441: Ballerina Kit

| wonko

Most parents know little girls go through the “I want to be a Ballerina” stage:

This is a wonderful thing; dance, culture, beauty and movement are all things that make our lives richer. Few go on to be professional ballet dancers (more’s the pity, few fit the fragile stick-insect archetype) but learning dance improves coordination, flexibility and overall fitness.

A lovely little lady called Kit has started ballet – she is gorgeous and will be fabulous, so thought it appropriate to celebrate by designing an original model inspired by the work of Stephen Weiss (girl in a dress) and Claudio Acuna (hoodie) that captures the special elegance of a child and her first tutu.

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440: Satoshi Kamiya’s Lion

| wonko

I had one last piece of Nicholas terry’s “Tissue Foil” and a little time on my hands so decided to try and nut out Satoshi’s Lion:

This lovely little model is a right pain to fold – some astonishingly complicated twists and turns that are not really well explained in places – some of the odd sinks and manipulations to encourage the body shape were very challenging to understand.

After nearly completing it, I then decided to repeat the process with a piece of mid-tan Tant (newly purchased and arrived) and that also was a challenge – not because I was now unfamiliar with what needed to be done but rather that the paper was so thick that it became very difficult to complete folds.

I amazed myself by completing both – fairly happy with them – I learned lots along the way and, should I fold them again (and yes, I am not against the idea)  I think I can do a lot better, now that I know what goes where. Continue reading →

439: Nick Robinson’s Penrose Triangle

| wonko

The “Penrose Triangle”, also known as a Penrose Tribar is an impossible object:

If you look at any vertice it makes sense but the shape, as a whole, cannot exist … well, until now that is.

When I first saw folds of this I was intrigued, knowing a folder on Facebook, he suggested I approach the designer, Nick Robinson, who graciously shared his design with me (isn’t the interweb amazing). Continue reading →

438: Jason Ku’s Bicycle

| wonko

Perusing a Tanteidan, I noticed a crease pattern challenge, set by Jason Ku, and filed it as a “that’s impossible” fold:

Needing to unwind from a hectic and punishing term at work, I cut a 55cm square of light weight Kraft paper and set about working out, geometrically, where the myriad of creases were.

Although there was some regular geometry to place landmarks, there were some “mystery meat” creases that I just sort of fudged really – professionals would have measured it but I know I am an amateur.

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437: Perambulator

| wonko

When I first saw photos of this model, I could not believe it was folded from a single sheet, without cuts, folds only:

In case you were wondering, this was WTF (What’s That Fold?) # 8. I was determined to give it a go. Noticing it was made from hundreds of pleats, and given the crease pattern folded down to 64ths in places, I upscaled the suggested paper size (to a 70cm square of 80GSM brown Kraft) to allow for my fat, clumsy fingers to make the creases.

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WTF (What’s That Fold?) # 8

| wonko

I saw this AMAZING design, and figured it could not possibly be made out of ONE SQUARE without cuts, or glue and became determined to try and make it for myself:
I found a crease pattern but little else to go by, so sort of wrestled the initial creases into place as best I could. Continue reading →

436: Sydney Opera House

| wonko

Anyone who knows me understands my fascination with the Sydney Opera House, as a kid I saw the sails of it being built:

Set magnificently on Bennelong Point right in the heart of the harbour, it together with the Sydney Harbour Bridge (no, do not panic, I am not making that) are quintessential Australian icons.

Googling one day I stumbled across a design idea from Gerwin Sturm (2007) for a box pleated version of my fav building on earth, and some vague explanations of how it “should be possible to collapse and shape based on a 32×32 grid”. Continue reading →

WTF (What’s That Fold?) #7

| wonko

…so it has been a while I know, and it is raining, and I am too lethargic to do much more than bend paper so I thought it a good plan to do another WTF competition.

This fold is experimental in that I only have a kinda-sorta vague idea how to do it, but will bend it like … well … me I guess

After taking a 70cm square (yes, it is HUGE) and dividing it up into 32nds horizontally and vertically, I lay in some odd diagonal zig zags (you can make them out if you squint one eye, close the other, raise your left leg and hop on the spot), you get to this (the stage before the first round of collapses:

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435: Satoshi’s Phoenix 3.5

| wonko

There are a number of models in the origami world I see as “legendary” – the Phoenix (version 3.5) is one of those:

When I bought Satoshi Kamiya’s works book volume 2 I knew I would one day put myself up against this challenge, I also knew it would take me a while to master it.

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434: Sipho Mabona’s African Elephant

| wonko

When I first saw this model, folded with elegance, playfulness (in outrageous colours) and joy by Sipho Mabona, I wanted to try it myself:

Designed recently and soon I hope to be included in a book so I can purchase the diagrams, I stumbled across a video tutorial and had to have a go. Used as WTF#6, I first folded it in white, then decided to give my newly purchased VOG paper a go.

I had a huge piece of burgundy/purple paper, rough texture on both sides and decided to use it for this model – so glad I did. The texture looks a little like craggy elephant skin, the paper holds it’s form and was a delight to fold.

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WTF (What’s That Fold?) #6

| wonko

Ok boys, girls and small green aliens from alpha centauri, I present to you clues for this week’s WTF (What’s That Fold?) also model #434

I start with an enormous square (using a square cut from an a1 ish sheet of litho, no idea if it should be nice side up or down so I just guessed. Using the ourPAD as the repository of instructions and not yet known if I will need anything from my origami toolbox:

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PDub Seal of Approval

| wonko

I have been agonising for ages (years in fact) as to the best way of personalising my models, so it is obvious that I folded them.

I toyed with the idea of a Japanese stamp/cartouche/character but realised pretty soon that even I had no idea what the symbols meant. I wanted something small enough to be added to a finished model, that looked like it belongs, that is something about me.

The essence of the idea is that PDub bends paper, so set about designing that, the resultant stamps (I could not decide on which one I liked the best so had both made) are lovely. They are tiny – the resultant impressions measure 12mm x 7mm, will be discrete but there enough I think.

Above is my POINTING FINGER, to give you an idea of scale

Managing ink, getting a good impression etc are all things I look forward to playing with (and look forward to the time when the blue test ink they used goes away) but I think they are terrific. I cannot wait to decide where on my existing models the “PDub seal of approval” will go.

433: Spikey Cuboctahedron

| wonko

So I have this line I sometimes use: “find some nice paper and I will make something for you”:

A friend (*waves to Jan*) found a packet of 15cm (ish) hand-printed Washi and teh challenge was on.

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432: Giraffe

| wonko

I have been on the lookout for a nice giraffe for a number of reasons, but stumbled across Hideo Komatsu’s in a JOAS Tanteidan:

This was a fun model to fold – it twists and turns and for most of the journey looks NOTHING like a giraffe.

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431: Brill’s Woven Dodecahedron

| wonko

As a teacher, I look for activities, particularly in the establishment phase of a year, to engage. Nothing says engagement like a hands-on physical activity and, as my wont is origami, I went for a modular project:

The themes for this were many, the metaphors a plenty – “many hands make light work” and “the sum is greater that it’s parts” being central.

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