…you went in, the water was fine. You notice a nice fishy, it seems to want to be friends:
This is part 2 of a series by Fernando Gilgado, again, like part 1 it uses bicolour paper and clever colour changes to highlight details. Continue reading
573: (23/365) A Cautionary Tale (Part 1)
It is a beautiful day, waters clear, the water beckons, it would be wrong not to go for a swim. You put your toe in, the water is lovely, swimming gives you a new found freedom:
This is part 1 of a 3 part story – what could possibly go wrong- we rarely see the danger, far off in the distance, and why would we consider it, we are ok, nothing could go wrong. Continue reading
572: (22/365) Origami On The Brain
Those who know me realise I am a little obsessed with paper folding, some would say to excess. The truth of the matter is I am constantly amazed what you can coax a flat sheet to do. I think I missed my calling as a materials engineer:
I like models that I can visualise, as I am folding. Equally, I am fascinating when there is a tangle and then, out of the mess, something wonderful emerges. Continue reading
571: (21/365) OMG!!!!
Needless to say the media is abuzz with reactions to Trump’s inauguration. Let us hope that the he does not become the “Bane” of their existence (even though part of his speech was plagiarised from the Marvel Universes’ fictitious tyrant presidential coup, I am sure this is merely coincidence):
One has to have hope in the power of intellect, value of human dignity, common sense and sane application of spray tanning solutions. Continue reading
570: (20/365) Trump Salute
In the United States of America on this day they are inaugurating their 45th president – one Donald Trump:
I _want_ to congratulate him and his party on a campaign well fought, policies well considered and popular vote being a landslide but sadly none of these seems true from where I sit.
Looking for a model to express how I feel about the incoming, from my ivory tower over here on the opposite side of a planet suddenly not big enough to place me a safe distance from him, I came across “flipping the bird” by Paulius Mielinis. Whilst only a crease pattern (CP), I could sort of see the parts of the model in among the creases. It took a little wrangling to work out how to collapse and hide unwanted paper, make the digits clean enough to be recognisable. Continue reading
569: (19/365) Japanese Macaque
Emergent behaviour is fascinating, apparently where these Japanese Macaque monkeys live gets snowy in winter, they have learned that sitting in thermal pools near bathhouses (Onsen) is one way of staving off the cold:
This is Fumiaki Kawahata’s Japanese Macaque – a model I had intended to fold ages ago because it was in a Tanteidan I had shelved. Continue reading
568: (18/365) TRex
Working in the same school for 28 years makes me feel a little like a dinosaur at times:
This is Jo Nakashima’s TRex – a lovely little cartoony Trex that is fun to fold and simple enough to do with smaller coloured squares. I followed along with the video tutorial on Jo’s Youtube channel. Continue reading
567: (17/365) Jo Nakashima’s Penguin
Returning to work, we balance between the stinking hot outside temperature and the painfully cold airconditioning (yes, I know this sounds like a first world problem, and it is), but I decided to fold a critter that has evolved to put up with intolerable temperatures:
This is Jo Nakashima’s Penguin, a lovely little model with a blocky, cartoony feel to it. Continue reading
566: (16/365) Dave Stephenson’s Tiny Turtle
Over the holiday break I have taken up swimming laps again. The aim was to be a little bit fitter and a little less fatter – it is sort of working. Naturally I wanted to choose a model for my last day swimming that itself swam, and a turtle/tortoise (who knows what the difference is) seemed to fit the bill:
This lovely little model is deceptively simple. Using a surprisingly small number of folds, a lovely sea turtle emerges from a waterbomb base. This photo reminds us that the fate of all wildlife is in our hands. We dwarf the natural world based on our effect on it. Continue reading
565: (15/365) Golden Carp
Leafing through “Folding Australia 2016”, the Sydney Origami Society Convention book (in which I have a model published :)) I came across a cute little carp designed by Mindaugas Cesnavicius:
An ingenious design based on the pony base that teases lovely eyes and mouth, fins and a tail while managing the colour changes beautifully. Continue reading
564: (14/365) Francesco Guarnieri’s Stella Garland
I was casually puddling around in origami blogs, as you do, and came across the one page diagram of this little charmer and decided to give it a whirl:
8 pages, sort of a spectrum, combine in a whirl not unlike the leaf garland popular in Roman times however the locking mechanism leaves a small hole in the middle rendering it unwearable.
I could imagine folding these in red/green/gold/silver, pimped out with baubles and glitter (in a craft project from hell) that would make a lovely seasonal wreath – something to consider I guess. Continue reading
563: (13/365) Jacky Chan’s Little Chinese Mammon
Paper dolls are big in Chinese and Japanese culture, this little charmer is a two-piece model from Jacky Chan:
Head and body are folded separately from the same size bits of paper and then the head neatly slots into the shoulders of the body.
When folding this I started with the head and was convinced that the body square would never be big enough to make something that worked with the head but it worked out fine.
Lovely traditional headdress, robes, proportions and self-standing. Happy with this first fold, I can see how you would pose this little guy in other positions, bling it up with fans and walking stick etc.
562: (12/365) Dee’s Thistle
So I was on the phone to my mum, as you do, and she asked if I could make Scotch Thistles out of origami:
561: (11/365) Robert Lang’s Minamimachi Butterfly
I must admit to not having folded many butterflies – not sure why, hopefully this year I will remedy this situation:
This is Robert Lang’s Minamimachi Butterfly – I know it looks simple but there are some wonderfully complex techniques in it’s fabrication. Continue reading
560: (10/365) Blackstar (Shining star)
This is Hoang Tien Quyet’s Shining star, a multifaceted recursive fold that is somehow appropriate for today, the anniversary of the passing of David Bowie:
2016 was a difficult year for me, and there remains 2 things that I am still struggling to come to terms with: my father’s passing at Easter and Bowie’s Passing in January.