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Nickstarter!

I am finalising a kickstarter project for “Folding Fun”, a book of 30 simple, tried & tested designs, perfect for beginners to learn about origami..

In addition, I will produce a companion volume called “Teacher’s Notes”. This will contain more detailed information about teaching origami, planning lessons etc. There will also be detailed hints and tips for each of the models and ways in which they can be adapted and extended.

I am trying to build a level of “anticipation”, so please share as widely as you can…

The cover image and even title are subject to change 😉

Minimal Swan

This design was created for a competition at the BOS 50th Anniversary Convention. The original stopped at step 6, but I think the result is more aesthetically pleasing with a few extra folds. Thanks to Edwin Corrie for the very final fold! Deciding when any further steps will detract from the result is always the hardest call for me.

 

Raining Cats & Dogs!

Two of my NuiNui projects have been licensed by Dover in the States, due out soon: Dogs and Cats!

How we find reasons to fail…

Most of us with less folding ability than we’d like find reasons to justify our modest efforts – “I’m not patient”, “Life’s too hard”, “I’m not artistic”, “the diagrams are not clear” and even the old classic, “the paper’s not square!”. I suspect a lot of it is down to confidence and being prepared to put the hours in to refine our techniques.

Now and again, you learn about an individual who puts things in their proper perspective, for example Saburo Kase.  Kase lost his eyesight at elementary school, but it didn’t stop him from becoming a gifted teacher and creator of origami. I was lucky enough to attend one of his classes at the COET and he was so calm and confident. At one point, his translator asked “Mr Kase asks if anyone has problems”. One eprson did and handed his model to Kase, who calmly and nonchalently unfolded the last step, corrected it and gave it back.

Elephant Hide paper

Elephant Hide is a range of paper much sought-after by artistic folders. Thankfully, it’s not made from elephants! Here is the crease pattern for a dish of mine (“Paulo’s dish”) made from the lovely orange variety sold by Color Tree and the resulting model. Can you work it out?

2 titles reprinted

Two books I prepared for the National Trust and the British Musuem have been reprinted with slightly different titles. Needless to say, you should dash out and buy copies of each 😉

 

The Rhombic Unit

It’s amazing how a short moment of creativity can live on – I invented this back in the 80s and people are still folding it – quite amazing. Here are some folded by Fernando Gomez

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