This is a simple water-bombic critter, from a family of compact animals designed by Perro Cerdito:
I decided to fold the cow, from a collection that contained a dog (thing) and a cat-ish thing. Continue reading
mammal
663: (113/365) Lil’ Lion
If you have not seen the movie “Lion” starring Dev Patel, you really should, it is a wild ride, lovely story and contains reference to an Indian name that means “Lion”:
I have been looking for nice lion models and a friend on Fakebook (Oriol Esteve from Spain) graciously shared a recent design. I knew I needed to have a go at it. Continue reading
657: (107/365) Le Chat Noir
I have had this model on my “must try” list for ages but there was something about the fold sequence that made me uneasy, couldn’t put my finger on it:
I decided to fold it in black, because…reasons. faithfully following the folding diagrams unexpected things began to happen – layers on the wrong side, meridians not aligning etc.
I got a little “creative” and it worked out fine, but I think there are errors in the sequence (or steps missing). I followed the diagrams faithfully until … I didn’t, really. Continue reading
656: (106/365): Hsi Min Tai’s Rabbit
Having folded Robert Lang, Jun Maekawa and Ronald Koh’s Rabbits, I feel I have been a bit spoiled in terms of “best” rabbits out there:
Always on the lookout for something new, and given that it is Easter Sunday, a rabbit seemed appropriate and this rabbit gave me an interesting challenge. Continue reading
655: (105/365) Basset Hound
Those who know me realise I am mostly a “cat person” but my parents used to have Bassets, lovely dogs that were low to the ground, long ears and seemingly wearing a skin that was 5 sizes too big:
I have been looking for a good Basset hound model and, up until now, have not really found anything suitable.
Scanning the State Library (and learning you can e-borrow their collection) I stumbled across an archived copy of Seth Friedman’s “Dog Origami”. The last (and presumably most complex) model in the book was a Basset, and I have spent much of the afternoon trying to fold it. Continue reading
653: (103/365) Stretching Cat
As any cat owner knows, cats seem to be able to tie themselves in knots, and this pose is fairly typical of a stretch pose:
Well, I say cat “owners” but in reality, cats own and train us to serve them, it is in the nature of cats really. Continue reading
643: (93/365) Square Bear
Australia do not really have bears, well, nothing that is actually a bear but this charming model needed to be folded so folded it I did:
This is Edwin Corrie’s Square Bear, a charming model that is relatively simple but demonstrative of form. Continue reading
624: (74/365) Babe
It is rare that with relatively few folds the essence of a 4 legged beastie is so well captured:
This is a continuation of the exploration of Eduardo Clemente’s work, his simple pig, charming little critter it is. Continue reading
623: (73/365) Burro con Carro
Yoshizawa Sensei once said “The Horse and the rider are not one, nor should a model of them be”, or words to that effect and I think this model is an interesting reflection of that sentiment:
This is Eduardo Clemente’s “Burro con Carro” which I think means “Donkey and Cart”. Fashioned from a 3×1 rectangle, the technique involves completely wasting the middle square to provide a join that more or less makes sense between the cart and the tail of the donkey.
The trouble is, the join is so thick that modelling the hindquarters of the donkey is compromised, the cart does not sit quite right and the front of the model is so light that modelling front legs and head/ears is flimsy and a bit of a fail. Continue reading
621: (71/365) Little Mouse
Under the weather at the moment, folding while suffering a streaming headcold is not much fun. After 2 model fails, I thought I should go simpler:
I stumbled across an obscure book by Eduardo Clemente called “Papiroflexia”, it is full of historically revolutionary designs I must try. Continue reading
616: (66/365) Nollentonk
When I was a kid, apparently I used to call elephants “Nollentonks”, not sure why but there you go:
This is Chuya Miyamoto’s Elephant, a wonderfully complex fold that, like most folds of this critter, focuses on the head and trunk first then sorts a body out of what paper is left. Continue reading
601: (51/365) Hideo Komatsu’s “Rhino”
I want to pretend that I have the skill level to master a fold first go, but in truth, sometimes it is not as simple as that:
This Rhino appeared in the current edition of the JOAS magazine Tanteidan and I was determined to try it – an hour or so and it would be done – right? Continue reading
598: (48/360) Neal Elias’ “Rocking Horse”
This model is testament to the design genius of Neal Elias:
Taking the bird base, and a colour change, we fashion a jockey (with the cutest little cap) atop a rocking horse. I love the detail here and will probably fold this again, only with a slightly bigger bit of paper. Continue reading
596: (46/360) Keigo Matsuda’s “Peter Rabbit”
Now it seems Beatrix Potter has gone out of favour in the age of political correctness, but there is no denying the charm of her stable of animal characters as they anthropomorphise through their day:
This is “Peter Rabbit” – well, more correctly it is supposed to be the rabbit from “Through the Looking Glass” but the colouring I used is more Peter that White Rabbit in my opinion. I have never really understood the Victorian tradition of partially clothed animals (he is wearing no pants, right?) but that is carried over to cartoon characters also which is a little odd. Continue reading
576: (26/365) Ornithorhynchus
It is a little known fact that people will believe just about anything. Tell them that a furry, egg laying, duck-billed, webbed footed, egg laying, pouch carrying mammal that lives in burrows underwater and protects itself with poisonous spines … and they believe it:
There are few things more distinctly Australian then the Ornithorhynchus (colloquially called a “Platypus”) and it seems in the origami world there are nearly none of them.
Stupid me, I did a poll on Fakebook about what I should fold to commemorate (or mourn, depending on your perspective) Australia day – today’s national holiday. Annoyingly the Platypus won hands down. Continue reading