Browsing a Korean Origami Convention book (the 6th – 2015), as you do, I stumbled across a Platypus I had not seen before:
Designed by Fernando Gilgado, this genius design uses duo paper to isolate the beak, tail and legs from the body in a really interesting way.
After some simple pre-creasing, you collapse to a base that looks really useful for all sorts of long critters with head/tail and 2 pairs of legs (like a crocodile, say)
Continue readingA certain orange cretin recently said that one of the most important issues in his dangerous foreign land was water usage due to low flow, causing it’s people to need to flush 10 or 15 times instead of just once:
I for one am worried for him – one has to be concerned about a diet that creates such a terminally un-flushable turd like him.
This is Fernando Gilgado’s “Pensador” (or pensive man, I think) – the loo is the best place to contemplate life, the universe and everything … and TWEET about it (which is where I think he generates his content) – hence requiring 10-15 flushes to get rid of it.
…so if you found a magic lamp, rubbed it and a Genie appeared, granting you 3 wishes, what would you wish for?:
It is an interesting, vaguely existential question that is remarkably difficult to answer with any certainty. Continue reading
Go on, admit it. Ever since you saw the “Aladdin” movie you have secretly thought how cool it would be to ride on a magic carpet:
This clever model, inexpertly folded, is an exercise in colour management- had I used bi-colour paper, the rider and carpet would be different colours – pretty neat. Continue reading
Few things can compare to the biological miracle that allows a caterpillar to become a chrysalis, inside of which it’s body chemistry and morphology transitions from grub to soup to butterfly:
Few models try to capture the whole journey. This set, designed by Fernando Gilgado is an exception. Continue reading
Jono sent me a link to the new trailer for the coming series of Game of Thrones:
Seems like big things are set to happen in the seven kingdoms.
Knights in shining armor in this series are rarely shiny at all, often dirty, lacking honor and glory – such is the reality of war. Continue reading
Now you are set to sleep in, for the first time in ages right? Your neighbour, bless him, decides this morning is the time to chainsaw and woodchip the hedgerow:
As amusing as this sounds, this actually happened to me this morning. Coincidentally I had just completed Fernando Gilgado’s “Sleeping In” model – seems the universe was conspiring against me. Continue reading
Look away, look away … we are going to need a bigger boat:
Interestingly, people’s opinions of sharks in Australia, particularly by those who do not live here, varies from reality markedly. One would believe, if one believed what you see in the media, that sharks are a problem, everyone gets attacked – this is far from the truth.
Although this is a stereotypical tale of woe, I was interested in the folding sequence as each of the tree parts use different bases, wildly different techniques initially and yet there is consistency when you get to the final shaping. Continue reading
…you went in, the water was fine. You notice a nice fishy, it seems to want to be friends:
This is part 2 of a series by Fernando Gilgado, again, like part 1 it uses bicolour paper and clever colour changes to highlight details. Continue reading
It is a beautiful day, waters clear, the water beckons, it would be wrong not to go for a swim. You put your toe in, the water is lovely, swimming gives you a new found freedom:
This is part 1 of a 3 part story – what could possibly go wrong- we rarely see the danger, far off in the distance, and why would we consider it, we are ok, nothing could go wrong. Continue reading
Those who know me realise I am a little obsessed with paper folding, some would say to excess. The truth of the matter is I am constantly amazed what you can coax a flat sheet to do. I think I missed my calling as a materials engineer:
I like models that I can visualise, as I am folding. Equally, I am fascinating when there is a tangle and then, out of the mess, something wonderful emerges. Continue reading
Flipping through an obscure copy of Papiroflexia Bicolour by Fernando Gilgado, I was struck with a pair of … models that looked like fun to make.
I had some small (10in) squares of handmade Kozo left over from the eagle fold and thought I would give it a whirl.
The fun and hilarity began – I have provided you with a cutout so you can do some arrangement depending on your orientation and preference – is it “Adam and Eve”, “Adam and Steve” or “Eve and Gwen” – you decide. Continue reading
Fernando Gilgado is a legendary character folder, I have made many of his models, this one is a charmer:
from one sheet of paper, you get 6 pages, a hard cover, arms, legs, a smile and eyes peeping over the top – neat
So, as I mark furiously (having run out of the ability to put it off any longer), my procrastigami takes hold and I started bending something. I also wanted to try out my new self-healing craft mat (the green griddy thing) and have discovered that folding from an iPad or other tablet is better than a book because of the pinch-zooming possible to help old eyes see details of diagrams. Continue reading
I have grown to respect a number of designers of all nationalities and Fernando Gilgado from Spain is one who is guaranteed to produce a challenging model:
This is the Demon, and the devil in the details, trust me – his head alone is frightening – 2 sets of horns, beard, snarly mouth, eyes etc. His body is very dense, arms and legs 20+ layers of paper but that bunching results in the most splendid wings and a pointy demonic tail.
This instruction set was a real challenge – apart from folding it during school time (in between end of year report checking and tidying up), the instructions were in Spanish, and some aspects of it were very fiddly indeed. Even at 54cm x 54 cm, the head and facial features were too small to fold tidily, still, as a first fold I am very pleased with this. It is a monster, wing span of nearly 30cm and he looks very menacing – in a cutey sort of way.
I thought the “angels” of yesterday needed some “demons” today to bring some sort of balance to the paper cosmos. A suitable end of my second last month of this challenge.
Throughout history, people have acted “the fool” for many and varied reasons. In medieval court, Jesters acted the fool in a bid for self-preservation and increased favour:
All too often the jester is actually pretty bright, but uses that intelligence to work out ways of appearing foolish, doing comically silly things and overtly hiding in plain sight. The often painful “notice me” behavior is more of an indication of their own insecurity often than the bravado it exemplifies.
We all know jesters (more correctly, people who “act the fool”) – one can only wonder, when the retrospect finally kicks in (or when someone in the real world finally has had enough and punches them in the face and finally tells them to STFU), how they contemplate the time wasted avoiding behaving like everyone else and realise they actually had to work harder to appear so silly.
This is a wonderful character piece designed by Spanish origamist Fernando Gilgado. A hideous exercise in box pleating, made more so by the use of copy paper, which I struggled to prevent from disintegrating along commonly folded creases. After the initial pre-creasing, nearly no new folds are introduced in this brilliant design. He looks happy, a little silly, and has detailed face, a wonderful pointed hat with bells on. With duo paper, the face, hands and feet end up one colour, the rest (clothes and hat) are the other colour – again, genius in design.
I am very happy with this as a first fold – even if it seem to take an age it was a great way to weather a morning thunderstorm, and I will fold this again.
Because this model is flat, and great on one side (less so on the other), it suits card mounting, like this:
