Saturday, October 29, 2016

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Van Nuys Japanese Gardens OriDay





My conversation of the week while folding some origami for a child last Sunday:

Me: "How old are you?"
Her: "Four."
Me: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Her: "Five."
Been doing the Japanese Gardens in Van Nuys origami event for about a decade, now.

One of my display tables:


Pam, Hisako, and Georgette teaching indoors


Always nice to get visits to my events by my gymnasts:



A few more photos here.


Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Magic Crane Review


A while back I had discovered a fun little gimmicky magic act:  The magic crane.  Over a year ago, I filmed a magician who incorporated it into his stage act.

I couldn't find the one I had ordered from Seo Magic for this past weekend.  Paying another $26 dollars seemed a bit harsh on my wallet, so I thought I'd check into any alternatives.  (The jumbo version is $45).

I ended up finding ones on eBay for about $6, cheapest.  Fortunately, the photos were accurate and not misleading.  I knew exactly what I'd end up getting:  Crappy folded cranes:




I don't know who they got to fold these, but you'd think they'd actually find someone who can fold at least a bit more neatly than this.  How hard can that be?

The ones ordered from Seo Magic are higher quality, as far as folding neatness goes.  And pricing and affordability is all relative and dependent upon how you measure and value the payback dividends.

I'm not disappointed in the ones I got off eBay, considering the price differential; and they still accomplish the trick they're meant to do.

The people at Seo Magic USA seem nice (located up in Torrance) and I may order from them again.  The contact there offered to coordinate and meet with me to drop an order off instead of shipping (and last time when they shipped, it arrived pretty much next day).

Here's an alternate presentation of the magic crane:





Tuesday, October 25, 2016

A Topological Paper Puzzle



Oh, and for the other puzzle in my earlier post, this was a draft post originally started on 9/2/2013 which I never published, that shows the video in which I got the puzzle.




This one is pretty easy.  But still, if you need the solution:

Paperfolding Puzzle

Last Sunday was the annual Oriday Festival at the Van Nuys Japanese Gardens.  As usual, I was tasked not to teach (my friends Hisako Tanji, Joy Nishijima, and Georgia Jenkins were indoors to teach) but to entertain.

I brought along a couple of paper puzzles to keep folks entertained:






The following entry was a post originally started on 9/03/2013:



I believe this comes, via Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games columns:


Solution:

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Citrouille (Pumpkin)


Citrouille Pumpkin
Designed by Nicolas Terry 
Folded by Michael Sanders 

10" x 10" square of Japanese foil sandwiched with mulberry paper


Diagrams:  Here.

Folded Two Scary and Happy Pumpkin Boxes

I folded the following for display at next Sunday's Van Nuys Japanese Gardens Origami Festival:



Directions can be found in an earlier post.

Scary Pumpkin Box
Designed by Stephane Gigandet
Folded by Michael Sanders 

LFT: 2-piece 19.5" x 19.5" squares of Canson Mi-Tientes cadmium yellow paper, eyes and mouth backed with yellow lokta paper

RT: 2-piece 19.5" x 19.5" squares of Fabriano Tiziano 160 g/m2

These were folded by me today for displays at next weekend's Origami festival at the Van Nuys Japanese Gardens.

I suppose I should fold some origami candy to put inside? Or an origami candle?



*UPDATE*

Stephane made a talking version:




Friday, October 14, 2016

Polygons crowdfunding





Polygons takes cues from the folding magic of origami, and comes in two sizes; one measures out ¼, ½, ¾, and 1 teaspoon and the other measures out ½, 1, 1½, and 2 tablespoons. In addition to saving space in a drawer (every bit helps in tiny kitchens), the flat design makes it easier to clean and transfer sticky ingredients from the spoon into a mixing bowl. 
"When creating Polygons, we decided to engineer the spoon with a flat design because it mimics the human hand," says Rahul Agarwal, designer and CEO of Polygons. "When your hand is not in use, it lays flat. But when you want to hold a heap of sand, or some water, you cup your hand to create some volume, depending on how much you want to hold—that is exactly how Polygons works." 
Buy the Polygons measuring spoon set for $10 here.


Monday, October 10, 2016

Sunday, October 02, 2016

Tomoko Fuse Hexagonal Box



Taught the Tomoko Fuse-style hexagonal $ box last weekend:



I'm hoping to redo the archaic and primitive video tutorial I made almost 10 years ago on the model.


Posted by paperhawaii (Hat tip:  Hisako TANJI):


The dollar version developed by Helen Sperber and Jim Cowling can be found here

I've seen quite a number of dollar bill variations of Fuse-type boxes in recent years.

POP last Sunday

Taught the Tomoko Fuse-style hexagonal $ box last weekend: