonko

…so apparently, like, on the internets and stuff, Tiny Sneks are a thing, right:

This is Gen Hagiwara’s cartoon snake, a cute little model with lovely googly eyes and a smile.

I made it tiny… because. Continue reading →

No Dragon, Just Head

| wonko

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 →

No, They Do Not All Workout As Planned.

| wonko

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 →

549: Fluffy the Cerberus

| wonko

Fans of Harry Potter will recognised “Fluffy” the 3-headed dog, Hagrid’s pet (oops, just outed myself as a Potter nerd).549cerberus

This is Satoshi Kamiya’s “Cerberus”, a rendition of a mythical beast that is an amazing design that in the end is really really fiddly.

Continue reading →

548: Making Your Dollar Go Further

| wonko

My son and his partner (Hi Matt and Alix!) came back from a recent trip to Canada and the US and had some greenbacks left over in their wallet.548moneyturtle

They are paper, you can fold them, there is a whole branch of Origami that does this intensively, led by artists like Won Park.

Continue reading →

543: Flock

| wonko

I try to mark the passing of Hiroshima Day August 6 with respect and effort.543FlockSml

Having folded the traditional 1000 cranes twice in my life (oddly, the second time my cranes were “borrowed” by a then campaigning year 11 for a community project where he received the credit and was subsequently elected School Captain … but I digress) so thought it time to try something new. Continue reading →

542: ‘Chu

| wonko

Pika, Pika, PIKA! Pika, Pik Pik Pikachu, pikachu? Pikachu. Pika? Pikachu. Such is the scripting necessary for a Pokemon standard character’s dialogue. Yeah, but…?542Pikachu

So I have started to fold again, I need to bend paper and finding models I am interested enough to fold seems to be an issue for me at the moment. In the interim, I figure I should continue to tap into pop-culture and fold some more Pokemon.542PikachuView

I know little about this universe but know of the passion people who have brand loyalty have, so that they are going out, meeting people, catching them all. Continue reading →