Now I must admit to being one of the original Star Wars nerds, seeing the films when first aired a number of times – they heralded a new style of Sci-Fi, a place where space was common place, space ships were clean and villains announced their evil plans with enough time to allow the rebel alliance to thwart them:
The spacecraft in the Star Wars universe were unique and wildly illogical. I can remember seeing Tie Fighters and thinking wtf? Continue reading
It is late, I am tired, the first week back at the start of the term is exhausting but this little alien is looking after me:
Folded from Japanese foil, it compliments yesterdays model. Incidentally today is a few days after the 56th anniversary of humans in space as Yuri Gagarin first left our atmosphere Continue reading
Now I am not so conceited as to think that humans are the only intelligent life in the universe, but the more I understand about humans, the more I am convinced that the sure proof there IS intelligent life elsewhere is the fact that they have in no way attempted to contact us. Nothing. Not a peep:
I want to understand what form extra terrestrial life might take, but I am continually confounded by plethora of lifeforms on this planet.
I am sure that ET will not resemble the Sci-Fi little green carbon-based bipedal life we see in popularist imagery. Continue reading
I remember as a kid being a fan of most things science fiction, and loving Japanese monster movies particularly:
There is something rather charming about a monster, effected by radiation, growing really big then being annoyed by greedy people, subsequently reeking havoc on highly populated areas of Japan. Continue reading
“Help me Obi Wan Kenobie, you’re my only hope’:
This is my second attempt at Tadashi Mori’s “Leia”, a fun fold that does so much with a tortured little piece of paper. Continue reading
Do or do not, there is no try:
This is Stéphane Gigandet’s “Yoda”, a lovely simple Star Wars character fold taken from a video I found on a Chinese version of a ebsite (the English version is here) – try it you should. Continue reading
…now I am as much a fan of Star Wars as the next browncoat. I loved Orac, thought he was the best little droid sidekick since Starbuck and 7 of 9 was my favourite character in all of the series:
This is Tadashi Mori’s “Storm Trooper” – a lovely little clone of a guy from the SW universe. Continue reading
Origami, the final frontier. These are the journeys of the paper folder “Wonko”, his ONE YEAR MISSION, to seek out new models and folding techniques, to boldly fold where he has not folded before:
This cutie little Trek-inspired ship was hidden away in a Tanteidan convention book I have and all the annotations are in Japanese so I have no idea who the designer is, sorry. Continue reading
Now I am not of the generation that grew up with Pokemon, but seem surrounded by adults that were. Fandom/enthusiasm takes many forms and the latest augmented reality game “Pokemon GO!” is so hot right now I felt I had to fold a poke-thing because…reasons
I had seen a video tutorial from Tadashi Mori on a complex model called “Charizard” so thought I would give it a go. Squaring up a large sheet of crumpled VOG paper (I used red, the critter should be orange – not sure if it matters) and began folding.
Turns out the tutorial was in 3 parts, and the model was really challenging, but I think I managed a reasonable rendition of the critter. Continue reading
Needing to fold something and having a lovely sheet of Elephant Hide paper means something is going to get creased:
I saw this model in a video tutorial just published by Tadashi Mori and knew I had to try it. It reminds me of one of those cute little plastic dolly’s that are all the rage now – bobble-headed stylized versions of movie and telly characters.
This lovely little Vader comes with helmet, breathing things, cape and the cutest little arms and legs, and is self-standing!
Such a fun fold, you should try it.
I will admit it, I have been a Star Wars fan since it was possible to be one. I saw the original movies many times in the cinema DECADES before my kids thought it would be cool to do the same with the new ones:
The original 3 movies were special (well, they WERE before Lucas began messing with them again), the “Force” was this unexplained thing that made sense (subsequently RUINED by the introduction of “midiclorians” or some such shit), space ships where sterile white, blasters went “pew pew pew” but left no blood spatter and it was kind of ok to crush on your sister until you realised she was your sister. Continue reading
This morning I was greeted with the sad news that actor Leonard Nimoy had passed away. Our universe is a little dimmer, missing a bright and shining star. “It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it”:
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP
— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015
Leonard Nimoy did for television and movie what few others have achieved: he demonstrated through his “Spock” character portrayal that a loyal, honest, ethical, objective, calm, logical, thoughtful, respected male alien could be an invaluable colleague and life-long friend. We can all learn from this – he challenges all males to do better.
I have been, and always will be a fan of that “green-blooded devil” and all that he stood for.
You too can fold a tribute – go here
I have been a fan of Star Trek since it was possible to be so, love the franchise, movies, series, the lot. I saw a diagram that resulted in an ATAT (All-Terrain Armoured Transport) – one of many fairly silly designs from The Babylon 5 universe, and with some shaming from a friend (thanks Dodes) I decided to give it a whirl.
If you were making a vehicle for battle, the last thing on the design bench (apart from a 2 legged chicken-like bipedal mobile gun turret) would be a quadruped.
Any Browncoat worth his part of the ‘verse would be able to ride their Viper Mark II with cables attached, tangle the legs and bring the thing down, like a heavy, falley-downey thing.
Anyone who knows me realises I am a huge fan of the Alien movies, the first one is, for me, close to perfect science fiction horror:
I had been aware of Kade Chan’s Alien design for ages, had the crease pattern and wrestled many times trying to make it with no luck. I had relegated this to the “give up on it” pile – there are a few that have just beaten me for the moment.
Kade posted a near complete video tutorial, suddenly this model was back on the radar. The video is pretty clear – you should have a go – it is NOT a beginners model but the techniques for forming the main features are pretty clear.
So I set about a test fold, in Litho paper – the paper gave up half way through, splitting on most major creases, but I learned the basic collapse and some of the featuring before it gave up so resolved to fold it with something more durable.
I cut a 55cm square of Kraft paper off the roll and, very carefully, began folding. This, like most models, relies on accuracy for things to work out – a part of a mm out here and it compounds when you do accordion pleating, and this model has so many layers because of the amount of the sheet that is hidden.
I like that most surfaces provide layers that you can then texture in the modelling, sculpting them in graded steps to create carapace, armour and small beautiful details like the rib cage and prehensile tail.
The alien as envisaged by the movie franchise took on shape and general morphology from the host it bursts through the chest of – this one is fairly certainly humanoid and so posing it I found myself anthropomorphising its stance a little. I used a little MC to ensure the pose was rigid, clamped details in place until the paper was dry, then mounted him on a textured circular base and am quite chuffed with the result.
This was WTF (What’s That Fold) #2 – stay tuned for more paper bending
Our local council library has a large glass display case that usually has things on show for a month. I cautiously asked one of the librarians if she thought some origami would interest patrons and she was very enthusiastic:
There are around 200 models now on show at Holland Park Library for June and I am quite chuffed about that.
Dragging 3 large tidy-tubs of models, most of which I had left over from the 365 Origami Auction, they fill the case rather completely.
You can see models designed by me amongst designs by such luminaries as Kade Chan, Robert Lang, Eric Joisel and many others.
In addition, I was asked to run a workshop in the first week of my school holidays for interested folders (10 years old and up) – see the Holland Park Library website for details and bookings if you are interested.
The only question that begs answer is what the floop I do with these lovelies AFTER the month on show? Suggestions welcome … dear reader?
