819: (269/365) Jassu’s Dragonfly

I am finally back up to date with my 365 project after an unavoidable hiatus. This fold is taken from “Drawing Origami – Tome 2”, a charming figurative representation of a dragonfly:

I like that the designer has distilled the essence of the critter down into it’s most recognisable features – body, head and wings. I decided to fold this using a square of Japanese Foil, I think that highlights the body nicely (although it makes it hellishly difficult to photograph). Continue reading

811: (261/365) Stink Bug

My citrus trees have a problem that starts about now in the season:

Infestations of stinkbugs arrive and soon they are thick with debilitating sucking insects. It would not be so bad but I seem allergic to their secretions, making getting rid of them difficult.

I have tried garlic, chilli spray, soapy water, using an old vacuum cleaner to suck them off but to no avail. Poisons are not something I want to use but seem to have no choice. Continue reading

802: (252/365) Swallowtail

Scrambling for a model for the day, and finding time to actually fold it, I found a lovely butterfly by Yoshihide Momotani:

This is a Swallowtail, and was designed to be folded in bicolour blue, like this. Continue reading

763: (213/365) There’s a Fly in my …

Looking for something to fold that was vaguely “insecty”, I stumbled across a lovely box-pleated fly mangled from a 2×1 rectangle:

Based on a 16×32 grid, we isolate head, legs, lovely plump abdomen and leave the back flap for a lovely set of wings. Continue reading

762: (212/365) Free Hugs

Anyone who knows me realises I am a HUGE Alien fan (well, except for Alien 4 – The Apology) so I find it irresistible when I find an Alien-related fold:

This is Makoto Anzai’s “Face Hugger”, a snarly hand-inspired ovipositor that is the precursor to a chestburster. Similar to Fernando Gilgado’s model, this one has a different fold morphology. Continue reading

751: (201/365) Pushing Shiz Uphill

Sometimes work can be busy. When spares are sparse, classes all doing new/complex things and physical exertion hit their peak, sometimes you can feel like you are pushing shiz up hill:

This is a lovely little dung beetle, coveting it’s little ball of dung. It is a charming fold that I was unsure if I could complete with the size paper I started with.

Designed by Shinji Sasade, appearing in a Tanteidan I was leafing through, described entirely in Japanese so I hope I have fold it correctly. The dung-ball is a waterbomb, but the beetle actually locks into it – very cool. Continue reading

736: (186/365) Stoopid Monkey!

Australian politicians are a weird lot. Not “American” (shoot first then barbeque something) weird, just an odd lurch from crisis to crisis and stab your mate in the back for a shot at leadership kind of weird:

A recently deposed Prime Minister (Mr Tony Abott) is being a bit of an arse clown in the media, white-anting his own party and providing gifts for our hapless opposition in terms of instability and leaks. Continue reading

717: (167/365) Michael LaFosse’s Le Papillon de Nuit

Le Papillon de Nuit translates, roughly as “The Night Butterfly” – a charming fold with a lovely detailed abdomen:

Unlike the other La Fosse butterflies, this one works and then re-works layers on the wings, making the finished model smaller but unique in shape. Continue reading

716: (166/365) Michael LaFosse’s Mudarri Luna Moth

Catching up, finally, and continuing exploration of the form, this is a luna moth: apparently the main difference between a moth and a butterfly is that moths typically do not have winds that meet above the body – I may have just made that up:

I like the slight “swallowtail” formation here – lots of work pre butterfly formation in getting proportions right makes this seem graceful. Continue reading

715: (165/365) Michael LaFosse’s Butterfly for Russell Cashdollar

Yes, I know, it is a day late, but i have been busy marking, so, yeah:

This is another Michael LaFosse butterfly – more fancy than most with the pleaty zig zags adding decorative touches. Continue reading

714: (164/365) Michael LaFosse’s Butterfly for Tony Cheng

Continuing my exploration of the butterfly form, where better to look than a lovely papillon from Michael LaFosse’s “Butterflies” bible:

This lovely little flapper again uses bicolour paper cleverly, has a nice efficiency of final model size for starting paper size and was fun to fold. Continue reading

Flight, Wing or Swarm

As I continue to explore the butterfly form, I am amazed by the similarities and differences in approaches taken by origami designers:

It seems the references are firmly divided on what the collective noun for butterflies is. Some say swarm, some flight, others wing. What do you think?

I am on the lookout for others – suggestions please.

711: (161/365) Rikki Donachie’s Butterfly

Cruising teh interwebs for today’s fold, a butterfly design was shared on the Sydney Origami Society’s Fakebook feed:

This is Rikki Donachie’s Butterfly, a lovely simple but effective butterfly design. Continue reading

707: (157/365) Tumasek Butterfly

Browsing a BOS convention booklet, I came across a rather nice butterfly designed by Ronald Koh:

This is the Tumasek butterfly, I folded it in duo yellow/green paper making it a little like a cabbage white butterfly. Continue reading

698: (148/365) Cicada

I must admit to enjoying the challenge that is inherent in most of Robert Lang’s designs:

When the Tanteidan magazine arrived, I saw there was a new version of his cicada, and I knew I needed to try it.

Starting with a 35cm square of Daiso washi (that turned out to be slightly rhombic problematically), I began the marathon folding sequence. Continue reading