Wet Folding Cardstock Origami Turtle.

So we picked up a few sheets of large cardstock paper on Friday and I folded up another turtle.  Not the Robert Lang design,  Rather the Lafosse design that I have posted before.  

All in all I think it turned out well,  even though the outer shell began to tear as I was putting in the pinch folds.   I blame myself rather than the paper,   I know the cardstock gets fragile when it is wet folded,  But rather than wet it a little,   fold, then dry.  I decided to wet the whole shell and fold it as one.   Big mistake!   The small tears are not readily noticeable,  but they are there and that ticks me off!  Ah well,  live, fold and learn...right? 

The beauty of wet folding is that when the paper is wet, you can make an impression that you normally can't do wit regular paper.  ( ok, perhaps foil back) I don't do it often, but now and then I can press in an eye rather tan a complicated pleat fold that is pushed out.  I like those, but they rarely are as symmetrical as I would like them to be.  


Other than that,  I finished up a samurai headed beetle that I started last weekend.  It has it's own set of flaws,  but I really only folded it to kill time while I waited for my methylcellulose to set up. 

I was half tempted to throw it away.  The paper was a mess and the folding was not as clean as I would have liked.  However, I do think I salvaged it enough to look at least a little like a flying beetle. 






 So there it is.  We have Monday off due to MLK day. Hurray!  Cheryl wants to take a short trim in the new car because we finally can!  The old car was a little bit of a risk.  Not to mention that the new car is fun to drive, gets better gas mileage, and looks sooo much better.   Did I mention that it was fun to drive?  Oh!  And it has power steering!  Cheryl is thinking Des Moines because we have lived in Iowa for two years now and still have not been there.  Plus,   Any more time in Iowa City will drive us crazy!  ( Wellman Too! )  Seeking out another part of Iowa that may be different from our known back yard seems like a little more adventurous and fun than our normal routine.  We Shall see.  Hope Everyone is having a great weekend so far....And if you can, Enjoy MLK day!

Origami Long Horn Beetle

Ah!  Vacation is almost over...and tonight is the last day for stockings.   Cheryl plans on closing it tonight as any sale we make after today has a high probability of not making it in time for Christmas.   So,  Between small bouts of personalizing a few last minute stockings,  I worked on an Origami Beetle using left over Christmas wrapping paper.  Granted,  the paper was a little thicker than I would have liked  but it was surprisingly strong.   And after wetting it a bit and fine tuning the small folds,  I think it turned out pretty well.
 The secret (  well,  one of many)  is binder clips....lots and lots of binder clips!   Also having a small brush to wet the paper in key areas then quickly drying it helps it hold it's shape without ripping...( usually)

 I'll admit I'm hardly a pro...but I'm past the beginner stage...I'm more somewhere in between "Awesome! "  And "totally useless!"  However,  I can at least follow the diagram and have it look almost like the picture in the book.   So I guess that counts for something.  

Other than that...we begin work at ACT once again on another project.    So it is back to getting up early and drinking lots and lots of coffee while not letting the musings of high school students get me down.   High school students are great.    Full of optimism, attitude, and surprising, lacking in reality.   Perhaps I'm just saying that as a jaded adult.   No doubt real life skews your perception a bit when you hit 30...and then again at 40!  I can't wait till I hit 50!   By then, I will be Older,  Wiser, and totally useless to society.  If I have not given up on everything by then.  ( see what I mean?    Jaded!)  
  I should not be to down, though.   I mean,  Christmas is right around the corner!  And we DID mke some sales this year that were not that bad.   When you have high expectations,  things that fall a little short end up looking like failures...but seriously....it's not that bad.    Especially if you listen to the Westminster Chorus singing " wouldn'tit be nice!"    great song...Great Chorus.   Enjoy!

The Computer WORKS! YEAH!

I'm not sure what Cheryl did, but the computer works! Hooray! At least I'll be able to post the Origami beetle I worked on. You might remember it from before, it's the samurai helmet beetle. The previous attempts did not turn out as well as this one. Also a dragon out of the traditional bird base. I also remember doing this one but not having it turn out as nicely. Anyway, I'm relieved that I got this computer working. And, In the event my Brother or Dad are actually reading this: I now have a computer that can print....so I will send you a letter soon. I hope you get this and feel free to leave a response.

Surviving the snow storm

So we got dumped on, again... I guess I underestimated the Iowa winter a bit. At first I was shocked that they did not get much show....compared to Michigan. Well, today I have to reassess my first assessment! We got up late today so at least all the roads were clear...most anyway. The plows are still out as we speak. The mall is nice and quite today though. And we were able to get our spot by the outlet so we don't have to worry about the battery dying. Other than that, many classes were cancelled and there are a few people who are at least enjoying the day without the crowds. Even if they are inside skating on the ice instead of outside. I had a little time to make one last origami Beetle before I ran out of paper and I was able to wrestle the computer away from Cheryl. Hope everyone else is weathering out the weather. Or at least is able to enjoy the day for what it is. Cheers!

Anyone Interrested in some carvings?

Quite a bit happened over this weekend but I doubt I will be able to fit it all in this one post. But here it goes.... After another sale on Saturday, I met with a fellow wood worker who processes his own wood. I mentioned a really nice Cherry tree in the back where I have been getting my little carving stash from and he was interested. Well, he came yesterday with two friends, a chainsaw, and a large log mover. He managed to get 5 nice 8ft logs out of the remaining trunk. It's cool to find someone as devoted to wood as that. ( and me! I used to comb the neighborhood for small bits of trees) While taking down one of the trunks, we disrupted a small family of grey squirrels and these really HUGE beetle larvae. I put the larvae out for the pilliated woodpecker. I thought that he would probably be the only one that would appreciate the snack! So at the sale, I got lots of compliments but no takers on the log/tree carvings I have had in the front yard for the past 8 months ( or longer!) So if anyone is interested in a couple of tree carvings that you can toss in the back of a pickup, leave a comment. We live in Grand Haven, Michigan.

Stag Beetles Battle!

Last night I was privileged to witness something you usually only see on the nature Channel. Three stag beetles were in our front yard and two of them ( I'm assuming the odd one was a female and the two that were fighting were male) were duking it out in the classic beetle wrestle mania! I snapped a couple of pics after the battle was over and they just would not fight again after the winner clearly won. However, someone on the Internet at least has a similar pic of larger beetles to give you an idea of what was going on. It was cool seeing the winner pick up the loser in the show of strength. You never know what you will see in the late hours after dark. In other news...Looks like some ants have found one of my carvings and have started to work their way into it. I'm assuming its to get the fungus that is growing inside the heartwood. It's no biggy because I knew the heartwood was rotting anyway and the ants are just making the process move more quickly. I'm sure within a year the log will be little more than sawdust and firewood.

Saturday seats with some Origami Beetle on the side

Just finished carving four seats for the weekend, Not the bonanza we had hoped for, but at least it's something. I have been working on some new origami methods lately, but unfortunately, they have not turned out as well as I had hoped. I don't know about the masters, but do they have to screw up several versions of something before they get a decent presentable sculpture? Well, the only results I have that I can show, is another version of the Samurai head beetle/ rhino beetle. It still needs work, because it's missing one set of legs. It's different from previous versions, but It is probably difficult to tell.

Coast Guard sunset at the beach.

Took a small break from carving today, choosing instead to work on a new tree carving. Nothing worth taking pictures of s of yet, but at least the tree is roughed out a bit. So then we decided to head to the beach for our usual sunset walk, when we were able to witness the coast guard helicopter once again. This time I was able to get some really great photos of it. The lighting was just right and the sunset was great. White beach combing for "goodies" Cheryl and I found these really great beetles that wash up on shore. Lake Michigan is one of those places that capture the local insect broods in force. I have not seen a really pretty beetle like this before, but ladybugs, milkweed beetles, bees, and thousands of butterflies wash up as the seasons change. This one is called the Red Turnip Beetle, and was so cool that when we finally found a dead one, we brought it home so Cheryl can make a necklace out of it. The rest of the evening, I spent cleaning my room and getting ready for tomorrow. I have five seats and several of them are rather difficult ( time consuming is a better description. We'll see how we fair tomorrow!