19 March 2006
Test post with images
What: test model
By: someone
From: somewhere
caption text
Why:
about the thing
08 March 2006
Komatsu's "Owl"
What: Owl
By: KOMATSU Hideo
From: Origami Tanteidan Magazin No. 49
Why: Someone was asking about this on the O-list, and I realized I'd never folded the model (though had admired it from both pictures and at least one real version in Japan) so I decided to fold it.
In short: great model! Interesting, satisfying folding process, and the way it becomes 3-D at the end is very cool indeed. Komatsu-san does it again!
27 February 2006
Fujimoto's "Crowding Butterflies"
What: "Crowding Butterflies"
By: FUJIMOTO Shuzo
From: http://www.raviapte.com/gallery/FujimotoCrowdingButterflies,
BOS Convention 1989 Autumn, Oru 4 (photo, no diagrams)
Why: Ravi Apte posted photo diagrams for this beautiful, abstract model on his website (itself well worth a wander: http://www.raviapte.com/
) so I thought I'd give it a try.
This is a fun exploration of what you can do with the whole crossed-box pleat folding thing. Fujimoto sensei called it "ajisai ori" or "hydrangea folding" since you can use it to produce forms that look like multi-petalled hydrangea blossoms. Very cool.
06 April 2005
Yenn's "Umulius Rectangulum"
What: Umulius Rectangulum
By: Thoki Yenn
From: (need to hunt down web reference)
Why: I'd folded the model once before, at an OUSA convention (class taught by Rick Beech), and it's a really fun and interesting model. I was tidying up some stuff (spring cleaning and all) and came across some sheets of A4 paper that I'd cut in half in the past for some project, and never used. (Fancy that.) Never one to throw away useful paper - you should see my closets, I have more paper than any normal person should have, stashed away - I of course had saved it carefully with some other nicely colored A4 sheets. I remembered that this model requires 6 "long John Silver" sheets (A4 cut in half the long way) and so here it is.
29 March 2005
Yoshizawa's "Hanayome" (bride)
What: "Hanayome" (bride)
By: YOSHIZAWA Akira
From: Origami Full of Life
Why: This is a beautiful model. I'd mentioned to my mom that Master Yoshizawa had passed away recently, and she asked to see some of his work. I pulled out my copy of Origami Full of Life and she flipped through it, admiring the many wonderful models in it. For some reason, though, she was most struck by this model of a bride in traditional Japanese costume. Afterwards, I thought I'd try folding it.
As expected, it took me around five tries to get a reasonable-looking model. Master Yoshizawa's models are famous for not having concrete landmarks - many of the folds along the way are "right-about-there" folds - and this one involves many such folds done on an angle. This means that small changes in folds early on make huge differences later in the model. In this case, the subtle angles to the upper chest, head and head covering (called a tsuno kakushi) are quite tricky to reproduce. I managed to get two pretty successful models, though, one to give to my mom, and one to keep in my notebooks for reference...
27 March 2005
Esseltine's Bunny Money
What: Esseltine's "Bunny Money"
By: Chuck Esseltine
From: diagrammed, unpublished (possibly on the web by now)
Chuck sent me a diagram of the model, and it being the time of year when everyone (well, ok, not everyone) folds rabbits and flowers and cute spring-like thing, I thought I'd give it a try. It's a very nice model - very economical use of the paper, and yet is very clearly a "bunny" when you're done. Oh, and it's not too hard, either. Fine level of complexity for, say, leaving as a tip in a restaurant!
22 September 2004
Brill's "Masu"
What: Origami Masu (square and pentagonal)
By: David Brill
From: (both models) self-published booklet
square version: Pajarita 55, BOS Magazine 179 August 1996, Der Falter Issue 17, BOS Convention 1996 Spring, Origami Tanteidan Convention Diagrams No. 3
pentagonal version: Der Falter Issue 22, BOS Convention 1996 Spring
Why: These are just amazing models. Inspired by the tranditional Japanese masu, a small wooden box originally used to measure rice, and now sometimes used for drinking sake, the square version of the model gets the proportions and solidity of the real thing down perfectly. The pentagonal version (which doesn't exist except in origami) was the result of Dave's realization that he could take advantage of the "underlying approximate pentagonal geometries" in an A4 sheet of paper. (His words; I've not messed with the golden ratio math involved enough to have had any such realizations.)
I love these. Dave's a genius.
