Post 300 – looking back I am AMAZED I have only done one Llama:
This is Jim adams’ Llama, a tough fold really, not because there are any difficult techniques or numerous steps but because of the thicknesses of paper you end up working with – much more suited to thin paper (and not copy). Not really happy with the hind quarters – the tail is 12 layers thick, phew!
You too can have a go – it is not tricky: Jim Adams Llama
It was late, after a huge and busy day – 65 to go!!!
It is a little known fact that Australians MADE UP the Platypus to see who would be silly enought to believe in it:
Let’s face it – an aquatic, furry mammal that feeds it’s young milk in a pouch, after they hatch from eggs; duck-bill, webbed feet, beaver tail, “see” via electrical sonar through their nose; male with poisonous spines – LOL. No one would be sill enough to believe in that illogical Frankenstein-like collection of bits of other critters, surely.
I have only ever had second, or third-hand experience of a Platypus – NEVER seen one live so I have to rely on others’ account of them.
A relatively simple figurative fold – they cannot all be huge, quite happy with this – I can see large modelability in this figure. Could not work out who designed it, sorry – anyone advise?
In old Chinatown, when someone wanted to travel in style, they hailed a “coolie” pulling a rickshaw:
This picture was common in days gone by, these days the hustle and bustle of bicycles, motorbikes and tuk-tuks has replaced the hard work.
This is Neal Elias’ “Coolie and Rickshaw”, designed in1967. An ingenious box pleat using a square and tidily fashioning a running man and a 2 wheeled buggy behind, replete with lovely conical hat, wheels and canopy.
I have been wanting to try this for a while, just because really. Taken from “Selected works 1964-1973” by British Origami Society. I am happy with this as a first fold. I modified the body and legs a little to add a sense of movement, and re-worked the wheels so they were round (the original design had them nearly square).
I am an out and proud Pixar fan, they make movies where animation is almost amazing as the story telling and characterisation:
This is Brian Chan’s WALL-E – a lovely model that has taken me simply an age to complete for all sorts of reasons.
I started with a 52cm square (yep, over a half a meter) and a dodgy folding guide (as opposed to complete diagrams) in RUSSIAN and quite frankly I struggled with this one. I must find a way to buy a book that has this model in it, to see how Brian Chan suggests you fold it because I ended up improvising when there were no instructions that I could follow.
I walked away from this model 3 times, unfolded and re-folded the most complex parts a total of 4 times as I tried to make sense of the next stage. That said, I think the final model is quite remarkable. He is free standing (on stunning caterpillar tracks), has the most amazing head/eyes, is just under 10cm tall and I am totally chuffed with how he turned out.
That you can coax a square of paper into such an intricate and completely detailed model is nothing short of amazing – even if it did take me 5.5 HOURS – yes, that is actual folding elapsed time. Words fail me to express the delight when I finally realised he was going to work (having seriously contemplating abandoning the model twice).
This, for me, is a REAL achievement given how much I had to just work out for myself. Folded from my last piece of lithographic paper (thank you school art department). There was NO paper fatigue and that is astonishing given the lengths that the design requires you torture the paper. I must have some more.
Ever since my first disastrous encounter with a centaur, I have been looking for a worthy replacement:
This model comes close, the proportions work a little better (although, truth be told it looks more like a man standing with a donkey wedged up his bottom, but you get that).
A mch easier fold with plenty of modelling potential, I think the quadrupedal hindquarters are a little out of scale. I did fold it to the directions, but might, next time I fold this re-position some of the features a little. I like the arms and the upper body, although figurative, are well proportioned.
Happy with this as a first fold. taken from “Mythological Creatures and Chinese Zodiac”, worth exploring further.
It was late, I was tired, and this model did not come easily from a baffling set of instructions:
I will fold this again, but for now this is my first fold – rough but the vestiges of a row of teeth, sort of arms, nearly toes and a good tail/body – plenty of scope to improve.
Folded from “Origami Fantasy” by Fumiaki Kawahata, this model is tough at this scale.
I have been exploring the work of John Montroll, and came across this little beauty:
A lovely Rhino, dual horns, lovely ears and a splendid tail, I am impressed with the rhinocerosness of this design, you get a sense of the armor-plating, power and posture of the beast.
Some clever pre-folding and some interesting sink folds to tease stickey-outey bits from flat edges, and the collapse for the head is interesting indeed.
Happy with this as a first fold, my pick of the rhinos folded so far.
John Montroll is a design genius:
In his book “A Plethora of Polyhedra” he explores the complexities of single sheet 3d-shapes, and this rather splendid prism caught my eye as something I wanted to try.
I like how the pre-folding teases of open edges up and inside the finished shape which locks itself – very clever Mr Montroll
There are some eye-poppingly complex polyhedra in this book, I shall be trying some more I think.
Awoke with a banging headache, have laid low for most of the day, decided I needed something simple:
Little did I realise how un-simple this model was. Not hard, just lots of steps really and the end result is a lovely “sausage dog”.
John Montroll is a design genius, and this model uses his “dog base” to sculpt a rather nice dachshund from a square – lots of modelability, plenty of character.
Taken from his book “Origami Sculptures”, this is a keeper, hope you like him too. It uses a stretched variation of his dog base. Try it: sausage
Nice to see readers having a go. Here is Everett’s fold:
I decided today would be another Satoshi Kamiya model (working my way up to the ancient dragon you see) and so selected his Mammoth, figuring “how hard could that be?”:
LOL
Wow, no I mean WOW! So much technique packed into such a tiny package, resulting in a lovely little pachyderm.
There is much to love about this model – the curly tusks (think Manny from Iceage), hairy fringe above the eyes, the eyes, the woolly tummy, the cutsey tail, the strong 3d shoulders, toes etc.
This took an age – the exacting pre-creasing alone taking over 1.5 hours. there are some torturous collapses and a bunch of accordion pleats but in the end it looks like a mammoth, which is always a good thing.
I learnt a lot folding this, and am really relieved my first fold worked at all – seriously there were 3 junctures where I got up and walked away from it assuming I had stuffed it up – those terrifying moments in a diagrammed sequence when you get to an impossibly complicated stage and it then says now unfold it all and re-fold it a different way.
Charming folds are charming whether they take 6 hours or 12 minutes, this is a charming fold:
A figurative koala, seated lazily – lovely rounded rump, flat nose and fluffy ears, not bad for under 20 creases.
Busy day, some of the work I did was mine, you get that.
It is a year since Eric Joisel passed away in Paris. The origami community still mourns his passing:
This proud and “cocky” rooster is a Joisel masterpiece, I feel privileged to fold it. I had a sheet of A2 architectural drawing paper so made a square from it (nearly 1m x 1m) and folded the rooster from that – it was a tough fold to be honest as so much paper is gathered into the body. So tough a fold in fact that the paper failed on both legs and neck – I will fold this again with more resilient paper I think.
I see so much potential in this model – given thinner, larger paper I can see you could model wing feathers, eyes and more – as it is it has a lovely tail, beautiful chicken feet (including spurs), a glorious comb and an up-turned beak mid “cock-a-doodle-doo!).
You too can have a go at this model here, and learn a little more about the life and times of Eric Joisel here. Few would argue that Joisel was the greatest character folder the world has yet seen. I hope his family and friends take solace in the fact that he added so much beauty to the world over so many years. RIP Eric Joisel.
It was announced today that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer passed away today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer:
It is my considered opinion that Apple Computers lead a revolution in personal computing for many reasons, an important one being the re-introduction of the computer mouse as an integral pointing device for a graphical user interface that drove the computer.
They did not invent it – that particular landmark belongs to Douglas Engelbart’s computer mouse, whose patent was issued in 1970 for a X-Y Position Indicator For A Display System, but I think the Macintosh computer helped popularise it and it seemed to take the PC world years to catch on to this great idea – Jobs saw it immediately.
The world needs visionaries – good visionaries persist as figureheads of successful ventures and Apple’s success in part is directly attributable to the charisma and marketability of the man. Rest in Peace Steve Jobs.
A more complete photo diagram is here:
Have a go at it using this diagram
Now those who know me realise 2 things – I love music but I cannot read those little black dots on the lines for nuts:
It was doubly problematic when I was in a choir as all those around me were able to sight-read and I … sort of … faked it (I have good pitch and developed a skill of singing along).
It was/is a frustration that is heightened when I am confused, tired, stressed and … well … pretty well all the time really.
This model, designed by Jeremy Shaffer is a neat little cluster of notes and is very tidy, considering it came from a square there is lots of tough hiding of paper inside to make a polished model.
WHY fold this? Well, today JJJ released a new radio station – “Unearthed” that promises to give a whole bunch of unsigned bands a place for their music to be broadcast – this is a wonderful thing IWHO.
Tomoko Fuse is undeniably a genius, her work with exacting spiral forms unequalled:
This is her “Nautilus”, a lovely recursive form that, after the pre-creasing, almost folds itself.
Elegant and graceful curve, perfectly planned pleats and a tidy shell end make this model a keeper for sheer geometric beauty alone.
I want to pretend that I go tthis first try – truth is I folded a set of folds wrong way round first go (bloody Japanese instructions), but restarted because I wanted to make the model (so sue me)
Will be folding this again – would love to fold this in large format, will see how I go. really happy with this – who said geometric sequences were not beautiful (it is just mathematicians that wring the joy out of them :P)
