Chickens

Ah, what have we here? Some sort of moonlight tryst?


These chickens are based on a very fun and simple model by Kunihiko Kasahara. Easy enough for beginners, but elegant and evocative.

Which one is the rooster? Which one is the hen? Can you tell? One of the joys of origami is in making subtle adjustments to the pattern. In this case, slight variations in the shaping of the back, tail, and underside create subtle differences in the completed model. Learning these adjustments and variantions is the first step towards origami design.

And now... cyborg rooster.*


"I'm looking for Sarah Connor."

"Ain't nobody here but us chickens!"

The rooster and hen were made from standard 5-7/8" red origami paper. The cyborg was made from 5-7/8" square gold and red foil paper. Each stands about 2-5/8" tall and is roughly 4-1/4" long (minus tail, in the cyborg's case). Folding patterns for a basic hen and rooster can be found in Kasahara's Origami Omnibus.

* Please, no "Robot Chicken" jokes.

Two cranes in flight

Today we have two cranes in flight, modeled here by the amazing Alex and Jason.

The orange crane on the left is a clever model from the "technical school", based on John Montroll's "five-sided square". (Best name ever.) It is essentially a five-limbed version of the traditional flapping bird, with some extra shaping and detailing. And yes, it flaps.

The purple crane on the right is belongs to the more "traditional school", and is incredibly elegant and fun to fold. Whereas the orange crane has two distinct, defined legs, the purple crane has a single rear flap, folded in such a way to suggest the existence of two separate legs. I find this very clever and aesthetically pleasing.

The orange crane was folded from a 9-3/4" square of standard origami paper. It measures 5-5/8" from beak to foot. The model was designed by Robert J. Lang, and folding instructions may be found in his book Origami in Action. The purple crane was folded from a 5-7/8" square of standard origami paper and measures 5" from beak to foot. This crane was designed by Kunihiko Kasahara, and folding instructions may be found in his book Origami Omnibus.

Candy dish

No, this is not the maw of a primordial carnivorous plant. It's actually a lovely candy dish! (Or maybe that's what it wants you to think. Reach in for the candy... and snap!)

My friends Zadam and Zann took a nice trip to Taiwan and Japan this summer. On the way back, they brought me back some beautiful origami paper from Tokyo. This dish was folded from one of the sheets.

The dish is folded from a single square of 5 7/8" paper. It is 5 7/8" from point to point, with a 2 1/4" square base. The dish is 1" deep. This model is adapted from a design by Mitsué Nakano; directions may be found in Kunihiko Kasahara's Origami Omnibus.

Tudor rose

During the fifteenth century, England was torn asunder by two rival families vying for the throne: the Yorks (whose badge was a white rose) and the Lancasters (whose badge was a red rose). The two feuding clans were finally united (sort of) in the person of Henry Tudor, who rose to the throse as Henry VII of England. To celebrate the end of the conflict, he combined the badges of the two noble houses into a single device, the Tudor Rose, which continues to be an emblem of the royal house of the United Kindom to this very day. (This is a very simplified view by a not-English-person. To learn what really happened during the Wars of the Roses, visit your local library.)

Kunihiko Kasahara has created a lovely wild rose pattern. Early on, I discovered that it was possible to place a half-size rose within a larger one. (This is my "design" contribution.) By placing a white rose inside a red rose, I achieved the anglophile origmi enthusiast's dream: a Tudor Rose.

This model was created from a 5 7/8" square of red, a 3" square of white, and a 3" square of green standard origami paper. The rose is 3 1/8" in diameter with a leaf of similar length. The pattern for the rose is found in Kasahara's masterwork, Origami Omnibus. The leaf was designed by Gay Merrill Gross; a pattern for it may be found in Michael J. LaFosse's "Origami Flowers" kit.

Springtime comes early this year

Fellas. If you're looking to impress that special someone (or trying to convince someone to be that special someone), this is a great model to make her. It's relatively simple to make, and creates quite an impression.

This composite model benefits from serendipity: the vase was designed by Toshie Takahama, and the tulip was designed quite independently by Kunihiko Kasahara. An anonymous folder ended up combining the two.

The vase is made from a 5 7/8" square of duo origami paper (Fold'ems "Peony" paper, to be specific). The tulip stem is made from a 5 7/8" square of standard greed origami paper, and the blossom is made from a 3" square of light pink/hot pink duo paper. The designs for all three parts may be found in Practical Origami by Rick Beech.