938: Angelfish by John Montroll

As a member of Origami USA, I get access to publications, diagrams and a community of folders world wide. It and JOAS are important communities for folders from Oz as we are so far (physically) from everywhere:

Every year, OUSA decorate a Christmas Tree at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. members are asked to contribute models to hang. Continue reading

936: Naomiki Sato’s Hummingbirds

Cruising around on Fakebook, as one does, I can across a photodiagram series from Naomiki Sato:

Lovely little hummingbirds, folded from 15cm square patterned paper, from bird bases.

I discovered he published a variation also, so thought I could give that a try. I think I like the wider tail one better, but they are both so cute. I have yet to see an actual hummingbird so have no real idea how morphologically accurate this is. Continue reading

933: David Brill’s “Robin”

I have been a fan of David Brill’s designs ever since I read his book “Brilliant Origami”. Such a lovely touch, breathing life into paper:

This Robin is delightful – I saw hand-drawn diagrams on David’s website and then professionally drawn diagrams in the latest Tanteidan Magazine and knew I needed to try it. I particularly like the free-form nature of the hand-drawn version, making it a bit more of an adventure to fold this bird.

The shape, management of colour change and general model stability is wonderful in this model. There is nice sense of volume, beautiful 3D head, and an animated pose. The subtleties in fold here are such that I found all 5 of them (yes, I got a bit carried away) are all slightly different, making almost a family grouping. Continue reading

932: Clever Girl

In a classic scene from the first Jurassic Park movie, a hunter realises he has just been surrounded by hungry, angry velociraptors, and utters the words “clever girl” before being ripped to shreds:

This delightful mode is really simple to fold, and belongs to that stable of models whose proportions are perfect, detail is sufficient, form is elegant and stable as is – a mark of clever design.

There is lots to love about this little snapper – the head, the placement of the haunches, the gentle curve of the tail – fabulous.  Continue reading

912: (362/365) Abandon Ship!

As the year 2017 swiftly comes to an end, after seemingly being in a hurry to do so all year, it is almost time to abandon ship:

Time for one last waltz, one more visit to the buffet, perhaps a cigar on the poop deck then it is lifejackets on and over the side into the icy uncertainty of the new year. Continue reading