Won Park Improvises a Newspaper for a Bottle Opener

Won Park at the Japanese-American National Museum

Won Park on CNN

$pinning Tip by Wensdy Whitehead

F.I.P.

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hand Clawing Out from Grave created by Eileen Tan
About a 15" x 30" rectangle of steel grey Strathmore paper

Skull by Hojyo, Takashi
Folded from 4 3/4 inch square of tissue foil


Little Bird by Miyajima, Noboru
Folded from 3" unryu foil

Black Rose by Phu Tran
Leaf Stand by Kawasaki, Toshikazu
6" Tant commercial origami paper

Shopping for Dollars?

Pega$u$ by Won Park
$hopping Cart by Sy Chen
Folded by Michael Sanders

If you're shopping around for a fun, complex dollar bill model, Marcio Noguchi has published his first run of diagrams for Won Park's popularly requested pegasus model. Go to the Moneyfolders Unite Group.

Eric Joisel (11/15/1956 - 10/10/2010)

His friends and family have lost a loved one. The origami community has lost a master and pioneer. The world has lost a true artiste. His work deserves to be marveled at in every museum as art- definitely not "kid's craft". His sculpted origami work truly elevated the field of paperfolding into a respectable medium for artistic expression.

I always hoped to meet him one day at a convention; the chance to do so in this world has now passed.

My limited contact with him consisted of him granting me permission to sell his cartoon rat- one of my favorite folds. All of Joisel's models have charm and humor. They are enchanting and exquisite...like wooden sculptures and clay statues, not folded paper. To look upon Joisel's origami masterpieces is to be humbled by awe and beauty.

This is the legacy he leaves behind- a gift to the world.

Also blogging:
Nick Robinson

None of Your Bee's Wax!

Arriving 2 hours late, Thea and I found 2 fire trucks outside the library and our origami friends milling about. Apparently the building was evacuated on account of a bee invasion.

So much for origami this month.

Celebrating 50 Year Legacy of Aerospace Corporation

June 5, 2010
Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo CA

I missed out on teaching gymnastics today to help Joe with his event, celebrating The Aerospace Corporation's 50 years of leadership in space programs. It might be the last opportunity to work with Joe since he says he's no longer doing these kind of things.

...So I had to get a picture of the three of us, "ruling the world" by supporting the earth and all its inhabitants with the fun of paperfolding.

Indoors, not a problem making the glider come back to me; but outdoors, it's pretty challenging, given the mercurial, fickle nature of wind patterns.

More pictures here.

Welcome to....Origami....IS.......Jerichooooooooo!!!

I've been looking for this one on YouTube for ages. Finally someone on YouTube uploaded it (4 months ago), and I isolated the portion relevant to this blogsite:



I am a big Y2J fan (mainly, I loved how he portrayed himself from 1999-2001). Not only is he your party host and the most charismatic showman to ever enter your living room, via television screen; not only is he the Ayatollah of Rock-and-Rollah...your role model and hero for the new millennium...but the bad mammajamma Chris Jericho also has mad origami skills. Check it out.

Then put up your fat, grubby little paperfolding hands in the air and chant along with me:

Go Jericho go!

Go Jericho go!

Go Jericho go!

He Mele No Cherry Blossom Festival

From the 2008 Monterey Park Cherry Blossom Festival:

Storigami Time....

Anne Bedrick's teaching tale to deg farrelly's model has long been a favorite of mine. I hadn't told it in years, however, until last weekend, when I decided I wanted to include it in my Tarumpty Tum Tum transformation mechanism video. Should have rehearsed it first (my memory and delivery are not as polished as I once had it), but at least this should give you an idea of the power of the story and model. I flubbed the beginning when I said "snow begins to fall", instead of "snow begins to melt"; and I left out "...in the springtime, the flowers will begin to push up from the earth..."

Of course, I recite it in my own words, and did not memorize, verbatim, Anne Bedrick's story. The essence of it remains, but I think each storyteller should tell it in his own language, his own words that he feels comfortable with, and really "own it".

Paper "Iron Man" Mask

I saw Iron Man 2 last Saturday. Today, I just felt in the mood to finally fold Brian Chan's "Armor Mask" (yeah, right...we know it's Iron Man- copyright be damned!)

Diagrams can be found in Tanteidan Convention Book 15

Seiryo Takekawa's Tarumpty Tum Tum (or "Tumbler") as Paper Metaphor Teaching Tool

NOTE: If I have the energy for it, the video might see re-editing, as I notice where I get redundant in the latter half of the video...UGH!

(Video Transcript, more or less):
After reading some O-List mail asking for a simple model to teach as part of a presentation on origami, and after seeing the video Gilad Aharoni posted of the tarumpty tum tum tumbler in action, lined up like dominos, it gave me the idea that this model could be perfect as a transformation mechanism. From Pg 22 in Joel Bauer's book, How to Persuade People Who Don't Want to be Persuaded, a transformation mechanism is,

"It's a trick with a point. A mechanism puts people in a pleasure state, and that's where you want them. Off business, on pleasure. It sets a receptive atmosphere. When you use a mechanism, people are more likely to lower their defenses and give your ideas an honest hearing. A mechanism is a metaphor made physical, and thus made memorable and persuasive."

Joel Bauer is a mentalist and pitch-man who's business is to generate crowds for Fortune 500 companies- the very best at what he does. He's also a friend of mine who got into origami and saw the value of simple models as workable paper metaphors.

Happy Easter!

Decided to give Sara Adams' video a try and folded Peter Engel's Hatching Chick. Charming model for Easter!

Martin Quinn and Dennis Walker Stop-Motion Video

Happy Chinese New Year!

Photos of last Saturday's Lantern Festival at the Chinese-American Museum, here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photos here.

The Paper Weight