animal

37: A Kiwi

| wonko

New Zealand has a national day celebrated variously but often on the 6th February called “Waitangi Day”. One of the species endemic to that place is a small, nocturnal and alltogether odd flightless bird called a Kiwi:

A very difficult model on a bunch of levels, designed by Roman Diaz. The feet were fascinating, and made from straight edges crumped into 3 toes each (curiously a Kiwi has 3 toes/claws on each foot it uses for digging with). Amazed with this first time fold as I was convinced it was going pear-shaped at a number of junctures.

I had to cheat with a couple of blobs of blutac under the feet to get it to stay upright for the photo, the balance is a bit out of whack. I would prefer the models to be free-standing but you get that sometimes; very happy with the body shape (morphology) however, clever.

You can have a go yourself (good luck understanding the person doing the tut, swarthy Latino accent and directions are unclear) kiwi

36: A Hoodie

| wonko

All cities have them, that anonymous dissociated youth that lurk on the periphery, just outside the light pool, wearing a hoodie (hooded fleece/jacket) plunging their face into deep shadow.

I really like this model (having been a bit nervy to try it), and am so completely chuffed that, first time fold, it turned out so nice – down to the elbows and shoulders … and it is free standing also – wow. ONE square of paper, no cuts or glue, very neat indeed:

how to foldThe construction principle is actually pretty simple: fan-fold to 16ths horizontally and vertically, crease the corner to corner creases both ways and it just collapses into this wonderful base from which you can tease arms, legs, body, neck and head; crimp elbows and knees, rabbit-ear feet and hands and presto, done.

Have a go – not so much a challenge as it looks, so long as you are neat and accurate in your pre-folding.

34: A Bantam Rooster

| wonko

When I was a kid, we had chooks – poulets that were egg layers in a pen in the back yard of our country farmhouse. It was decided that we needed a Rooster to keep the chickens happy so we bought a black Bantam for the job (later nicknamed Mussolini because he turned out to be a control freak psychook*):

This Model reminds me of the stature of young, brave, cock-sure Mussolini. His incessant crowing was the reason that he became a quite decent casserole not too far into his hen-servicing career.

*Chooks that are tiny seem to have inflated opinions of their own ability – Mussolini would charge and fly at your face, scare the dogs and generally terrorize all other forms of life (including alienating himself from the hens he was supposed to be special friends to).

Why a chook? Well, in choir today the choir master asked us to do all manner of coordinated movements and vocalisations (including crowing of a cockerel) all of which I more or less completely failed to do correctly, yay me!

33 A Weasel

| wonko

Allegedly, weasels go “pop” – not really sure how, why or the actual mechanics of it though. A snarly fold (partly invented) from a ferret-like figure, today’s model is a weasel:

Why a Weasel you ask? I am programming a “bang the weasel” game with my IPT students, and it seemed as good an idea as any for the model. It helped me realise I had no idea what a weasel looked like (thanks google for helping out) – quite happy with the model given how much of it had to be made up on the spot.

32 White Rabbits

| wonko

An odd tradition I have inherited is to say “white rabbits” as the first thing uttered at the beginning of a month, hence the inspiration of today’s model:Not real sure where that came from, or why a sane, rational adult would do that, but it is ingrained and part of my monthly ritual.

This model is actually a cute variation of a waterbomb (turn it over and it looks just like one) – nice and simple, suggestive of a rabbit without the nit-picking detail of folding every whisker, which is a good thing too as I am buggered after a long day teaching.

It is my SECOND rabbit, different model, so all is fair in love and paper folding I figure.

Have a go yourself: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-fold-an-origami-bunny-rabbit

31: Flutterby

| wonko

So I have begun Flash Animation with my year 9 ICTE students, and one of the orientation exercises is building a Butterfly, animating it and then making a scene with them in it – all interesting stuff and the inspiration for today’s model:

Akira Yoshizawa is a luminary in the Origami world, being a prolific inventor of folds many figurative, some very lifelike indeed. His butterfly is simple but lovely –  the body gets so thick that the copy paper split at the head, sadly, but the intention is there.

29: Horse

| wonko

There are many horse models, some extraordinarily complicated – this is a simple one and I will work towards the more difficult ones. Made with 2 squares (both cut from the same A4 sheet), you fold the front and back then join them: Do not panic, I do have ONE sheet complete horses, I have allowed myself ONE COMPOUND model a month also – this is it for January.

The front and back sort of lock together by twisting the body bit into a pocket under the front legs (or a cheat staple concealed under the flaps of the front legs) – neat I think and fairly horsey. I realised I could have gotten 2 ears (with some reverse creasing in retrospect as there is plenty of paper there to do it, or more naughtily with a cut) but decided to leave it simple this fold.

This model was taken from a much loved Japanese Origami book I have owned since I was 13 called “Origami” by Toyoaki Kawai.

28: Frogs

| wonko

The second model I learnt to make as a wide-eyed and eager 11 year old was this frog. I like that it’s proportions are correct, it has a puffy body and the back legs look right.

…so as a “getting to know you exercise” with my pastoral care group, I thought we could each make this model (as an exercise in listening and doing) and set out determined to explain this complex (lots of simple steps) model. I think we were pretty successful overall:

A Tutor Group worth of Frogs

It was interesting because the boys sat together (year levels 8-12), helped each other out, conversed, concentrated and listened, struggled spatially and got to inflate a frog through the vent in it’s bottom (hey, it is a boy’s school).

Very proud of my boys.

27: Tadpoles

| wonko

Now I am going for a theme here, starting with tadpoles – yes you are correct there are TWO models here, but they are variations of each other – one without legs, the other with … look closely:
Quite cute models from a purely biological perspective because when the legs form, the tail is absorbed into the body much as the model suggests. each made from a square 1/4 the size of the largest one you can cut from an A4 sheet.

We all know a tadpole develops into a ….

26: An Aussie Kangaroo

| wonko

“Australia, Australia, Australia, we love you, Amen. This here’s the wattle, the emblem of our land. You can stick it in a bottle, you can hold it in your hand.” (apologies Monty Python)

What could be more Australian than a Kangaroo? There are lots of designs – few look roo-like sadly (mostly folded by people who have never actually seen one), I will keep looking as I am not happy with the hind legs or head of this model, all else is fairly good.

I like that there is a Joey in the pouch and the front legs are positioned right but the bulk of paper there makes further shaping problematic, still for my first attempt at this model I am fairly happy with the outcome.

You too can fold a Kangaroo for Australia Day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COgQlI0HzDU

25: Chook

| wonko

Many contemporary folders have changed the face of Origami – Florence Temko is one such paper artist – this remarkably simple model is very chook-like and contains very few foldsThanks @ackygirl for the lend of the book with this design in it – it is labelled “Rooster” but I have other models that are more “cock-a-doodle-doo” than this one, so I have labelled it a chook for now.

Arrgh, should know better than to edit a published post, the DATE of this post was yesterday, had to recreate it because wordpress plunged this post into “scheduled” mode and therefore it was not visible in the timeline – I did not cheat, you can trust me

24: Terrier

| wonko

Now I have seen a lot of dogs, some do not look very dog like, most in flat profile but this cheeky little terrier looks like it is expecting you to throw the ball for it – nice and simple, surprisingly, but lovely and dimensional (with a pudgy body and an alert expression on it’s face)cutey little turned up nose, curly tail and the only type of dog I will let my kids have, sorry (they have asked, not in my house said I)

You should try this – really simple and delightful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-30n1Drgp-s

22: Gilad’s Dragon

| wonko

…there are many variations of dragon (indeed, most experienced folders have their own variation it seems), some that do not look dragon-like at all, I like this one although it is a tough fold – so much paper gets gathered in the body that the final detailing is hard work using photocopy paper (discovering all sorts of limitations of the media).

I think I did a reasonable job (having never tried this model before), an A4 sheet reduces to a figure that is only 5cm tall, but the tail and hands/legs are ok and I quite like the wings that can be folded back or extendedYou can have a go at this one yourself, it is great practise for “rabbit ear” folds, as this model uses a lot of them. The folding diagrams are mostly understandable but I found myself looking ahead to see where a fold would lead to to better complete it. It is of intermediate skill level (not a good introductory/newbie model)

Dragon Fold Pattern

21: A Kitten

| wonko

…now I have many diagrams for cats, mostly flat models that do not look very cat-like but to find a chubby little kitten that is “anime” style is a treat – I like the head/ears and the lovely 3d body and playful tailI had to resist drawing in whiskers and big anime eyes here, clever use of shaping after folding also to make front/back legs and the body bulge – hope you like it, I do.

You too can make one of these cute little blighters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwmjLFkSztQ

20: Crocodile

| wonko

…so I set out to find a crocodile, found one that will do as a first try, the base it is built from has potential, but the limbs and head are in the wrong proportions, will keep looking I think:He has all the bits a decent snapper should have, just not real happy with it (and yes, it is faithful to the pattern), I improved the body a tad.

Why a crocodile? Well, I was door knocking in a flood affected area, gathering information on what volunteers could do this weekend for householders and came across a family in a garage, in good spirits (no idea how they managed it, but there you go, human spirit hey) – they had concrete animals in their garden pre-deluge, as the flood waters rose, they retreated to their roof, and brought a concrete crocodile up with them. Rather cheekily, they said, as the waters rose above gutter level they positioned the concrete croc at the waterline, and dramatically huddled their family at the opposite corner of the roof so the overhead news helicopter would think they were being corralled by a crock – they chuckled about it when they told us. I love larrakinism – it can make an insufferable situation bearable.

You can make your own snapper here: http://www.craft-s.info/origami/videos/view.php?id=JBUnkhHnIXc&/How-to-make-an-origami-crocodile-1-2 … you know you want to.