The idea of the "Inktober" art challenge is to improve drawing skills. One of the groups I am a part of (Artrangi United) has taken up this challenge. The participants are provided with a list of prompts - 1 per day for the month of October and are challenged to draw based on the prompt. 

Frankly speaking, I am very bad at drawing/painting etc! So what am I doing with this challenge?? Today's theme was "whale"! And there is this Robert Lang's whale that I have been thinking of folding for a long time now. So, I decided to take up the prompt for the Inktober challenge and finally, finally folding this long pending origami! 

The folding is fairly simple. Using black single-sided paper (15 cms in my case) gave me a nice little killer whale. You might be wondering why I have added all these bells and whistles in the pic?? 😆 That is because the Artrangis have been asked to post there creations on Instagram. And in case you have an Instagram account and wish to follow me, please do so! I would be delighted to have some followers!! 

Model Details:

Model: Whale

Creator: Robert Lang

Book: Origami Under the Sea
 
Author: John Montroll & Robert Lang
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inch square

Model Size: ~4 inches in length 

Tutorial: Youtube

Origamists around the world seem to be putting the quarantine to good use! Instagram and Facebook are rife with origami enthusiasts teaching various models, origami conventions are being organized online and in general, a lot of people are putting their time to good use. 

Once such origami demonstration I happened upon was in Instagram. The author of the model, Fabian Correa was interviewed online and then he demonstrated to the host and to the viewers, how to fold this really cute hummingbird. The entire session was in Spanish, so I did not understand anything that was spoken, but origami is a universal language and the folding was something I understood quite well. It was well demonstrated and folding along wasn't a hardship. 

I used 6 inch origami single-sided paper. The final shaping took some time, but otherwise it was a good, fun origami to fold. 

Model Details:

Model: Hummingbird

Creator: Fabian Correa

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inches

Model Size: ~2 inches across

Link to demonstration: Instagram

My mega Mette Ring project is finally completed! Whew!! After working on and off for nearly a year, I finally completed it! 

And I am absolutely thrilled by how well it has come through. I had made a total of 20 rings which were linked together to form a slinky. Finally inserted the last module into the first, forming a ring of ring of Mette rings. 

Absolutely love the colours that were chosen by Little Miss. Apparently, I am incapable of even choosing the rainbow colours for these rings 😄😄 But as always, she chose impeccably, the perfect colours that show a good gradation of colour.

While this has been a tiring bit of work, I think the final outcome would give anyone, absolute satisfaction! But not to be forgotten, there are 360 modules to be folded. Which makes this the biggest origami work that I have ever attempted!!

Model Details:

Model: Mette's Ring

Creator: Mette Pederson

Book: Mette Units

Author: Mette Pederson

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Diagram: Mette Units

Modules: 18

The first order for a magazine rack came through during the covid lockdown. So I decided to hunker down and start working on the rack during the end of June. The client gave me the option of choosing my own colours, so decided to go with a combination of dark and light brown. The light brown was after consultation with Little Miss 😄And I must say I am quite happy with the result.

The base of the rack is made of plywood, and I had drilled holes through the wood. Then it was just a matter of decoupaging paper onto the base, so that the plywood is not visible. The wood base ensured that the magazine rack would be sturdy even if a number of books are placed in it.

I liked the pattern in the lower half of the rack. Would have loved to continue in the top bit too, but I guess that would not have looked that great in the middle. So there, it was a regular weave with 2 tubes of paper.

I must say my weaving skills have improved quite a bit and am quite pleased with the way the magazine holder has turned out. Obviously, there are a few mistakes, but nothing glaringly obvious. And I am sure I would get better with a little more practise. What say?

Overall, this has been a fun bit of work and I am truly grateful that the client trusted me with the whole project. I am also supposed to make a pen holder and a tissue holder that goes along with the rack. I will soon get cracking on that!

Paolo Bascetta's stellated dodecahedron, also known as the Bascetta Star is, I think, the most well-known of Bascetta's creations. I also love this Compass Rose folded quite some time back. 

During these coronavirus times, I tried out yet another of his modulars - a modular 2D star, called the New Year's Day Star. While folding it, I was wondering if it was possible to restart this year, minus the pandemic! 

Coming back to the modular, it is folded from 18 modules and is similar to the Mette Ring. In the mette ring, the final step is folding the module into 2. This step is not included in the New Year's star. Instead, the unfolded modules are slipped into the little pockets to form the star. Though I assembled it with glue, it can be done without glue. I used 2 inch squares and 2 colours, in the classic black and white combination. And I quite like the way it has turned out. 

Model Details:

Model: New Year's Day Star

Creator: Paolo Bascetta

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 inches

Model Size: ~ 4 inches across

Number of Modules: 18

Tutorial: Youtube

Diagram: Free Download

Continuing with the project from my last post, I worked on a pen stand, using the same colour combination - dark purple, mauve and cream. It was again done using the coiling technique, using newspaper tubes.

Weaving the tray was easier because of the larger surface area. And another problem was maintaining evenness in the sides of the pen stand. I haven't completely succeeded in this regard!

The close up shows the colours and the smooth weave. And once I glazed it, I ended up with an incredibly strong pen stand! I just hope my brother likes it and finds it useful :)

And finally, here is a picture of the pen stand and the tray. I am quite pleased with how they have both turned out, but I think I will take a break from weaving using the coiling technique! It is quite time-consuming and frankly speaking, very addicting 😅😅

Model Details:

Model: Triangular Pen Stand

Difficulty Level: Complex

Tutorial (making newspaper tubes): Youtube

Tutorial (coiling or root-weaving technique): Youtube

After completing the woven Mother's Day bowl, it appears that I still am a glutton for punishment 😅😅 I tried out more of the coiling technique, using newspaper tubes. Well, I had a second reason for going ahead with this tray - my brother's birthday had just gone by and thanks to coronavirus, I was unable to gift him what I had wanted. So handmade it was!

The triangle is a shape I haven't attempted before and I am happy with the way it has turned out. I love the slight curve in the sides. I also added some tubes in the edge, as handles for the tray. I don't know what purpose they would serve, but I like the way they look!

As far as the colours go, I went with a combination of purple and cream tubes. The purple was in 2 shades, since I wanted to do a gradient in the weaving. The darker purple was achieved by adding a little black acrylic to mauve acrylic paint. This resulted in a rich dark purple which was a pleasure to work with! The lighter purple was mauve with a dab of white acrylic paint mixed in. I wasn't too happy with the way the cream turned out! I wanted a mellower version. I need to experiment more with this colour.

I love this closeup of the weaving! Absolutely adore the way it has turned out. The weaving is the smoothest I have achieved since I started experimenting with coiling or root weaving technique.

I have also decided on weaving a pen stand, using the same technique and the same colours. Will have to see how that works out!

Model Details:

Model: Triangular Tray

Difficulty Level: Complex

Tutorial (making newspaper tubes): Youtube

Tutorial (coiling or root-weaving technique): Youtube