Paper Folding For Beginners

In response to an earlier post, 'Pretty', about the paper in an origami calender I bought, Mark Lawrence wondered if I was going to post any of the results of my new hobby. I assured him it was more than likely. I need no excuse to get my camera out and start blogging; getting a request to do just that merely encourages me.

January 1: A Nightingale

So, for Mark and his wife, who has also started origami recently, and their son, who helped with the important task of selecting an origami book for his mum, here is the first week of the 2007origami calendar sculptures as folded by me. (Of course, I hope everyone else likes them too!)

January 2: A Dog's Head

Already, I can see why wet orgami was developed. I did a bit of reading and discovered that wet origami allows for more sculpting of shapes, in addition to folding. I can feel my need for perfectionism creeping in, because I've decided that some of the shapes don't resemble what they're supposed to, to the extent that I would like.

But I'm certain that thought is against the ethos of origami, which must surely be about learning precise folding techniques first. And patience.

January 3: A Penguin

I got quite enthused when I saw there was a penguin to make. When my brother got married, one of the things I did with my family while we were in Melbourne was view the penguin parade on Philip Island. My niece called the fairy penguins, 'pengins', which made the whole experience even more delightful. This pengin is for Hannah.

January 4: A Sled

This sled can be for Lucy Pig Puppet, who admired the origami paper too. The weather is more appropriate for a sled where she is in the US, certainly more than in these subtropical climes where it's way to hot and humid. I didn't quite capture the soft lilac of the paper in the photo for this sculpture, unfortunately.

January 5 & 6: A Cupboard Base & A House

One of the things I've learnt about origami is that most of the sculptures start out with what's known as a base. There are a number of different kinds of bases. The cupboard base, shown under the house here (not very well), is formed by folding a square in half, opening it out, then folding the outer edges to the centre crease so you're left with a kind of cupboard. The house sculpture starts with this base.

Another base I've used to this point is the scarf base, which is just a square folded in half, along the diagonal line, to form a triangle, or a scarf shape. The calendar has a series of very helpful cards that detail these bases along with some other frequent folds. These guides help keep the instructions for each sculpture to a minimum.

January 7: A Bench

I like this bench as much as a photograph as I do as a piece of origami. I've always liked photographs with a shallow depth of field, but I tend to struggle to take very effective photos of this kind on my camera. I think I managed it much better in this instance than I have on other occasions. I guess I'll have plenty of opportunity to experiment further on this, because there will be more origami photos.

Consider yourself forewarned etc.