My son and his partner (Hi Matt and Alix!) came back from a recent trip to Canada and the US and had some greenbacks left over in their wallet.
They are paper, you can fold them, there is a whole branch of Origami that does this intensively, led by artists like Won Park.
When friends travel, often they find lovely small bits of Washi. Packs of this are full of a myriad of lovely traditional prints, rich colours often embossed and overlayed with gold.
The tricksey bit is to work out what to do with it – given it’s size and often the overpowering beauty of the design.
Continue reading
A friend (waves at Roland!) excitedly showed me a new app called Fyuse that allows you to scan objects and create interactive 3D photos of them.
For ages I have been increasingly unhappy with flat photos of really complex origami models and this tool seems to solve that problem, so long as the lighting is ok.
Unlike panorama software where you pan scenery and it stitches a long photo into a surround-scape, with Fyuse you focus on the object, moving the camera around it.
You can change the camera angle and do other things to enhance the photo but it is pretty neat – I will definitely experiment with it more.
If viewing this page on a mobile device, tilt and the images move with you in a sort of augmented reality sort of a way – otherwise drag with your mouse pointer to view these models for all sorts of angles.
I like that you can use a flash, move the model as you pan and that it allows you to see the nooks and crannies that would otherwise not be represented in a conventional flat photo
As part of the school’s social justice program, I was asked to come up with a fold for a bow tie that I could teach year 7-10 boys and girls from 3 schools on a Friday afternoon:
Based in part on a technique used by many, but first seen in a video, I devices a way of using a square, hiding raw edges and basing most of the folds on halves (figuring boys could actually fold things in half fairly easily). Continue reading
Another time sponge, based on a square grid initially that was torturous to fold and pre-crease. Based on Eric Gjerde’s tessellation molecule, it is an amazing use of paper that features largely an “all at once” collapse.
Many tessellations sit flat while you do them, their interim stages are still flat – not this mongrel. Once you start, you gotta finish and then work out how to flatten – interesting but not very portable in the end. Continue reading
I spend a lot of time waiting for students to ask for assistance during practical assignment lessons. This is a good thing – if they do not ask and are skilled enough to work independently then I have done the right thing, so it is all grist for the mill. (When kids need help but do nothing about it is much less good, but again a choice the student makes):
This is my first attempt (and probably last) at Eric Gjerde’s “Stacked Triangles” tessellation, based on a triangle grid that had a 6mm spacing. Continue reading
Now apparently, when faces with a wee beastie, you throw a pokeball at it and that, somehow, traps the beastie …inside.. the ball for safe keeping – truly, I cannot make this shit up:
This is Jeremy Shafer’s Pokeball – a genius modular fold using 2 bits of paper that interlock at the hinge, forming a rather lovely clasp at the front. Continue reading
I try to mark the passing of Hiroshima Day August 6 with respect and effort.
Having folded the traditional 1000 cranes twice in my life (oddly, the second time my cranes were “borrowed” by a then campaigning year 11 for a community project where he received the credit and was subsequently elected School Captain … but I digress) so thought it time to try something new. Continue reading
Pika, Pika, PIKA! Pika, Pik Pik Pikachu, pikachu? Pikachu. Pika? Pikachu. Such is the scripting necessary for a Pokemon standard character’s dialogue. Yeah, but…?
So I have started to fold again, I need to bend paper and finding models I am interested enough to fold seems to be an issue for me at the moment. In the interim, I figure I should continue to tap into pop-culture and fold some more Pokemon.
I know little about this universe but know of the passion people who have brand loyalty have, so that they are going out, meeting people, catching them all. Continue reading
Now I am not of the generation that grew up with Pokemon, but seem surrounded by adults that were. Fandom/enthusiasm takes many forms and the latest augmented reality game “Pokemon GO!” is so hot right now I felt I had to fold a poke-thing because…reasons
I had seen a video tutorial from Tadashi Mori on a complex model called “Charizard” so thought I would give it a go. Squaring up a large sheet of crumpled VOG paper (I used red, the critter should be orange – not sure if it matters) and began folding.
Turns out the tutorial was in 3 parts, and the model was really challenging, but I think I managed a reasonable rendition of the critter. Continue reading
People with “green thumbs” are a treasure to behold.
As someone with a not-quite-green, more of a dirty yellow thumb I am in awe of people who delight in growing things.
Our College gardener/groundsman John has retired, while I am as jealous as anything, I know he will have a fabulous time. Ever friendly, it has been a pleasure to share a workplace with him. The College will miss his charming style, happy greetings and zeal for gardens.
He retired on the sly, which is the right way to escape our asylum – the exit rituals can be exhausting so I understand he went on term break and retired earlier than first advertised – good on him, I will probably try to do the same.
I made this figurine for him, as a way of saying thanks. I hope i get a chance to give it to him. Enjoy retirement John, may your gardens bloom and be ever greener on the other side of working life.
Voting is something democratic societies hold as an important right. Some counties have compulsory voting, most allow citizens to choose whether they want to vote – all too often the result is the same – groups of opinionated, empty-headed people are elected to represent the views of the common people.
Anyone who knows me, realises I take the political piss whenever I can – voting only encouraged politicians to think they are more important than the rest of us, but they are just us, right, paid to argue (usually paid a LOT more that those of us who enjoy a good argument). 
We organise candidates into “parties”, “alliances” and “coalitions”, pick “leaders” and rally behind them like their personalities are what really matters. All too often, in the end, we end up with the government we deserve. Continue reading
Continuing my exploration of Hiden Senbazuru Orikata (The Secret of One Thousand Cranes Origami), published in 1797 I managed to wrangle a triple Tsuru:
The original schematic suggests that you use 2 small squares attached to the wings of the larger square, and I cannot fathom whether the dotted lines mean “remove” the unused paper or “hide” it. I chose to hide it.
We end up with parent and 2 kids, joined at the wings. The actual folding is fairly fiddly and the paper hiding makes the head/tail of the parent very thick (or was it the paper I chose?) Continue reading
After some fiddling, and diagramming (hopefully for the Sydney Folders Convention book) I am happy with the component parts of this original model:
The sock and buskin are two ancient symbols of comedy and tragedy. In Greek theatre, actors in tragic roles wore a boot called a buskin (Latin cothurnus) that elevated them above the other actors. The actors with comedic roles only wore a thin soled shoe called a sock (Latin soccus).
Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, is often depicted holding the tragic mask and wearing buskins. Thalia, the muse of comedy, is similarly associated with the mask of comedy and comic’s socks. Some people refer to the masks themselves as “Sock and Buskin”.
Inspired by face work on Eric Joisel’s Dwarf series, a single piece of paper becomes BOTH comedy and Tragedy – happy with the result.
Have a try with my diagrams: http://www.wonko.info/365origami/wp-content/uploads/SockAndBuskin-PeterWhitehouse_2.pdf
Taking a square and (nearly) cleaving it into 4 separate sheets leads to an interesting design dilemma:
When the join is in the centre of the sheet, you can join wings, tails or I suppose beaks together.
When the joins are at the edges of the sheet, you could join wings, beaks or tails but I went for the symmetry of wings in this fold. Continue reading
