Ending Origami-free week with some Tea

Origami-Free Week!

After the hectic Japan Habba, I decided to take a break from Origami for a few days.  I managed to (not) do it until Saturday, when I had to teach my first  of the weekly classes at Jaaga. I decided to break the fast with a nice cup of tea and a teapot, all from a single sheet of paper!

Tea Cup and Tea Pot

Title:  Teatime 
Design by Tomohiro Tachi
Crease Pattern here
Paper: A3 copy paper (30cm x 42cm)
Final model: 12cm x 16cm
Time: one hour
Complexity: High

This was the first time I folded it, so there is lots of room for improvement! The handles of the cup and teapot need to be rounded for example. Even then, it is a really cute design, and it should be possible to adapt it to make other designs.

The collapsing sequence is fairly tricky, even though the designer has provided a short video simulation.




Bloxy 

Title:  Bloxy
Design by Jo Nakashima
Video Instructions here
Paper Dimensions: 3:11 or 3:12 rectangle
Folding Time: 10 minutes
Complexity: Simple 


This is a very simple and fun model, and can be customized in various ways. For example the hairstyles and legs of the two models in the picture are different.









Feestring Tzummarum by Paula Versnick

Title:  Feestring Tzummarum
Design Copyright: Paula Versnick
Diagram here
Paper: 8 squares, 15cm
Final Model: 25cm x 25cm
Complexity: Medium


I can't figure out if the name means anything. This is a nice design with 4 hearts in a pretty pattern. The view at the back is also good.

Japan Habba 2012

I kept trying to fix the Fibonnaci vase

It was a hectic sunday. I had to pack all my Origami models into various boxes and get to Jnana Jyothi auditorium by 9am. We got there a few minutes late, and it took about an hour to get set up and put things out for display. There was a constant stream of visitors who came to appreciate the Origami. The organizers had said that the gallery area was to stay open only until noon, which did not make much sense, as the majority of bangaloreans do not stir out on a Sunday until after noon. In the end, we stayed right until the end, and it was almost 5 pm when we packed up and went home.

A panoramic view of our Origami display

The stack of 5 interlocking tetrahedrons attracted a lot of attention. Many people thought that it was a single piece!

The 'book origami' with the telephone directory was also noticed, and many visitors wanted to know how it was done.

 

Dhruva is the creator of the middle piece of this stack

 A few people asked me to fold something live, so I did the human figure (Gadi Vishne's Box Fighter), and also explained how to do the DNA Double Helix model to a couple of visitors.

There were a few visitors with video cameras, and some from the press. One of the TV channels wanted me to talk in Kannada, so I did my best to inject a few Kannada words into my sentences. I was pleasantly surprised to see my name in the The Hindu's report about Japan Habba today.

One constant request was from people wanting to buy some of the items. Unfortunately it is hard to sell a model which takes 3-4 hours for twenty or thirty rupees, which is where the buyer's purse limit seems to be! So for next year, I am going to make some small items for sale at Rs 20, as Mr Huseini does.


More Origami and Kirigami

One of S.F. Huseini's kirigami creations

Mr S. F.  Huseini, who is a regular exhibitor at the Japan Habba, was there with his intricate kirigami. Some of his creations are stunning, with detailed patterns and figures.

Rashmi and her husband were showcasing Golden Venture Origami, while Shivaram and his brother were doing mini-workshops to show visitors how to make simple models.

Kirigami Masks by V S Sastry (Habba 2011)

 Mr V. S. Sastry  brought his amazing Kirigami masks, but he had to go to another function elsewhere. He is more popular than ever after he received the Science Communicator award recently.













Weekly Classes at Jaaga
 
The Saturday class at Jaaga is almost full, with one or two people yet to confirm. I am now proposing a Wednesday 6:30pm class, which may be harder to fill! More than 40 visitors showed interest in attending Origami classes, and gave their email addresses, so I am hoping I can get at least 10 participants.

Flower Tower by Chris Palmer

8 Petal Flower Tower 
 Design by Chris Palmer
Paper: 50cm x 50cm
Final size: 21cm x 21cm, 10cm high when fully extended.
Folding time: 3 hours.

Chris Palmer's Flower Tower is one of the benchmarks of Origami.

Each level of the model can be twisted in clockwise or anticlockwise direction, making it completely flat, or it can be made to stand up, as seen in this picture.

What you see here is a 3-level tower, which pops beautifully when you fold it flat and take your hand off it.

The design and instructions are available on CDs at the Shadowlands website. I have long been interested in doing this model, and I even considered buying the CD at one point! But then, I was able to figure out how to do it, thanks to some strategic but cryptic instructions I could find on the internet. Obviously I was ecstatic when I cracked the problem after many hours of struggle. If anyone is interested, I can send them the relevant links.

One of the concepts used in folding the flower tower is "decreeping", which involves opening the model, reversing many of the folds, and refolding, creating a new level. The set of pictures of the making of Dasa Severova's Flora Perpetua give you an idea of this process.

I still have on my plate other variations such as the 12-petal version, which seems a bit more complicated. You can see a fascinating video of the 12-petal tower being opened out and closed again here. Apparently it is possible to fold models with even more petals, but I haven't seen any pictures of such models!

Origami Ex Libris


Can you guess what this is made of?

 

Japan Habba 2012

I am exhibiting my Origami at Japan Habba, on Sunday, Feb 19th.
Location: Jnana Jyothi Auditorium, Palace Road.
Here is a report in today's The Hindu about this year's Japan Habba.

Ralf Konrad's Lampion, weekly classes at Jaaga, and more

Ralf Konrad's Lampion
Paper: 14cm x 56cm, handmade paper Instructions: PDF, (in german)
	This is a relatively simple model to fold, but I used a fairly thick hand-made paper, which made it a bit difficult. The paper is of 2004 vintage! The 1:4 rectangle is divided into 16 parts along the length, and a waterbomb is folded at the center of each of these 16 parts. The two ends are combined by overlapping two parts, resulting in 15 points. Otherwise you can use glue or other means to get 16 points.

More Curved Folding
	Continuing my look into the fascinating variations of curved folds, here is a sample.. It is called Cliff Dwelling, by Polly Verity. Check out all the other amazing curved folded models too. Most of Polly's models are made with polypropylene, which looks so much nicer than copy paper!

More sessions at Jaaga There will be one more beginner workshop on Saturday, 11th Feb, 6:30pm at Jaaga, Bangalore. I will also be conducting weekly classes on Saturdays at 6:30pm at Jaaga, starting from 25th Feb.  Do get in touch if you are interested. I am still waiting for confirmation from the Jaaga folks, but I guess it will be OK.

Japan Habba
The 2012 edition of Japan Habba is going to be on Sunday, 19th Feb. I am still hoping that I am going to be invited to exhibit!  You can see here some pictures from last year's event, including a couple of shots of my Origami and of my demonstrating folding of newspaper hats on stage. That was my first (and only) public exhibition of Origami.
The Kirigami masks were made by Mr Sastry of Kolar, who is an amazing person with a wide variety of interests, including Origami and Kirigami. He uses these arts to help teach mathematics and science. He was recently chosen for the Science Communicator Award.

Can it getter any better than this? Another Bearded Fellow by Joel Cooper
	Here is a mask by Joel Cooper. To call it a mask is really an understatement. It should easily qualify as a sculpture! And it is even more amazing to think that it is done with tessellations!

Welcome to the world of Origami!

Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, usually without using glue or other material to hold the paper together.

This is my new blog about Origami. In this, I will be writing about my explorations of the world of Origami, and posting pictures and links that would be of interest to fellow Origami enthusiasts. I will try to post at least once a week, and include as many of the models I made during that period, especially if I folded them for the first time. I will also try to provide a link to a favourite model of mine, or a relevant web site.

Apart from Origami, I also do some Kirigami, which is the art of paper cutting. I usually try my hand at geometric constructions, pop-up cards, etc.

Recent Origami

Here are a couple of things I have done in the last few days.

Collapsible Dome by Fernando Sierra

The crease pattern for this is available here. The design consists of a central octagon surrounded by diamond shaped pleats. When all the pleats are collapsed, the whole model becomes the size of just the central octagon!

I folded this on the way to Mysore last week. Folding time: about an hour.

I started with a square piece of paper

Collapse in progress

Mostly Collapsed

Torus Construction using Villarceau circles

Kirigami Design by Yoshinobu Miyamoto. The template is available here.

I learnt about Villarceau circles while browsing Flickr's Origami group, which is an excellent place to see the latest Origami works of people from around the world.

Torus using Villarceau circles

   

What's New?

I did a couple of workshops at Jaaga, a new "open space" in Bangalore, and I was pleasantly surprised by the good attendance. The plan is to do another workshop or two, followed by regular weekly classes.

You can see some pictures from the Jaaga session on Jan 30th here.

Japan Habba 2012 is coming!

Japan Habba is the annual festival of the Indo-Japanese community in Bangalore. Last year, I had my first public exhibition of Origami at Japan Habba, and a lot of people enjoyed seeing, touching and playing with many Origami models. This year's Habba is scheduled for Feb 18th, and I am hoping to display some more of my Origami!