This month's theme at the Origami Society of Madras is a little different from usual. This month, we are working on a theme author instead of a theme object. And the author we have voted for is the grand-master of origami - Akira Yoshizawa.

The beauty of Akira Yoshizawa's models lie in the simple, elegant lines of his fold. His genius is evident in the way he captures an animal or an insect with the fewest folds possible! Ofcourse, there are a number of complex models to his name but his simple ones are the ones that capture the attention of even a beginner origamist.

His most popular model is the butterfly. I love this butterfly. When I first started teaching my Little Miss some basic origami, this was among the first models I taught her. And she became quite famous in her class, because she could fold a butterfly while most of her classmates folded only boats :) And inspite of the butterfly being an easy model to fold, it still looks amazingly like a butterfly! No wonder Akira Yoshizawa is credited as an origami grand master!

So today, what I folded was the origami shrimp from his book "Origami Museum Animals". Though the model is called a lobster, I think it resembles the shrimp more than it resembles the lobster. Again, with the fewest of folds, the grand-master has beautifully helped me fold a couple of cute little shrimps! Each shrimp is folded from a triangle formed by cutting along the diagonal of a square. In the notes, he has said that if the paper is thin enough, we can fold the square along its diagonal and then proceed with the shrimp, but I preferred folding it from a triangle. It helps that we can fold 2 shrimps from a single square which is what I did.

Model Details:

Model: Shrimp / Lobster

Creator: Akira Yoshizawa

Book: Origami Museum Animals
 
Author: Akira Yoshizawa
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Triangle

Paper Size: 9.5 inch square cut along the diagonal

Model Size: The body measures ~ 3.5 inches and the antennae measure ~ 3.25 inches

If you are familiar with folding the traditional origami crane and the origami Kawasaki rose, then why not try out the Origami Tsuri Rose - a modified crane with a rose in the centre.

The tsuru rose has been on my to-do list for quite some time. And finally I was able to try it out - mostly because the monthly theme at the Origami Society of Madras is a crane and I didn't want to end up folding the traditional crane :)

The crane is not easy to fold - I would rate it as a high intermediate. And the reason for is, once the pre-creasing is over, immediately on starting the folds, the model becomes 3D. So almost from the beginning (Step 10 in the diagram), we end up folding in the air. And as the folding progresses, there are quite a few layers of paper to fold, which makes it harder to fold or get crisp creases. And getting a good, well-creased crane without crushing the rose in the centre was pretty challenging for me. That said, after I had tried it a couple of times, I was quite happy with the outcome :)

Model Details:

Model: Tsuru Rose

Creator: Satoshi Kamiya

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inches

Model Size: ~ 5 inches wingspan and 4 inch from head to tail

Instructions: Coisas de papel

After folding the octagonal box from 4 units, I tried the 8-unit box. While folding, I realized that the 4-unit version is actually an extension of the 8-unit box. So folding the individual modules was pretty easy.

The assembly was not as easy as the 4-unit box. Mainly because there are 8 arms that have to be folded together to form the spiral at the top. And obviously, dealing with 4 spiral arms was way easier :)

I had used 3 inch squares to make the modules. So the result was a fairly small, octagonal box which is the perfect size for gifting jewelry in.

Model Details:

Model: Octogon Box 

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Let's Fold Spirals
 
Author: Tomoko Fuse
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: ~ 2.5 inches across and 1.25 inches tall (including spiral)

Modules: 16 (8 for base and 8 for lid)

This month's theme at the Origami Society of Madras is Boxes! Yay! Love it :)

So I got cracking with this octagonal box by the ever-prolific Tomoko Fuse. I have this absolute fascination for boxes with spirals. I am always astounded by how beautifully elegant they look! So I worked on this spiral box from Tomoko Fuse's 'Let's Fold Spirals'.

A couple of years back, I had completed yet another spiral box - a hexagon and I love that box. I still have it and it is still as sturdy as ever. The octagon box, though, isn't as sturdy as the hexagon box because of the way it is constructed. This box is made from 4 modules for the lid and 4 for the base. And each module forms 2 sides of the octagon.

I had used 80 gsm paper (love the rather Christmassy look that the red/green combination brings in!) which gave stability to the box. Thicker paper should work much better though.

Model Details:

Model: Octagonal Box with Spirals 

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Let's Fold Spirals
 
Author: Tomoko Fuse
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 5 inches

Model Size: ~4 inches across and 2 inches tall (including spiral)

Modules: 8 (4 + 4)

The Origami Society of Madras has started a recent project - to fold as many models as possible, based on a particular theme and post it on the group's Facebook page. The theme is selected via voting and this month's theme has been Dragons.

If you go through my posts, you will quickly realize that I have a general aversion towards folding life forms - I have about 50 posts on lifeforms as opposed to 120 posts on modular origami! But I did want to take part in this initiative, so finally, on the very last day of this month's theme, I tried out Robert Neale's origami dragon.

The dragon is fairly easy to fold, easier to fold when using thin paper (60 gsm or lesser). I had used 80 gsm paper, so the feet of my little guy don't look too good, in spite of putting my bone-folder to good use!

I started with a 4.5 inch square and the final dragon measured about 1.5 inches tall and 2.25 inches across.

Model Details:

Model: Dragon 

Creator: Robert Neale

Book: Origami Monsters and Mythical Beings
 
Author: Jay Ansill
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4.5 inches

Model Size: ~1.5 inches tall and 2.25 inches across

Tutorial: Youtube 

The Origami Society of Madras, of which I am a part, is a Facebook group, made up of origami enthusiasts in Chennai (Madras of yore). So a few days back, there was an origami folding challenge on the theme, 'Aqua' ie., any origami that is related to water can be folded - shells, fish, frogs etc. The event will be coming to an end on 17th March. Well, I only recently came to know of this challenge but life has become quite hectic recently, so I wasn't sure I would be able to participate. But I did find some free time this weekend, so set about figuring out what to fold, what paper to use and how to fold.

John Montroll's book 'Origami Under the Sea' came in quite useful and I finally decided to fold the Angelfish from the book. It turned out to be quite challenging for me, especially the final few steps which included the final shaping of the fish, the pleating. I had used banana paper, a thin but strong and crisp handmade paper, but in spite of that, the final fish was quite thick. I ended up wetting those thick folds to shape the thin fins and pleat the other 2 fins.

So, here is my angelfish :) I am quite happy with the result and might even screw up enough courage to try out the complex models from the book! Soon.. Hopefully in the near future!

Model Details:

Model: Angelfish 

Creator: John Montroll

Book: Origami Under the Sea
 
Author: John Montroll and Robert Lang
 
Difficulty Level: Complex

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inch squares

Model Size: 2.5 inches across and 3.25 inches fin-to-fin