I had a cut-off scrap of Kozo, so decided to try remembering how to fold the Peacock I memorised as a 12 year old:

To my delight, the fold sequence was still accessible in my crowded brain. I remember that I committed a bunch of models to memory, and folded them relentlessly – I had few resources back then, and the designs available to me was really limited (this was pre-internet, and access to books on origami in Maleny, a small country town, was really limited).

I cleaved a roughly 2:1 rectangle from the most damaged part of the sheet (as I was couching it onto the glass sheet, a huge air bubble formed then popped) causing the hole. I set about forming the bird’s head and body from the most solid end, tail from the rest – the hole is nicely hidden in the ruffle of the tail.

In research it seems this design was controversial – Akira Yoshizawa claimed he designed it first, but the timeline suggest this is not the case. Although he was a design legend, he seemed unable to accept that someone else could come up with a design idea that matches (mostly) his own. There was a bit of a flame war about the model in the press. Read about this controversy here.

I added a head frill because … reasons. I intend to display this model beside the more recent peacock so wanted the models to be morphologically similar. This is an action model – you can push the tail up and it fans out in full display – clever “traditional” design.

Once again I am a little chuffed about how well my hand-made kozo tissue takes and holds folds. This is paper made from finely beaten kozo (paper mulberry) pulp – dispersed in water, caught on a mesh mould, pressed to remove some of the water, dried on glass. Nothing else – no treatment, nothing.

Wow, just wow – LOOK how small and perfect it is. I made 5 sheets, a couple of different techniques but it is all crisp, rattly and strong – cannot wait to fold it.