328: Superdude

Now I tried something, for the first time ever. I planned a NEW model, then folded it in prototype, then adjusted the proportions and now there is a NEW ORIGAMI FIGURE in the world – cool hey:

I must admit to giggling when it just sort of … worked. I then got the class (who had finished and had their papers collected) involved – “look up there in the sky, is it a bird, a plane? No, it’s Superdude“.

I had a clear idea in my mind, rare that it coalesces so perfectly.

This is “Superdude” – like Superman but not yet franchised. He is inspired by “Girl in a dress” by Stephen Weiss and the box pleating work of Neal Elias, but I can find nothing quite like him anywhere but at my place, right here, right now so I will claim copyright.

I was messing around with proportions of an A4 sheet – not having any scissors (I was in an exam supervision and someone carelessly left an un-written on sheet lying around) with out cutting. The basic “S” bend, when combined with a 1/16th pleat provides the frame for this model.

You then tease out the “cape”, splay each ripple a little, box pleat some arms and a head one end, legs the other and you have the base.

Shaping the arms, neck, head and legs gives you a nicely proportioned super being in mid-flight (although someone should tell him that capes are so 90’s – no one wears capes these days)

269: Brill’s Dolphin

Now I am going visiting to the Sunshine Coast today, so thought something marine would be appropriate:

This lovely dolphin reminds me of “flipper” who appeared to frolic in the sea. The sad truth about captive dolphins however is that they lead miserable, confused lives and have a really short lifespan due to stress and noise in their tanks. There is increasing and justified pressure to release dolphins and orcas from captivity as it is inhumane.

The design for this model is ingenius, the body is triangular in cross-section, lovely tail flukes, sharp dorsal and pectoral fins and a beak, with open mouth.

It was difficult to photograph this model, so I perched it (via a blob of blutac) atop a mangled paperclip. Well dome Mr Brill

154: Draft Donkey

…so I am marking Drafts, dozens of the things – life goes on hold for a while and I feel like a bit of a work-horse:

This is supposed to be a donkey reading a paper – I sort of get it, hope you do to. ears and head are nice, I like how the paper is held also but would remodel the “hands” to hoofs if I were to fold this again

150: Trophy for Matthew

My son has recently graduated from his Honors program and as part of his Thesis, he had to compose a poster summarising his paper and findings:

So good was this poster that tonight he was awarded “The Alan Bailey Prize” for top student project – yay Matty.  I thought it warranted a shiny thing, so invented one

Using Brill-like techniques, I formed a cylinder then pleated and twisted a stem, quite happy with the result, hope Matty likes it – so proud.

127: Baby Elephant

This lovely baby elephant approaches the form from an A4 sheet, uncut:

I like this model a lot, the shape, position of trunk, tail and ears remind me of a young elephant and there is lots of paper so the potential to massage in detail and character are rich – very clever.

Why a baby elephant? We helped daughter daughter and her fiancée move into their first unit last night – she has always loved and collected elephants and so it seemed right to send her off with one. The house will be quieter and less interesting without her around. Love you Liz xoxo

You should try this one for yourself – be careful, the instructions are in Danish – I love the google translation engine – littoral translations are often hysterical – my favorite “45: Inner Crack rump and tail.” which means “reverse fold the tail” but it works for me on a bunch of levels.