J Montroll

1028: Montroll’s Butterfly

| wonko

Flipping through “Bugs and Birds in Origami” by John Montroll one gains an appreciation for the clear design skills on show:

Montroll's butterfly

This is Montroll’s “Butterfly” – published in 2001, representing ‘old school’ design, the resultant model is lovely, efficiently uses paper and is morphologically pretty accurate – all this without the hundreds of instructions typical of more modern designs.

Montroll's butterfly views

Folded from a 30cm square of Daiso unryu (do they still make this? i have not been able to buy it for years), the work to isolate legs and antennae is delicious (if requiring precision) folding, and overall is a fun sequence minimally diagrammed.

Continue reading →

938: Angelfish by John Montroll

| wonko

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 →

620: (70/365) Montroll’s One-Sheet Omega Star

| wonko

Modular stars are a thing, there are many beautiful ones including multi-sheet omega stars (8 pointers), but this little beauty is crafted from a single uncut square:

From a sunken waterbomb base we tease xyz planes then fashion points from their intersections – genius. Continue reading →

450: Montroll’s Hippopotatomus

| wonko

It is a little recognised fact that the animal that has killed the most people in Africa is in fact the Hippopotamus:

I stumbled across this delightful model while leafing through “African Animals in Origami” – a much worn volume when looking for something to try from my invalid chair.

I had a gold (more correctly bronze) foil square and was wanting to fold something “yoshizawa style” – free form hand-held rather than on table or other flat surface – the challenges with this style are accuracy and precision, the payoffs are often more fluid, softer curves and lively asymmetrical poses.

I like this model, although he reflective paper makes discerning details difficult – she has a wry grin, 2 lovely tusks on her bottom jaw, lovely ears and a fine rump after some 3d modelling.

430: Lang’s Spider Conch

| wonko

Those of you who were guessers for the WTF (What’s That Fold?) #4 will be interested to know that this model was actually a Spider Conch designed by Robert Lang:

I once taught on Palm Island – which is seaward from Townsville, North Queensland. Whilst there I loved to snorkel the reef nearby. Whilst doing so, I managed to find a pair of “spider shells” that I still have today.

Continue reading →