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… there be Dragons!

| wonko

For much of the past year (2014) I have been learning how to fold Satoshi Kamiya’s Ryujin 3.5, as taught to me via a series of lessons cunningly devised by Daniel Brown (Mr Origami). I started this project on March 21.

This is Part 3 of a series that also includes Part 1, Part 2

Lesson 18 was folding the head in isolation – I must admit that even when searching for photos on how the head of this beast should end up, none really make it clear. What is clear however is that there is a terrifying amount of detail.headviews1

Following photodiagrams (in 3 phases 18a, 18b, 18c), I ended up with a beautiful thing that is my take on how a eastern dragon head should look. Continue reading →

484: We are Groot!

| wonko

Not sure if you have seen it but I enjoyed “Guardians of the Galaxy” – nice escapist buddy movie whose adventure that does not withstand much scrutiny from a plot perspective. Love the characters, particular Rocket Racoon and Groot.484WeAreGrootView

When I first saw Groot on screen, I knew he was perfect origami material, resolving to design something similar to my tree model for him, but Luciffer Chong beat me to the punch with his simple yet effective Crease Pattern.484WeAreGrootView2

I see influences all over for this model – lovely joisel-like hands, Acuna-like arm formations, I am sure I will fold him again – might be fun on some rough textured hand-made paper also. Continue reading →

Sign of Peace

| wonko

The international sign of Peace is a Dove holding an olive branch in its beakDove

The world could use a little peace.

dove1

As part of our student end of term send-off, our littlest students (year 5) had prepared origami(ish) doves with messages of peace, to be sent to places where the wishes will be appreciated. Continue reading →

481: Two Dollar Dragon

| wonko

…so I am folding this crazy big dragon at the moment – insane 2mx2m square to make something ridiculously time-consuming.  A work colleague of my wife gave me a pair of raggedy USD$1 greenbacks and asked if I could do anything with them:481TwoDollarDragon

I ironed the notes to crisp them up and flatten the worse of the existing crumples (they are old notes, one nearly falling apart) and began bending a Won Park creation I had been itching to try.481TwoDollarDragononRyuJunScales

The fold is very dense, helped and hindered (in equal measure) by the robust note paper, and the level of detail here is nuts – the head has 3 sets of horns, eyes, 2 fangs, bottom jaw. Each foot has a set of claws, the body has dorsal spikes and the tail has an ornate tuft. Continue reading →

Ryujin 3.5 (continued)

| wonko

After much care and attention, diligently following expert lessons (courtesy of MrOrigami’s Daniel Brown), I have managed to successfully navigate lessons 1-11 in what promises to be an ever intensifying journey towards understanding the whole model. This is PART 2 of a previous post. Part 3 also exists.

Along the way I have learned a LOT about myself – patience is it’s own reward. If at first you do not succeed, try, try and try again (something I needed to do for lesson 11 – which I folded 4 times until I got it right, each attempt taking me 12ish hours)

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I can see why Satoshi Kamiya (the astonishingly talented designer) has not folded lots of these – the detail (and there is LOTS of details here, most you cannot see) needed to let the paper sit correctly whilst transitioning between elements is breaking my brain.

So far, I have learned elements of the design in isolation:PatternLessons1-11

The lessons after this appear to tackle larger and more complex chunks – the aim to get all pieces to co-exist on the same sheet.

Interestingly, although it is time consuming, I am finding the process fascinating, each piece gains a sort of momentum that propels me on to finish it and get it right, and I look forward to the next part with a sort of morbid curiosity.

I bought some WIDE Kraft online (90cmx30m) and, depending how it behaves, intend to laminate 2 strips together to make a square nearly 2m x 2m as my first attempt of the whole model – no idea if that will be big enough, we shall see.

The Lessons continue. Continue reading →

479: Dollar Koi

| wonko

There is a branch of Origami that I have not explored because I live in Australia and our bank notes are no longer paper, they are plastic:

Moneygami, an exacting discipline that uses USD paper notes, a particular format where all notes are the same size and still made of paper is fascinating for a bunch of reasons.

The accuracy needed to tease so much detail out of such a small rectangle of tough paper is an art, and Won park is an astonishingly talented designer that designed this fish – a lovely catfish/Koi Carp.

Mind buggering (and finger bleeding) details include a luscious fantail, scales, gills, fins, a majestic head with EYES that are part of the “greenback” printed design – wow!. Continue reading →

478: Ku’s Fairy

| wonko

Often I find highly technical folding is mentally cleansing – that complete absorption in meticulous detail lets you lose yourself:

Jason Ku is an engineer and origami artist unlike any other – having marveled at his bicycle, I was determined to find something else of his to try.

I had dismissed this fold, featured in a Tanteidan convention book I peruse periodically as too hard, but given my skill level has raised (attributable directly to my structured wrestling with Kamiya’s Ryu Jin), I thought I would give it a try.

To my astonishment, the folds came quite easily, breathtaking collapses and “unfold everything and re-fold it this way” moments seem just to work themselves out and the result is pleasing to me at least. Continue reading →

477: Rooster

| wonko

I want an origami rooster (in red) to live somewhere in our new kitchen, so set about exploring rooster form with a pair of masters and their individual approaches to rooster form:

I “warmed up” with an Eric Joisel “Le Coq” – a fold I had tried years ago and not really mastered so I patiently and carefully folded from a 60cm square a lovely rendition (well, in my eyes at least). the Joisel model is economical with paper and seems to focus on the feet and tail, with an almost caricature head comb and waffle.

I then, after a cup of tea, girded my loins and set about folding Satoshi Kamiya’s Rooster. Using the same size piece of paper, there are hundreds of steps, many of which were astonishingly complicated 3d collapses that had originally scared me away from trying it – indeed 2 years ago I would not have been able to fold it at all.

There is much to admire with Kamiya’s vision of the bird – body and head with comb/wattle are amazing,  full wings and a suggestion of a tail are wonderful, legs and feet seem (to me at least) almost an after thought, although the legs do have spurs and the right number of toes, I found them less generous than they needed to be for the proportions of the model – the poor chook would not be able to walk or perch. Even posing it I had great difficulty propping it up on the little spindly toes. It appears to have “barbie” syndrome – you know, Barbie the doll has impossible proportions, right? Continue reading →

475: Timber Wolf

| wonko

Leafing through “Origami Sequence” by Quentin Trollip, I am struck by the quality and quantity of amazing designs packed into that book, and the range of skills his models brings to the table.

There is this house, at work, that has a Timber Wolf as their house mascot, so I have been on the look out for one to fold (I assumed someone would ask me to have a go, that never really happened, so I did it anyway).

This wolf is clearly howling, there is much movement and drama inherent in the pose, and I placed a “moon” within howling distance in some shots because it seemed to need it. Continue reading →

473: Scaled Goldfish

| wonko

I am currently learning how to fold Satoshi Kamiya’s Ryu Jin 3.5.  As part of that fold, “waterbomb tesselation” scales are made and shaped. I need practice so I am looking for scaley applications of this technique.

I remember ages ago folding Davor Vinko’s catfish and seeing a video by Jo Nakashima on how to incorporate scales into the body, so I adapted Jo’s technique so I could ‘pop’ scales running in the correct direction. Continue reading →

470: Osteichthyes

| wonko

Osteichthyes or BONY fish appear from fossil evidence as far back as 420 million years ago when they appear to have differentiated from cartilaginous fishy things. Fossil records are sketchy but shapes and morphologies are visible in traces in very ancient rocks.

This odd origami attempts to hint at the faint fossil traces left in a rock of a conventional bony fish and it does a pretty good job for such a simple fold. Continue reading →

468: I am Pegasus, My Name Means Horse

| wonko

I am old enough to remember when a folk singer named Ross Ryan released a campy song about flying horses, and given that is an ear-worm of a song and it has just turned “Year of the Horse” for Chinese New Year, I thought it was an omen on what next to fold:

This is “Pegasus” by Dong Viet Thien from my newly arrived VOG2 origami book. A lovely use of a square, with some of the largest wings of this style of model I have seen.

Continue reading →

466: Hedwig the Wet-Fold Owl

| wonko

Exploring my new VOG2 book, there are many lovely things to try but this model uses a method I have not been brave enough to try until now – wet folding.

The idea is to take heavy paper, too thick to fold conventionally (it would crack, split and otherwise be finger-bruisingly impossible to sculpt) and apply WATER to it before coaxing it into shape.

I used watercolour cartridge (27cm square) – a thick board-like paper that snaps when bent dry. Using a damp rag, I applied water to front and back and immediately the sheet transformed into this malleable leather-like slab. Continue reading →

465: Green Dragon

| wonko

Now I know you are thinking this is not green, but the design is named “Green Dragon” by Piotr Pluta:

After I made the double-sided double tissue I had been looking for a fold that would suit such a busy paper – it sort of looks like dragon skin/scales so the idea took. Continue reading →

Green Tree Frog

| wonko

I have recently spent time in a cabin in the woods – well, in truth, it is a cabin among some semi-tropical rain forest in the border ranges in northers New South Wales – a retreat for body and mind:

Having made some “double tissue“, I was itching to see how it took folds and I remembered a green thing I had folded way back as part of the 365 project – Robert Lang’s Green Tree Frog. My first attempt was small, white and not very detailed so I thought it might be fun to torture some double tissue with that design.

Continue reading →