It is a commonly held belief that Goldfish have a short-lived memory:
I have no idea if this is true, but suspect it is complete bunk. Continue reading
square
867: (317/365) Not Drowning, Waving?
This time of year is horrible. The plain truth of it is that, for a teacher, we have more marking than a reasonable person can do, and deadlines that seem impenetrable:
I guess it is why teachers in Australia are payed the big bucks, right? Continue reading
863: (313/365) Casa Blanca
I always find it remarkable that with relatively few folds, we can hint at a shape so familiar that our minds go nuts and full in the visual context:
This is Roman Diaz’s “Casa Illusione”, a faux 3D dwelling that nicely plays with light, angle, perspective and proportion.
I chose to fold it white (Casa Blanca) with a terracotta roof, and imagine it perched on some Tuscan hillside, awaiting my return after a hard day wining and dining at some cantina.
862: (312/365) The Night King
Now I am as much a fan of Game of Thrones as the next person, but I do like a good ice zombie as a baddie:
This is Nick Robinson’s “Hairy Man”, but I think it is much more demonstrative of an icy undead monster. Continue reading
860: (310/365) Pizza Slice
You know, I thought I understood Pizza, then I went to Naples, Italy, and realised I knew nothing about pizza at all:
There are moments in your life when things just make sense – that moment of clarity where the perfect combination of crushed tomato, basil and mozzarella on a thin crisp base spends 90 seconds in the wood fired oven and emerges perfect in every way. Continue reading
859: (309/365) Jumping Frog
The traditional world of Origami has many classic folds, it is constantly amazing to me how few of them I have actually folded:
This is a traditional jumping from – well, at least one version of it. The mechanism is simple and relies on paper thickness to provide a spring on the back legs. You gently press between the back legs and as the paper flips out from under your finger, the frog hops – ingenious. Continue reading
858: (308/365) Pollywog
Sometime a simple model has a charm of its own:
This tadpole is a relatively simple exercise in box pleating to isolate tail and back legs but the shaping is lovely. Continue reading
857: (307/365) Maekawa’s One Sheet Flower Stalk
Many origami designers have tried to pack lots of details into the one sheet. I have folded Brian Chan’s One sheet Rose many times but I like the simplicity of this flower, stem and leaves:
Using some interesting box pleating and colour management make a rather nice simple flower atop a divided stem and pair of leaves. Continue reading
855: (305/365) White Rabbits!
As is customary on the first day of a new month, we say “white rabbits!”:
This is an old design, and I am not sure i have the shaping quite right yet. Akira Yoshizawa is credited as founding modern Origami and this is one of his designs. Continue reading
853: (303/365) Genie in a Lamp
…so if you found a magic lamp, rubbed it and a Genie appeared, granting you 3 wishes, what would you wish for?:
It is an interesting, vaguely existential question that is remarkably difficult to answer with any certainty. Continue reading
852: (302/365) Magic Carpet Ride
Go on, admit it. Ever since you saw the “Aladdin” movie you have secretly thought how cool it would be to ride on a magic carpet:
This clever model, inexpertly folded, is an exercise in colour management- had I used bi-colour paper, the rider and carpet would be different colours – pretty neat. Continue reading
850: (300/365) …and now the Penguin on your television set will explode.
…how’d he know that then?
Being a fan of Monty Python, I find quotes emerge everywhere. What better to celebrate 300 models than a lovely little penguin:
Designed by Jun Maekawa, I am amazed I have never folded this little cutie before, such a nice shape and, with presentation paper it would be a great display piece. Continue reading
849: (299/365) Squirrel!
It is well known that dogs and middle school – squirrel! – children are easily distracted – Squirrel!:
I am reminded of Doug the dog from the movie “UP” every time I see my students trying to focus but being unable to notice everything else around them but what they are asked to notice. Continue reading
848: (298/365) Dogfight
I am blessed to have friends who occasionally gather around an original board game from the 60’s and pit plane against plane in a WW2ish game of “Dogfight”:
Tonight it was the valiant PDub against the Von Richtoffen Brothers, with much valiance on both sides, some gutsy moves and a bunch of squabbling like 4 year-olds.
Cards, dice, strategy, attack but in the end, the Von Richtoffen brothers were victorious, only after sustaining tragic losses of a triple-ace in training and a double-ace in training by a plucky little airman who went down in a blaze of glory. Continue reading
847: (297/365) Tigger
Perusing my copy of Drawing Origami – Tome 2, I noticed a lovely little tiger designed by Oriol Esteve:
This teensy weensy tiger is very cute, has resplendent stripes and terrific proportions from paws to tail. Continue reading