615: (65/365) Spheroid

Who could have foreseen that the concurrence of a series of parallel mountain folds interspersed between a series of concentric parabolic valley folds would result in something with such sculptural simplicity?:

This is Jun Mitani’s “Spheroid”, well, at least as close as I could get to it by guessing the intervals between parallel lines and the curve on the parabolic ones.

I had a strip of heavy Canson paper, designed a template and scored the lines using a ball-tipped stylus to get nice smooth curves and crisp strait edges.

Creasing the Canson was tough work, but eventually it “wanted” to collapse, curving as it did to form lovely whirlpool swirls at each end. I tied it up with string (as you do) and then sprayed it with a fine mist of water to dampen the paper, then hung it to dry.

I have found, particularly with heavy papers, you can “re-program” them to accept a new normal other than flat and now this shape thinks spheroid is the new normal, resisting the urge to unfold.

I have a number of curved fold forms from Mitani I have been meaning to try, seems a 365 provides the opportunity and imperative.

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