bird

153: Shiri’s Snail

| wonko

Now I stumbled across this recipe for a snail, only problem was all the instructions were in Thai:

Quite by coincidence, we are having home-cooked Thai tonight (I make a mean beef and basil) but NOT cooked with snails

So I gave it a whirl – in the end I had to work from the way diagrams looked, think I nailed it, difficult to tell – this snail has a lovely shell, head/feelers and foot – quite my favorite mollusc so far
I really like how the shell becomes 3d, with some tweaking and some textured paper this would be really beautiful (well, as beautiful as a snail can be at least)

149: The Black Pearl in a Bottle

| wonko

…so my Wife and I went to see the fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean” (admitting to be fans) and discovered Capt’n Jack’s beloved “Black Pearl” had been imprisoned in a bottle by Blackbeard (amongst other piratical stereotypes trotted out this adventure):

So I got to thinking about ships, and found a lovely “fully rigged ship” by Patricia Crawford, in the book “Origami – Step by Step”

I had previously made a bottle as designed by David Brill so put the two together and got a satisfying rendition of the classic “ship in a bottle”, which counts as my ONE model today, given the bottle has previously been folded, and the ship stand (Designed by Fred Rhom) do not count (cut me a little slack here).

I learned a LOT folding this thing – scale matters (had to scale the bottle to fit the model AFTER it was finished), cellophane (which the bottle is made out of) does NOT like being cut straight nor folded, nor does it intend to ever stay folded (I resorted to anchoring it in place with sticky tape – so sue me) and finally how jolly hard it is to photograph something INSIDE a bottle made of cellophane.

Still, I think the Black Pearl may well survive to sail another day, the scene after the credits (that few of us theater patrons hung around for) would indicate the adventure continues.

145: An Electric Monk

| admin

High on a rocky promontory sat an Electric Monk on a bored horse. From under its rough woven cowl the Monk gazed unblinkingly down into another valley …

And so begins one of my favorite books of all time “Dirk gently’s Hollistic Detective Agency” by Douglas Adams.

Today we remember DNA, and carry a TOWEL in his honour – may he rest in peace.

Whlst i could not find a “towel” origami (interestingly there IS a branch of origami that deals with folding towels for guest beds into exotic shapes) I thought I would go with the Monk – I decided against the bored horse – am convinced that this monk is more than willing to believe anythig it is programmed to believe in, as a service to it’s master … if you haven’t read the book – do so, it is fab!

122: Geiger Xenomorph (alien)

| wonko

I loved Ridley Scott’s “Alien” – so dark, terrifying and it introduced a much reprised xenomorph originally designed by H.R. Geiger.

When I first saw the instructions for a paper xenomorph (in Spanish) I filed them away in the “yeah, prolly not” folder.

Conventionally the diagram should have symbols to reinforce what is happening (sometimes with words also, except these were in Spanish). First exception to the rule was a TURN OVER with no corresponding flip symbol!!! Grrrr. Following my realisation that I was folding the wrong side, I tried again only to be baffled by “Quedan la dos solapas mirando hacia la derecha” describing a collapse, followed by “Introducir las solapas dentro de los bolsillos” to describe a pocket tuck … poor paper (and finger tips) by this stage. Thank you Google translate.
Now I admit I broke a rule here – I got part way towards collapsing the base and realised I missed an instruction to open some side flaps so did all the nasty folding over the top of some snarly pre-folding instead of on the yet-unfolded side. I discovered this when i opened up the model expecting to find pre-creases only to find none – oops. I was determined to complete this model, so I started again – so sue me.

This is AMAZING – appendages, tail (ouch, that was painful to fold at this scale) and I re-worked the head to be a little 3d and characteristically domed – very pleased with this model. For an A3-cut square to reduce to a model barely 7cm tall, there is a LOT of paper torture, thank goodness for fingernails – I am amazed the copy paper did not simply disintegrate (it would have had I used the model I folded in error first).

For all you Alien fans out there, this one is for you (in commemoration of the theft of a classic line in the movie “Paul” I saw last night – “get away from her you bitch!” – lol.

114: Hatching Chick

| wonko

This model is cute – designed by Peter Engel, it is an egg with a chick inside, and is an action model (in that it moves):

The chick’s head peers out of the cracked egg, beak ready to cheep:

This is an easter-inspired fold that is not too difficult – would work well in 2 colour paper as the chick and the egg end up being different colours if folded correctly.

You can try this for yourself – a video of the fold, apparently authorised by the designer is available here.

On a related note, I am finding it really difficult to decide if resources I find on the net are authorised, or pirate copies of copyrighted works that appear in pay-for publications. I am TRYING to do the right thing here but the interweb is not helping as so many legit resources turn out to be copyright theft. Indeed, I am beginning to wonder if publishing my “development” shots might also be breaching copyright laws – I will seek advice from the British Origami Society on this one I think.

106: Liz’s Elephant

| wonko

21 years ago, my adorable squealing little girl was born. As soon as she could recognize an elephant, she was fascinated by them – Happy Birthday Liz:

So I decided it was appropriate to make Liz an Elephant for her 21st Birthday – they say an Elephant never forgets (not sure why, I am sure they have just as faulty memories as the rest of us).

First fold was small and it was difficult to get the pose right without stiffness in the paper, second fold (the birthday present) was folded from light card (reminiscent of elephant hide I thought) and seemed to work better, or maybe it was because I knew what I was doing second time through.

Lovely model, cute expression on it’s face, beautiful trunk and ears, nice stocky, elephantine body.

You can have a go at this yourself, only the side sinks are difficult, everything else is fairly easy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKbQR4mnim8

82: Scottie Dog

| wonko

Looking for something that was quick, as I was out for most of the day, I came across a rather charming Scottie Dog:

This model by Neil Elias looks more like a pug puppy, but it could have been how I folded it – cute as a puppy, sitting, in profile however.

77: Robin

| wonko

Robins and Wrens are lovely little birds, stickey-uppey tail, tiny and delicate:

Quite happy with this model, taken from “More Origami” by Robert Harbin, a book I bought years ago.

This is a fairly manageable manipulation of the bird base but the legs are so tortuously thin that I had to help it stand up with a couple of blutac blobs under the feet, soz.

71: Oarsome Eight

| wonko

Now I have nothing but respect for rowers (and their poor exhausted parents) and this weekend is the annual “Head of the River” regatta, battling for a shiny thing, so I thought I would do a rower. Our rowers (like many Brisbane-based rowing clubs) have had a really broken season – their shed was destroyed by the floods, they were banned from the river because of water contamination. They did all sorts of non rowing exercises to keep in shape for when they were able to get back on the water, albeit in another school’s shed (many thanks go to Lourdes Hill here). Win or lose, they have already overcome enormous obstacles to even make it to the race.

In first-fold tradition I initially worked on a model by Neil Elias called “Hiawatha in a canoe” but modified the boat, the indian (gave him a cap instead of a feather and made him look like a schoolboy) and the oar. Quite happy with a “single scull”, I realised that he only has ONE oar, and that would result in him going around in circles I began bending and torturing it further.

It occurred to me that a modular (multi-part linked together model) might be possible based on this figure, as there was some symmetry and I could determine which side the oar was formed, so set about making eight. Because each was folded separately, they all have slightly different postures, I like that. On the back end, I sort of bent a “cox” but there was not much paper so he is a little wee fellow (which coxes are apparently).

I tried to work out a way of joining them into one shell – really I did. I have to admit to cheating (a little) – I used some staples to keep the model together, it is as long as my keyboard and totally unstable without being fixed, so I hope my faithful following (lol) will forgive this transgression because it is so oaresome.

66: Golden Slipper Orchid

| wonko

I have grown these, but the blooms of the cultivars I am familiar with are really tiny yellow leopard spotted flowers – I misjudged the scale (seems a full square from an A4 makes quite a sizeable bloom)

A delicate, spidery flower, with a well developed nectary and some interesting folds – if I was to fold it again I have learned what does what so I think the second+ fold would be much better

You too can have a go – it is not that difficult: goldenslipperorchid

63: Polar Bear

| wonko

Looking through the British Origami Society website, I stumbled across a simple pattern for a Polar Bear:

Made from 1/2 a square triangle, you fold half the bird base and massage from there – nice little model designed by Max Hulme that uses creases to create a 3d body and hindlegs out of nowhere. As a first fold I am very happy with this one, but would improve the posture and expression next time I folded it now I know what makes what.

Why a Polar Bear? Well a colleague suggested it (thanks Bruce).

You can try it too (diagrams are a little rough and leave a lot open to interpretation): http://www.britishorigami.info/practical/creative/bestof/mh.php

41: Pavlova

| wonko

Now generally my students rock. Often they do really cool things and this bunch of Year 12s seem to enjoy, from time to time, homebake.

I was approached, post Australia Day, and canvassed as to whether it would be ok to bring Pavlova to share in our double IPT … silly question really:We as a group ate dessert in the lab, it was very cool (many thanks James and Joe) – they organised fruit (strawberries, blueberries and passionfruit), cream, the works – wow!

This is my attempt to modify a twist-flower into the swirls of meringue that is a Pavlova – I fully realise I FAILED to recreate the magnificence that was morning tea today – the intention was there however (I have been sick, it was late, I was tired). I sort of thought the things on top would look a little like fruit (strawberries) but there was something lost between idea and realisation – they cannot all be gems I suppose.

Not to put a damper on the gesture – I thought it was awesome, those guys rock! (all of my students do)

5: Veloceraptor

| wonko

I like this, the posture/stance is sort of what I expect (after watching Jurassic Park) and I like how you get the vestigial arms seemingly from nowhere. I like how the shadow makes it more menacing as well, accidental photos using obscure light sources can result in nice happenstances sometimes.

Nice model, interesting manipulation of the bird-base, first time I tried it – you can try it too at http://www.fishgoth.com/origami/diagrams/velociraptor.pdfveloceraptor