Bitter Sweet

As I approached the date of my retirement, I genuinely struggled with how I could sum up my work-life, and how was going to say thankyou, personally, to so many people I have loved working with.

Collapsed blooms get shaped

It occurred to me that Origami could be my savior, and something hand-made and precious was the order of the day, so set about making Naomiki Sato’s pentagonal “Hybrid Tea” roses – in my opinion the zenith of his glorious rose designs. From a pentagon, with some skill, you sculpt a spiraling bloom of some 25 petals – genius as it is folds only – no cuts, no glue. Originally I was going to present them stemmed, but re-worked the idea to have them sit on calyxes instead.

I gave myself 3 weeks, and it turned out that was not really enough time, as each bloom from go to woe takes just over an hour – even when batch folding. It was a labour of love, and I got it done, and resulted in an amazing coincidence. I listed the recipients, and it totaled 33 – this number corresponded to the number of years I have been working at this current school – it was clearly meant to be.

Exacting pre-creasing

Acquiring paper, cutting perfect pentagons, calculating the relative size different between flower and calyx was the first task. I found if I cut the largest pentagon I could from an A3 sheet for the bloom, then the corresponding largest pentagon from an A4 sheet was perfect for the calyx.

Production-line techniques then ensued – precise pre-creases, pre-collapse wrangling and locating landmarks for secondary petal separation all have to be done first, and at this scale it is fiddly folding, and you need about 7 fingers on all of 3 of your hands. Once the dissected spiral collapse is complete the really hard part starts – shaping the petals to be soft curls in staggered cascades – quite a knack.

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913: (363/365) When you wish upon a Star …

So when I asked for suggestions on what to fold, Janet suggested a Starfish which prompted me to try Riccardo Foschi’s model:

Made from a pentagon, a lovely little fold that has some charming qualities. Continue reading

790: (240/365) Monica’s Bunch

Asked by a colleague whether I still do rose folding commissions, I lied and said “sure”, realising this was the opportunity to learn something new:

Working my way through Naomiki Sato’s book “Rose”, I had never tried his “Simple Rose” until this point. Continue reading

781: (231/365) Naomiki Sato’s First Pentagonal Rose

I am seriously attempting to perfect the “rose” form in Origami. In my mind, there is no better master of this flower than Naomiki Sato:

I bought his book (and DVD) entitled “Rose” and am determined to work though the various forms presented therein.

This is called his “first pentagonal rose” and I can see ancestor forms in the one that are also in the one I fold freehand currently. This is essentially a bud, but has a unique spiral centre and a nicely controlled twirl terminating in some lovely little petals. the base is also fully closed. Continue reading

560: (10/365) Blackstar (Shining star)

This isĀ Hoang Tien Quyet’s Shining star, a multifaceted recursive fold that is somehow appropriate for today, the anniversary of the passing of David Bowie:

2016 was a difficult year for me, and there remains 2 things that I am still struggling to come to terms with: my father’s passing atĀ Easter and Bowie’s Passing in January.

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