The Odd Hobby of Origami

If only they could talk.

Who wakes up one day and thinks they want to do Origami?  (Other than Robert Lang...) It is a thankless and tedious task where you give and give and give and never get anything back... ( unless you are Robert Lang)

Robert Lang,  A origami god!

  Oh the hours!    Wasted?   Maybe.   Does everything have to be measured in a dollar amount?   Sometimes.  If that is the case,  then I waste a lot of time on Origami.

Case in point.   I wanted to show the progression of one small fish.   Simple!  Right?   So without me blathering along...   I'll let the pictures do most of the talking...

Methylcellulose.   Wallpaper glue mixed with jello gelatin. Make it thick!

Rolling out tissue paper. (2-3 layers thick)  Let dry.

24 hours later.   Start folding the paper.

Fold 10x10 grid in middle.

Double that!

This will be the top.   Start from the head and work towards the tail.

Layer the paper, dividing each square in half. 

Continue this for the next two hours. 

Done!   With that part at least....Now the fun part!

On the underside.  Start from the tail this time.  Lock each scale into place.

Like this.  

Do this 421 more times! 

This is the top side.   Scales are locked in.

Sit back and watch your life drain away....

3 hours later.... Almost done.

Top side:   Checking in each scale to make sure they are set.

Want to add some color?   Do this as you make the paper.  Before folding.

Rinse and repeat!

Tada!   Wasn't that easy?   2 days per fish.  

And if you mess up anywhere along the way... say goodbye to your effort. 

Certainly easier than folding one. 

Now wasn't that fun?   I could stick with the "easy" stuff...   But then I would not have anything to gripe about.   ( Or blog) I still want to make an Asagi koi.    The blue paper was supposed to be that;  but stuff happens.   Mistakes were made,   usually upon various comets and asteroids. And when that happens,  the paper never makes it to the blog.

So before considering origami as a therapy,   consider fishing instead.   At least you get to eat your catch at the end of the day.  And it gets you out on the lake in the great outdoors!   Origami... not so much.

Continuing the Origami Pond

Cheryl has finally given me permission to start work on the origami wall pond. That means that I will have to get busy and make more koi! It's a bit of a challenge making all the koi uniform because their folding pattern is a bit "eyeball" meaning that some of the folds are not easily made in the same place. So I will have to feel them out and see how it goes. Last week I worked on the Lilly pads a bit and perhaps I'll add a lotus flower in there as well. These pics make it look pretty good so far. Can't wait to see how it all comes together. Oh! And one last thing...a REAL tree frog outside our window. He was driving the cat crazy!

Carp a diem.

Only had one seat tonight so I started and finished another panel. This time it was going to be a fish, specifically, a Koi. But I didn't want ti looking as bright as I normally make them so I toned down the colors and ended up with them looking more like plain everyday carp. Even so, Cheryl says that simple "carp" designs are "in". I guess it will depend on if you like Japanese designs or not. Regardless, I think it turned out pretty good. I took several pictures along the way. I wanted to show off a little of the kind of cupboard door I'm usually dealing with. In this case, the people screwed in some paper towel holder on the inside. I had to chisel out and fill in the hole they made. In the end, you cant tell. You might recognise the pelican design from one of the boxes I carved up a couple of weeks ago. I always like it. Pelicans are a cool bird, as long as you are not fishing or a fish farmer.