domestic

118: Grammophone

| wonko

In simpler times, music was encoded onto black plastic discs as bumpy valleys a needle would bounce along to extract the sound. In even simpler times that sound was amplified by a large cone, no electricity involved at all:

These days it is all iPods, mp3s, downloads and stealing music – sometimes the older, simpler times were best – certainly stereo turntables create a lovely chocolatey sound that modern digital sampling techniques have lost.

Why a grammophone? the kids at school perform in the formal concert tonight – the symbol of music for me is “His Master’s Voice” which was a grammophone with a dog looking quizzically at it.

This is an interesting box-pleating exercise that at almost every step looked like it was going to hell in a hand-basket. The final opening of the cone was a revelation.

Amusingly my daughter saw on my screen the words “Pagina precedente” and “Pagina successiva” and immediately assumed I was looking at something naughty – when in fact the instructions were in Italian. Folded in 1/12ths, with an interesting collapse to put the record on the turntable first, I like this a lot and hope you do to.

You can have a go yourself also: http://www.origamidauria.it/diagrammi/diagrammigrammofono/grammofono1.htm

115: Anzac Digger’s Slouch Hat

| wonko

Now I know what I was going for here, but could not find anything that quite did the job. An iconic symbol of our diggers, the “slouch” hat is a distinctive Akubra with one side of the brim held up by a “rising sun” badge, the other flat(ish) and a sort of dimpled crown. Why a slouch hat? Well, today is Anzac Day and whilst I struggle to be involved with any military action (and doubt I would be brave enough anyway) I can only admire those who put their life on the line for something they believe in (or are ordered to do).

I fold this in memory of Bill O’Donnell, and the plethora of service personnel who are now only with us in fond memory.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.


Now I think I have the “intent” of this hat, if not the polish of a published design. I found a rough “bush” hat, based on a waterbomb base by Darren Scott and sort of improvised from there with the basic form

I am sure, if I had pre-planned a little better, I could have used the gusset on the raised brim side to form a sunrise badge (and indeed, if you look carefully you can see the frayed remnants of a failed attempt).

Raising a circular crown was not something the flat paper wanted to support, forming the dimples was difficult as each curve made the brim curve oddly, but I think the profile is right.

Hope it is a fitting Anzac tribute.

111: Wisdom Tooth

| wonko

My son gets his wisdom teeth out today – they were growing sideways and apparently that is not a good thing:

So I began a mission to fold a molar, and struggled to find anything similar, eventually settling on an idea based on a hungarian folder Somoskoi Zsuzsanna that more or less looked toothlike.

Not entirely happy with it but it will do – hope you get well soon Matty.

You can have a go (beware, the instructions are in Hungarian): http://origami.homoludens.hu/sites/default/files/ori_szs_fog_phase.jpg

110: Neelix the Cat

| wonko

Tuesday evenings I watch telly and be silly with a mate. An occasional visitor is the neighbors cat called Neelix:

He is siamese, breezes in looking for whatever he want at that moment (cats are like that) – food, a lap, a scratch; then he disappears just as silently as he arrived.

A nice, simple model (for a change) that is figurative of the aloofness that cats carry themselves with.

It is said that dogs have masters and cats have servants – this is certainly true of Neelix – he has us well trained.

You can have a go at this one yourself: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21751431/Intermediate-a-15cm-6-Inch-Square-Makes-a-7-5cm-3

109: Brill’s Nut

| wonko

Take a rectangle cut from half a square and torture it via box-pleating:

and you get a nut that actually takes the thread of the bolt previously made with the same hexagonality, nice.

This was an odd fold, it looked like it was going to hell at every stage, the inside collapse looked like it could not work, until it just did. Tucking away all that paper inside to leave a relatively clean hex nut on the outside is paper engineering genius.

Folded from “Brilliant Origami” by David Brill (that is 3 Brill models in a row, time for a change perhaps?).

108: David Brill’s Bolt

| wonko

When I first saw this model I thought it was not possible, but thought I would give it a whirl anyway:

This is a bolt, box pleated to have a functional thread and a beautiful hexagonal do-uppy endy thing (sorry, no idea what you call the end you use a spanner on).

It was a fascinating exercise in crimping and pleating that did not come easily – the pattern of valleys and mountains was challenging to fold in pre-crease stage and more torturous to collapse. I found it difficult to reach inside the tube during the early collapse stage (fingers were not long enough to reach) and resorted to using the bone folder to help out the first few crimps.

This was folded from the appropriately named “Brilliant Origami” by David Brill. It has an accompanying model (the “nut”) that I shall try for tomorrow – they form a pair – could be interesting.

107: David Brill’s Book

| wonko

This model answers the simple question – can you take an A3 sheet and turn it into a book:

Yes, yes you can. I am so glad I decided to go large with the paper on this model – an A4 square would have been very difficult indeed – the result is delightful, spine, hard cover and numerous pages – brill-iant indeed.

There is much to admire about this model. From a paper engineering perspective it cleverly folds away most of the sheet, locking the pages in place and forming a nice stiff “hardback” cover. If you use paper coloured differently on both sides, the cover is one colour and the pages the other – very clever indeed (a little difficult to demonstrate on a white-only fold).

Folded from the appropriately named “Brilliant Origami” by David Brill.

92: Wedding Bells

| wonko

Twenty Eight years ago today I married the love of my life, today we celebrate our anniversary (awwww):

Rather than purchase a Hallmark moment, I thought I would put my craft skills to the test, so I did (as my second fold) a smaller gold version, affixed it to a specially printed card for the day

I discovered that plasticised wrapping paper is fairly good fold-wise, but wants to unfold itself, so I fixed it together with sticky-dots and pressed it flat before attaching it to the card. Difficult to do in secret also it turned out.

I have seen a lot of smaller models that would look great on a card, and it seems there is a movement in the origami community that specialises in just such models.

This fold is taken from “More Origami” by Robert Harbin and is a nice variation of the stretched bird base.

Candle-lit dinner to follow, nice. Happy Anniversary Jo xoxoxo

86: Bookcase

| wonko

The first box pleating exercise I ever did was this bookcase:

The whole thirds thing did my head in as a young folder, now it seems simple – I guess that with practice comes skill development – I wonder if that is a principle that would be useful in education?

I regret making this so small now, but I guess it is perfect dolls-house height, if only I had a … dolls house. A 2×1 rectangle cut from the width of an A4 page. I like how all the bits tuck away, reinforce the shape and the resultant model is so tidy. Folded from “Secrets of Origami” by Robert Harbin

83: Much Married Liz

| wonko

Sadly, Elizabeth Taylor passed away today (actually, embarrassingly, I thought she already had):The world is a little less bright without this starlet, they do not make them like her anymore.

I chose rings, she had a huge collection from the many husbands that bejewelled her life.

You can try these also:

Domestic Origami

| wonko

Now I like to cook – well in truth I like to eat but in order to eat you have to cook – right?

Origami is useful in domestic science – when, for instance you are considering a luscious, sticky, dense brownie (thank you USA for the concept of a brownie) then unless you do something special, that sucker is NEVER going to come out of the tin. My solution: an Origami lining to the slice tin:

Fit silicon paper nicely (it takes creases really well if you are firm), maybe use a little water to get it to stick in place prior to schlooping in the batter.

Let the batter hold the paper out, bake, rest and it LIFTS OUT of the tin ready for slicing.

Yes, I do think you should give this a go. I fold in white chock bits as the “second” helping of chocolate, and also crushed pecan nuts (because I like them more than walnuts) – my afternoon tea is sorted, how about you?or go here to find the recipe (works a treat: http://www.csrsugar.com.au/Essential-Classics/Slices/Double-Chocolate-Fudge-Brownies.aspx

Cool, Slice, Dust with icing sugar, Eat