609: (59/365) Leia Organa

“Help me Obi Wan Kenobie, you’re my only hope’:

This is my second attempt at Tadashi Mori’s “Leia”, a fun fold that does so much with a tortured little piece of paper. Continue reading

607: (57/365) Storm Trooper

…now I am as much a fan of Star Wars as the next browncoat. I loved Orac, thought he was the best little droid sidekick since Starbuck and 7 of 9 was my favourite character in all of the series:

This is Tadashi Mori’s “Storm Trooper” – a lovely little clone of a guy from the SW universe. Continue reading

584: (34/365) Tadashi Mori’s Facebook “Like”

Social media, gift that it is, has fundamentally broken two concepts I think. The “friend” and the “like” now no longer mean what they used to, and culturally I am not sure we are not really ready for that change:

The “friend” has come to mean some random that stalks you, watching what you do. Continue reading

541: Charizard – GO!

Now I am not of the generation that grew up with Pokemon, but seem surrounded by adults that were. Fandom/enthusiasm takes many forms and the latest augmented reality game “Pokemon GO!” is so hot right now I felt I had to fold a poke-thing because…reasons541CharizardCaught

I had seen a video tutorial from Tadashi Mori on a complex model called “Charizard” so thought I would give it a go. Squaring up a large sheet of crumpled VOG paper (I used red, the critter should be orange – not sure if it matters) and began folding.541Charizard

Turns out the tutorial was in 3 parts, and the model was really challenging, but I think I managed a reasonable rendition of the critter. Continue reading

Double Dragon – Paper Wedding Anniversary

When asked by a friend of my son’s if were possible to fold something to celebrate their fist wedding anniversary, which coincidentally is the “Paper” anniversary, I thought why not:DoubleDragon

The couple are dragon fans, so it seemed obvious to include something from that world. I looked around for something that would present in a shadow box, and dismissing immediately the suggestion that “a ryujun would be nice”, I settled on a pair of Darkness Dragon IIs, designed by Tadashi Mori. Continue reading

525: Tadashi Mori’s Darth Vader

Needing to fold something and having a lovely sheet of Elephant Hide paper means something is going to get creased:525MoriVader

I saw this model in a video tutorial just published by Tadashi Mori and knew I had to try it. It reminds me of one of those cute little plastic dolly’s that are all the rage now – bobble-headed stylized versions of movie and telly characters.525MoriVaderScale

This lovely little Vader comes with helmet, breathing things, cape and the cutest little arms and legs, and is self-standing!

Such a fun fold, you should try it.

454: Unryushi Darkness Dragon 2

I was given a beautiful sheet of Unryushi tissue by a friend. The arrangement (in case YOU want to take part also) is if you give me nice paper, I will make you something out of it.

I prepared the paper by Methyl Cellulosing it to a clean window:

This make it crisp and strong, then, in a dragony frame of mind, I used Tadashi Mori’s own folding tutorial to fold a Darkness Dragon 2.

I had already folded the Darkness Dragon 1, but this model was a refinement I had not tried. There is a killer collapse after some exacting pre-folding – a sort of all these folds happen at the same time whilst inside a bunch of others, but the sense of it makes for a lovely body.

Continue reading

415: Smaug the Golden

I have been looking for a nice dragon, you know, in celebration of the forthcoming release of “The Hobbit” (being a bit of a fan):

I saw a coloured/cut version of this dragon on Deviantart and thought it worth trying, turns out it is a WIP from Tadashi Mori, who released a video of how to fold it so I was away.

It reminds me a little of the “Ancient Dragon” by Satoshi Kamiya, but is much easier to fold and is a lot less brutal to the paper.

I can see huge modelling potential for this dragon, Tadashi calls it a “darkness Dragon” and I hope he is continuing the development of the model. I added knees, claws and modified the wings slightly so they stay out in display.

I like the tail and general morphology of this dragon – the central body length (betwixt fore and aft legs is a little compact, neck a little long and hind legs a little bunched but it is a nice fold none the less.

I am very happy with this as a first fold, and will probably fold it again. I used 55cm square Kraft paper and it seemed to hold up pretty well.

Soooo … who would like this little beauty? He needs a home, is only a little bit bitey but 100% dragon (well, 74% dragon, 26% paper, but with imagination…)

edit: smaug long since found a home, sorry

Celtic Cross Revisited

When I first folded Tadashi Mori’s Celtic Cross I knew it would come in handy, being that it is a part of the symbology of my College:

My year 12s (well, I call them mine, they were the leaders in my tutor Group – a lovely bunch of chaps) had their last day of classes today so I thought it a good idea to mark the occasion with cards – naturally they would feature origami.

Hope they liked them.

286: Spiral Star

I saw a video of this interesting structure and decided I should give it a whirl:

It is Tadahi Mori’s “Spiral Star” – a lovely fiddly modular using 6 bits of paper that interlock to form a 12 pointed star with lovely spirals near the centre.

If this was not so fiddly, it would make a nice decoration for a festive tree I guess, but even with A4-cut squares it was dense and tricksey.

Quite happy with this as a first fold and, yes, I know I have done my monthly modular but … meh, it interested me so there you go.

206: Celtic Cross

This week is Catholic Education Week – now I am not a Catholic, nor ever religious but I know that at my place of work there are a number of important ecumenical symbols – one of which is a Celtic Cross:

This model takes a preliminary base and distorts it in interesting ways – designed by Tadashi Mori it is an interesting geometric form that has its roots in ancient UK cultures.

Our school has one in it’s quadrangle, and our school crest has one as well – appropriate symbology I thought.