Unicorn related to the Montroll classic horse

Unicorn 

Designed by: John Montroll, Terry Hall, Po-Tei, Michael Sanders

Folded by Michael Sanders 

10” x 10” square of American foil paper

This was folded about 10 years ago or more. It’s essentially the Montroll classic horse with a modification to the dog base to get extra paper to form the horn.

It’s not the most elegant of unicorn designs. Essentially, it’s something Terry Hall described to me and I developed from there, based on his remembrance of how Po-Tei achieved a base to fold a unicorn out of the Montroll horse.

David Brill Horse

October 6, 2018

Horse

Created by David Brill

Folded by Michael Sanders

Folded from (almost) 25” equilateral triangle

Not sure what kind of paper

Diagrams: BRILLiant Origami

This is probably only the third Brill horse I’ve folded. The first one many moons ago was a mess and became an origami basketball for the waste basket. The second one was my Sea Biscuit composition (Brill’s horse and rider for the fox hunt. See here. I decided to fold this one for my Brill St. George and the Dragon. I’ve been using a cheat by incorporating Montroll’s classic horse for the knight’s war steed. But yesterday decided I wanted a full Brill composition.

The Montroll horse remains my favorite mostly because it’s quick and easy for me with a good shaping look to it for the amount of work involved. It was the model that inspired me, when I saw Terry Hall fold one for a girl at my first Westcoast Origami meeting. But along with that, was Brill’s horse. That too inspired me to pursue origami as a little bit more than just a casual pastime when I saw his book, Brilliant Origami along with Montroll and Lang, at the Borders bookstore. This was around 2001-2002. Before that, I had never seen modern origami or anything so much more complex than traditional models. And the cover on Brill’s book of St George and the Dragon was whoa-inspiring.

I love the look of the Brill horse (especially the other classic horse of his for which I don’t believe there are diagrams made available); but I’m one of those origamists that’s been a bit lazy to cut and fold from anything other than squares and rectangles. Plus I think the Brill horse is a bit challenging to get the shaping just right. I had to refold the hind legs on this one a couple of times as the body looked a bit too short; then I overcompensated and made the body too long. Finally, I hit the Goldilocks zone and am satisfied with this model.

Now to go unearth my St George and the Dragon from storage boxes in the garage somewhere and retire the Montroll warhorse.

My fear is that I may have to redo a new knight because I think he may be too large to sit atop this Brill horse.

Old composition

Super Heroes aren't born....they're folded.

Hat tip:  Brian K. Webb, via O-List

Montroll Elephants

December 25, 2014

Dollar Elephant
Created by John Montroll
Folded by Michael Sanders

Stampeding through the valleys and the mountains....

Some Montroll horses for gifts.

Year of the Folded Horse

With Origami Sculptures now out of print, diagrams for John Montroll's Classic Horse is now found in his recent book, "Horses in Origami", which came out last year (I think as early as last summer), just in time for 2014- the Year of the Horse.  There are 27 wonderful, diagrammed models by Mr. Montroll and other designers, from high intermediate to simple. 

I haven't made time yet to fold the other models presented in "Horses in Origami"; but I've long wanted to know how to fold some of these, like Hatori KOSHIRO's Ponytail Pony.

Read Patsy Wang-Iverson review

My all-time favorite daily fold...the Montroll horse is what first inspired me into going more complex.  Before seeing it, I was unaware that origami had evolved beyond childhood traditional models and elevated into the world of playful and serious art; that new designs and techniques were being formulated by modern designers all over the world.

 It was turning point in my own life, and hooked me onto origami as something a lot more than just a passing fancy and childhood past-time.

At my very first WCOG meeting (2002?), Terry Hall (group leader, who has only since been to about 3 meetings in the last 7 years) had folded a beautiful 3-dimensional, elegant Montroll horse for a young girl. I went to Borders and immediately picked up Montroll's Origami Sculptures and a few other books.

One of these was David Brill's "Brilliant Origami".  That one influenced my thinking in how I should fold the head to the Montroll horse.

I obtain nostrils by denting the center and pinching the sides together

The model lends itself well to personal touches of artistic self-expression.  The model itself starts out with Montroll's "dog base", and a wide array of animal forms can be had from there.

Over the years, there has been some interest in my method of folding the classic horse.  So I sought and received permission from John Montroll to show you how I shape the head.

I don't show it in this video, but for the tail, I like to fan-fold it to give it the look of a "wavy tapestry".  

The hooves are obtained by opening up the layers and spreading them out.

 

By spread-squashing this section of the double sink (just the triangular part shown), the inside layer of the tail section will now lay in the center.

There are a couple of other minor touches I didn't think of showing until just now (like rounding out the belly).  




FYI:  For those using single sided paper and who don't like the color on the inside hind legs, there are a couple of ways you can get a color-change to keep the horse all one color.  

I meant to get this up by the beginning of the Chinese New Year.  Obviously, that didn't happen.  I guess I was just too busy horsing around; sometimes with my neigh-bors.  But that's a tail I'll save for another time.  Hay, what can I say?  This post is manely about the Montroll horse, of course.

Ok, I'll stop now. 

WCOG Meeting for February

Another light turnout at WCOG.


Bennett Arnstein, Helen Sperber, Jim Cowling, John Andrisan, and yours truly were the stalwarts.

A woman, Susan, dropped in, having looked us up.  She shared a moving story about her deceased high school son and how he had folded a heart for a young girl.  She came in hopes of learning a simple heart that she could teach to school kids, honoring her son.  John taught her one while Jim multitasked folding a heart box which I was teaching; and at the same time drew diagrams for Susan while John taught her the heart model.

Jim Cowling

 Akiko Yamanashi's Heart Box was a great model from several years ago (came out in an issue of NOA- I'm too lazy to dig it up); but neither Jim nor Helen remember ever having folded it before.

Helen with her Heart Box

 We had another newcomer drop in, a young boy named Daniel, along with his father and sister.  He'd been folding for about 2 years on his own.  Jim taught him a killer whale and John taught the LaFosse F-14 Tomcat.  The dad, Javier, sat with Bennett who taught him some models.

Shaping the head on the Montroll horse:


Photos here.

Happy Chinese New Year of the Horse, of Course!

2003?
Creator:  John Montroll
Folder:  Michael Sanders

 The mane thing is, to tell my tail and not horse around this year....

From elephant hide (Wyndstone paper) My all-time favorite daily fold...the Montroll horse is what first inspired me into going more complex. My very first WCOG meeting, Terry Hall (group leader, who has only since been to about 3 meetings in the last 12 years) had folded a beautiful 3-dimensional, elegant Montroll horse for a young girl. I went to Borders and immediately picked up Montroll's Origami Sculptures and a few others. Although the models are intermediate to low-intermediate level models today, I had never realized origami had continued to evolve to this level of folding. It was turning point in my own life, and hooked me onto origami as something a lot more than just a passing fancy and childhood past-time.

Origami $ Piggy Bank

Love John Montroll's version.  This one looks great, too:




The concept itself is a charming one.

Horsing Around in Little Tokyo

Last Friday, I made my monthly trip to Little Tokyo to pick up my NOA subscription.

Kinokuniya Bookstore in Los Angeles. The selection of Japanese origami books seems to have shrunk.

 I found John Montroll's recent book with 26 horse models and purchased it.

SKU: B13-128

Price: $19.95

26 wonderful horse-themed models from John Montroll and an international group of contributors. Models range from mythical (Pegasus, Unicorn, Centaur) to useful (Horse Bookmark and Pop-Up Horse Card) to various horse breeds (Quarter Horse, Clydesdale, Mustang, Lippizzan). There are easier models (Stick Horse, Simple Pony, Ponytail Pony) and more complex models, such and a painted horse that uses both sides of the paper to achieve the color effect, and a horse and rider from a single sheet. All models are folded from one square sheet of uncut paper, except for one horse folded from a dollar bill. Each diagram includes interesting facts on the model. Color photos and color diagrams with helpful text descriptions.

Classic Montroll horse will always remain my favorite:

2003

 Next year will be the Year of the Horse, so it's a very timely book.


For those familiar with J-Town, ever take a notice at the lobby of what's across the street?

Corner of San Pedro and 1st St.