Alexander Kurth's Helmet

Smart Buildings

Hat tip Joel Stern via O-List:

This Origami-Inspired Office Design Expands, Contracts, And Changes Its Shape

Want more room? Not a problem. Using drones and inflatable balloon-type devices, a new kind of transformable architecture could create buildings that morph to meet our needs.

Read more.

POP

I seem to have lost my origami somewhere....

 Lisa Tanahashi finished off our POP meeting by teaching Carlos Bocanegra's persimmon/tomato.  Fun and easy model.

Travis taught Robert Lang's koi.

I met a couple of young folders who are into the super complex.  They borrowed Travis' Kamiya works 2 and folded about 100 steps worth of the minotaur in 2 hours.


 Joel Stern encouraged us to make monkeys for the OUSA annual holiday gift.


 Stopped by Olympic and Sawtelle (Japanese district in Santa Monica) for some dinner and found these rare $1.50 packets of 50cm x 50 cm super-sized kami.

More photos here.

Sunday Funnies

Source

Do you ever dream origami?

I woke up this morning from a dream where I had taken Assia Brill's curlicue and modified it into a swirl rose (now that I'm awake, I don't think it'd quite work).  I was pleased with it and was showing it off to other folders.  One woman started to almost take it apart, reverse engineering, and I got testy on her since it was the prototype.  Then I started buying some floral tape and wiring products at Michael's and David Brill was there, behind the counter as a cashier.  I told him about my new variation of the curlicue.

Swedish song with origami

September 14, 2014 episode of I Kveld Med Ylvis, Vegard, Bard and Calle
Hellevang-Larsen performed A Song For Swedish Viewers, during which they
folded origami.

Hat tip:  Carol Martinson, via O-List

Everyone is Legendary at Something

Hat tip Carol Martinson, via Origami-L:

Robert Lang panel after "Animals out of Paper" play today

Joel Stern said this play is good:

September 15, 2014 to October 5, 2014

Location: 

Los Angeles, CA USA

Description: 

EAST WEST PLAYERS
Tim Dang, Producing Artistic Director
With generous support provided by the S. Mark Taper Foundation Endowment for East West Players
presents the
Los Angeles premiere of ANIMALS OUT OF PAPER
By Pulitzer Prize Finalist Playwright Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Jennifer Chang
"CRITIC'S CHOICE!" - LA Times
Now Playing thru October 5, 2014
Post-Show Discussion with Renowned Physicist and Origami Artist Robert J. Lang
Sunday, September 21, at 2 p.m.
A chat with renowned physicist and origami artist Robert J. Lang, along with the performers and creative team immediately following the show.

Members of the WCOG and local folding groups were offered tickets for contributing to the models donated for the play.

Make Lincoln smile, frown, look the other way

It incorporates the tent fold.  (^_~)

Sunday Funnies

Source

Voices of LA Last Sunday

Joel Stern invited Lisa Tanashi and myself to help him at the Voices of LA Culminating Festival event yesterday, an initiative of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, promoting the diverse cultures found in Los Angeles:

A FREE, family-friendly celebration showcasing all five cross-cultural artistic collaborations commissioned specifically for Voices of LA. The day also includes a Food Stage hosted by Evan Kleiman of KCRW's Good Food and featuring some of LA's top chefs; interactive workshops; food trucks (kosher options); and multiple stages with klezmer, mariachi, Korean & Persian music and dance, plus other Los Angeles cultures.
The festival takes place in and around the renovated and historic 1929 campus of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Koreatown.

Joel and Lisa taught origami workshops while I ran a booth showing off models and providing entertainment.  We were outdoors, and the heat was crazy hot. 

As is my historical wont, I keep missing the best moments with my camera.  I should have my GoPro run the whole entire time.  I had some great reactions and funny moments that did not get captured.


Photos.

Sunday Funnies

Source

Origami in the Garden

Origami Ponies by Kevin Box, photo/Kevin Box, courtesy Santa fe Botanical Garden

Santa Fe Travelers:

Origami in the Garden is a large-scale outdoor sculpture exhibition created by Cerrillos artist Kevin Box. The exhibition at the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens on Museum Hill opened on April 25^th. The entire exhibit features 15 origami sculptures. Using lost wax casting and fabrication techniques Box captured the delicate nature of origami, the art of paper folding, in the more permanent medium of metal. A single blank page inspired each sculpture in the Origami in the Garden collection.  If you haven’t seen this exhibit yet put it on your schedule. It runs through October 25^th. Admission is free to New Mexico residents (with ID) on Sunday, September 14^th from 9am to 5pm.

The Curious Art of Origami

New exhibit coming soon to Pasadena:

Using mathematical calculations to map out the folds necessary to form particular elements of an animal, bird or insect, origami artists from all over the world have been designing increasingly complex forms, often out of a single square of paper with no cuts or glue. Some artists, however, have pushed the artistic boundaries of origami by experimenting with different types of paper and new folding techniques to create works that barely resemble traditional origami – elaborately patterned geometric forms called tessellations and simple figural or abstract forms created with very few folds.

Curated by Meher McArthur
Featuring art by Robert Lang, Linda Mihara & Giang Dinh
The Curious Art of Origami opens September 19, 2014.
On view daily (except Sunday) through November 19, 2014.
9:30am-6pm in the Shumei Hall Gallery.

I believe Meher McArthur is the same curator that coordinated with Dr. Lang during the Origami exhibit at the Japanese-American National Museum in Little Tokyo a few years ago.

Just five more minutes.....

It has been said, "time heals all wounds." I do not agree.
The wounds remain. In time,
the mind, (protecting its sanity), covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But, it is never gone.
-Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

Ron, Dan,.......David.

“Just five more minutes, Daddy…”
-David

The Truther is Out There

I mean, WAY out there!  Lol!

Remembering...

Self-Folding Robot

Previously posted.

Origami for Self Defense

Well, on the heels of the bottle opener out of paper, I recalled seeing a video of one of my old teachers, Dan Inosanto, teaching about how the old Filipino Escrimadors would roll up a newspaper very tightly and use it as an improvised impact weapon (rolled up densely, it's about as good as wood).

Poking around, this is an example of what you can do with paper:

For kicks, I thought I'd run "self defense origami" in the YouTube search engine.  I was shocked when this lame video came up (not expecting to find a thing under that topic heading):

Yup....5-and-a-half minutes of your life that you will never ever get back.



You're welcome.

Fold a Bottle Opener

Nice party trick:

I first learned this from Won Park....who apparently picked up from YouTube.

1st Sunday at Marti's yesterday

I was not planning on attending because of work; but after the gymnastics meet ended, I made the hour drive to Marti's.  Missed the first two hours. But most people didn't start leaving until after 5pm.


Andrew Ting tried to teach me Beth Johnson's pig.  Not entirely successful, but it was fun.  Andrew folded one out of a 4 inch square.

More photos.

Owl-standing!

I am blown away by this:

Beth Johnson Origami:

New owl design. Inspired once again by Tomoko Fuse's book, Spiral. One uncut square, no cuts or glue.

Such a clever usage of an existing technique, "picking up the ball and running with it."

Sunday Funnies

Hat tip source:  CHRUMIGAMI

Origami Packaging

 This made me think of origami:

I can see more and more products incorporate origami folds into its packaging.

Tanteidan Convention Book 20 Unboxed

Mine arrived over a week ago. 

The Ringer

According to Ray Takeuchi, via O-List:

 In the September 2014 issue of MAGIC magazine on page 65 is an origami dollar bill magic trick by Blake Vogt.

EFFECT: The magician borrows a spectator’s dollar bill.  He folds it into a simple small rectangle.. Then it instantly changes into an origami shirt that can be handed out.

It sounds like it might be a similar trick to this classic....although I could (and probably am waaay off).


Looking up Blake Vogt (cited in the article for the bill effect), I found this:

I'm guessing it might involve using a magnet and possibly destroying (cutting up) a piece of a bill to fit the denomination over the ring (like this trick).

Read the reviews by people who purchased this trick.

Kawasaki's Armor(ed) Ball

Armor(ed) Ball
Created by Toshikazu KAWASAKI
Folded by Michael Sanders
6-piece modular 10" x 10" elephant hide (Wyndstone) paper

(Note: Top photo is the same model as the bottom one, right before the spiral twist gets pushed inside the layers).




The model is very sturdy, held together by the spiral twists.  Final result with this paper reminds me of a wooden puzzle.

Taught to me by Andrew Ting.  Andrew Ting learned it directly from Kawasaki-sensei at JOAS and taught it to me yesterday.
 
Diagrams:  Published in OUSA Convention Book 2011; and also the Kawasaki book, "Fancy Origami for Practical Use".

Plush Origami

By Blythe Creamer

Very charming look.

I'm sure some in the origami community would be interested in purchasing any handmade plush origami models she cares to make and sell.

5th Sunday at Carol Stevens

I brought Joe to Carol Stevens' 5th Sunday meeting.  No response from Yami.  Last month Joe told me he thinks Yami's lost interest in origami and has moved on.  At least for now.

There was a send out to local folders requesting donations of folded models for a play, "Animals Out of Paper" (link is post-dated for Sept. 4th, FYI), written by Pulitzer Finalist Rajiv Joseph.  Robert Lang is one of the contributors.  Andy Lowe, the production manager of East West Players, was stopping by to pick up model donations, according to Joel Stern.

David donated a beautiful pagoda and giraffe he designed.  Joe Hamamoto brought bags of modular stuff, including about 4 FITs.  That alone is enough to fill up a stage.

I folded a Montroll horse and David Donahue helped me fold this ridiculously large Max Hulme jack-in-the-box:

Carol Stevens stuck us outside because there was initially no room inside when we cut a 2 x 1 from the butcher paper.  Ridiculously large and unwieldy.  We called it "sweat-folding", as it was hot and David's sweat was dripping onto the paper.

Andrew Ting went to the JOAS Convention and had taken Toshikazu KAWASAKI's class on the armor(ed) ball. 

I folded one before the meeting was through, with Andrew's help; then another one when I got home last night.  Love it!

I learned from Sara Adams that the model is published in "Fancy Origami for Practical Use".  It is also apparently in the OUSA 2011 Convention book.


Andrew explains how Kawasaki-sensei had the class of 7 test their folding expertise:

Andrew's off to college and it sounds like next Sunday's at Marti's may be his last local meeting for a while.  Unfortunately, I probably won't make the meeting since I have a gymnastics meet with my girls.

Photos here.

NOA, issue 469

Heather:

Today I review this issue of Monthly Origami Magazine. In this issue are some great origami designs for September. This issue focuses on things from Moonlight Party and Respect Old People Day as well as a few things for early fall.