Lets Make Origami

Recently we posted our video on how to use the origami fortune teller.

The NBC comedy show " Community " uses the origami fortune teller in a unique way; to show the opening credits. Very neat, and a very funny show as well.

Here is a link to the trailer for Community .

Luckily my grandparents aren't tech savvy enough to follow this blog...

Woot! Color! And wow this one took forever to make.

Oie!!!
Vim divulgar que saiu o resultado do sorteio do blog de papéis!!
Se tiverem interesse em saber quem ganhou, acessem:

http//tchami-papel.blogspot.com

Bjaummm...

As much as I've enjoyed folding Snapology models by Heinz Strobl, I had planned to move onto something else to keep up a little variety.  However, I had the idea of making the small Icosahedron models to give as a reward/incentive to a class of 11-year olds that I team-teach in church.  We had a program in which all of the primary-aged children had speaking and singing parts.  All of the children did a fantastic job, but I was particularly proud of my class.  I had a blast making the models and loved the reaction from each of the kids when they got them.  I had contacted each of their moms to find out their favorite color and used that as the main color for each of them.  Something that I found especially amusing was that of the nine kids (there was five boys and four girls) eight of them said their favorite color was either blue or green (or a variation of one of those colors, like turquoise).  I thought for sure one of the girls would have said purple.  Despite that, I like the several color variations that were created.  By the time I had finished all of them I only had time and light to take one group picture of them.  I was very pleased with all of them, but my favorite color combination is the dark blue and yellow that is second from the left in the bottom corner.

The group picture of Heinz Strobl's Snapology Icosahedron models I made for my Primary class I lead at church.

The link to find the instructions on how to make this particular model are found here.  Enjoy.

I made this animation about a year ago, and I wanted to share it with you guys because the drawing style is so similar to my comics.

Hope you're all familiar with Apples to Apples...

I'm talking about these guys: Ed Hardy Douchebag

Check out our Facebook page.

Here are the rest of the Snapology models that I folded.  In my last post about the largest model (the Truncated Icosidodecahedron) I stated that I didn't use any glue (which I didn't), however some of the smaller models required it.  I used glue dots (which my wife so graciously offered to let me try and which I depleted rather quickly :) to hold the tabs down on some of the models for aesthetics sake.  My favorite models are the larger ones that required no glue.

The whole collection.

Another shot of the entire collection smallest to largest.

The 3 smallest units.  The yellow and blue model on the left is a Tetrahedron (4-sided), the yellow and red model on the right is a cube (6-sided), and the blue and yellow model in the middle is an octahedron (8-sided).  I had to use glue on all of the sides of each of these models to hold them together.

A close-up shot of the Dodecahedron (12-sided) model; I had to use glue on some the sides of this model.

My second favorite model, the Icosahedron (20-sided) model.

The Truncated Cube model.  This is one of the models that I had to use glue to hold together.

This  is the Truncated Cuboctahedron model.

This is actually the first Snapology model I tried.  I followed the instructions from the Web site which has you take a normal sheet of copier paper and make the strips; this produces a larger model than the rest of the ones I folded.

Another shot of the first Icosahedron.  I love the size.

Here's a shot giving a comparison of the different models.

Last, but not least, is my favorite model, the Icosidodecahedron.  Before making this model my favorite was the Icosahedron.  I love the five-pointed stars that are created all the way around this model.

Once again, the link for learning Snapology is here.  Enjoy :)

Oie!!
Estou fazendo um sorteio no meu blog de papéis...

Participem!! ^^

http://tchami-papel.blogspot.com

Bjaum....

I was somewhat productive today and I actually managed to finish a comic before midnight.

Oie!!
Essa bonequinha fofa foi a Sayuri que ensinou num encontro do Orisampa.
Lindinha, né??? Até o rostinho, ela mandou para podermos imprimir... ^^
Ela ensinou uma outra também, mas anda não tirei a foto...

Bjaum...

Second comic for today, remember to scroll down to see the other one.

Something I love about origami is being able to watch paper start at such a plain and basic form that we use everyday and become something so much more incredible and beautiful.  I recently decided to try my hand at something that I'd found on the Internet a while ago, Snapology.  I was surprised at how simple the technique is and how the results look.  The models don't take much time to actually fold, so before I knew it I had tried nearly a dozen of them; each one of them a little larger than the one before.  I decided to try a very large model and document each of the steps.  Here they are:

It starts with plain copier paper that you can find at any store that carries office supplies.

The paper is then cut into strips of a predetermined width (these are 1/2 an inch).

The strips are then pleated together; they look like little springs.  I remember when I was little my dad would bring home the discarded strips of paper from the old dot-matrix printers they used at work; the printers that feed the paper through them by means of holes along the sides.  You could then tear off and discard the strips with holes.  My dad would bring these home sometimes for my sisters and I to play with.  I remember constantly making these same type of "springs" with that paper.

After taking the painstaking time to make sure that all of the strips are pleated accurately (it's very important to make sure they are kept as perpendicular to one another as possible), you turn around and take them apart.  The strips now look like they've been sent through a paper crimper.

The strips of paper are then cut to specific lengths for the model that has been chosen.  At this point there are about 180 of the small strips of blue paper.

And now for my favorite part of any modular or unit origami model: the assembly.  I started with a decagon (10-sided) and attached squares and hexagons alternately to it.

From there I added 5 more decagons with the necessary squares and hexagons in between.

After that an additional 5 decagons are added for the next layer of assembly.

Finally the last (and 12th) decagon is added to complete the model.

Another shot of the final model to give a little perspective.  It's roughly the size of a softball.

The model I used is known as a Truncated Icosidodecahedron for anyone as geeky as myself that wants to know.  It's comprised of 12 decagons (10-sided), 20 hexagons (6-sided), and 30 squares.  I didn't actually clock how long it took me to cut, fold and assemble, but I estimate it was a solid couple of days total.  Obviously this is the one that took the longest because its the largest.  Something to note here is that there is no glue holding it together.  The only cutting that was done was to get the strips, after that it was just folding and assembling. 

The link to where I found instructions are here.  The site is in both English and Polish.  The instructions aren't the most clear (it's obvious that English is not the author's first language) but still sufficiently detailed and has good pictures as a guide.  The rest of the site is very impressive, with fantastic pictures of models that they've folded and lots of diagrams for other models.

Another site that has instructions about origami strip paper folding is here.  I've done another model from here that I love, the Sphere 94.  The original creator of Snapology is Heinz Strobl.  If you get curious about some of the other things that he has created simply type his name into a search engine for images and you'll find some very impressive pictures.  I absolutely love that origami can be found so plentifully on the Internet at no charge; this hobby can truly be an inexpensive one.  Having said that I still absolutely love my small collection of origami books that have taught me so much.  Enjoy the pictures.  I will post again soon the rest of the Snapology models that I folded.