Origami Bunny

For the fourth origami project, I will be creating a rabbit, or bunny (is there even a difference?). Anyway, I just think that the well crafted version of an origami rabbit looks dope. Once again however, at my origami skill level, who knows how the final product will look? The book I will be using today is "Origami Farm Animals" by Lisa Miles. My incompetence in the beautiful art of origami may be exposed further in this project, as the details are a big part of the bunny, with the author saying "The rabbit has sensitive ears... here's how to make an origami version - complete with long ears," (Miles, 21). The reason I use this quote is that a big part of rabbits are their ears, and the amount of folds and details that go into creating ears could be a problem.

STEPS

Step 1: The first few folds are simple, a few valley fold towards the center. Valley folds are a very important fold throughout all of origami, no matter how simple or complex the project is.


Step 2: The next step once again, looks like it is quite a few steps ahead. In reality, it is about the same as the above picture, only with those valley folds already intact, and the corners folded in towards the middle. Then, turn those same flaps inwards and flatten them down. This is all in the sam step, but each picture is from the opposite side of the paper. This step alone sadly took me about half an hour because I could not figure out how to make the triangle folds in the middle.


Step 3: The third step is to mountain fold the whole thing towards the middle to create the body. Then, valley fold the left corners towards the middle to begin to create the face and ears of the bunny
.

Step 4: Now, it is time to create the legs of the bunny. Mountain fold the back end of the bunny towards the head, and unfold it. then, inside the reverse fold the legs back towards the head, tucking the legs under the body. Draw a black dot for an eye on the bunny. The step for this was very confusing to me, saying "Unfold, then make an inside reverse fold to create the feet," (Miles, 23.) To me, I think there was just far too many directions in this one step and was therefore more difficult.


Looking back on this, this was much harder for me personally than the pig, candy cane, or the duck. The book did not do a good job of representing dimension and directions for  folds. The finished product does slightly resemble a bunny, but I am not satisfied with this poor excuse for origami. What do you guys think of my progression in origami skills, or lack thereof?

Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading my blog.


Miles, Lisa. Origami Farm Animals. New York, New York: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2014. Print.

Origami Ducky

The next origami design I will be crafting today will still come out of the second book I used, "Origami Farm Animals" by Lisa Miles. While this book is a child reading level, the origami (to me at least) might as well be rocket science. In the beginning I had thought that maybe origami would be a fun little craft or hobby I could have, but all this has done is make me hate origami for my lack of skill in it. The sad thing about this is that this simple form of art has been around so long and mastered by many, but I still struggle to make basic folds. The author just makes me feel worse about how many people are good at origami by saying "Origami has been popular in Japan for hundreds of years and is now loved all around the world" (Miles, 4). This basically means anyone can do it, except me.

Today I will be crafting an origami duck, which is ranked by the book as an easy thing to create. Of course, this ranking means absolutely nothing to me as I am trash at origami. On that note, let's get started.

STEPS

Step 1: The first thing you want to do in creating a duck is to make a kite fold. this is no one step fold however. The instructions on this fold at the beginning of the book include a multitude of basic folds in order to create this one base fold, mostly consisting of valley folds (Miles, 6). This is what the instructed kite fold should look like.


Step 2: The next step is to valley fold the top corners in to meet the center crease. This looks like it jumped a few steps ahead because the last picture was displaying the valley folds unfolded. In reality, they are only one step apart.


Step 3: The third step is to take both flaps and fold them in towards the center fold. This creates the shape of the body of the duck. The next steps were much more difficult for me.


Step 4: The fourth step is to create what will eventually be the tail of the duck. This step was confusing for me because the inside reverse fold is not well captured in pictures, so it took me multiple tries to complete. You do this to both sides so that there is now both a head and a tail.


Step 5: This is basically the last real step. Another inside reverse fold is applied here to one of the sides to create the beak of the duck. Mine came out weird as the neck is too short, making the body of the duck seem extremely large. Then, add a black dot to the headed side to represent eyes.


On a scale of quality, I would say this is smack dab in the middle between the origami pig and the origami candy cane. This still looks pretty bad, but not nearly as bad as the train wreck of the origami candy cane. This week, I would like to know what all of you guys think or origami as a whole? Would you personally consider this as an art form? Why or why not?

 Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading my blog.


Miles, Lisa. Origami Farm Animals. New York, New York: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2014. Print.

Origami Pig

It turns out that the book I was originally writing about, which included my first blog post, unfortunately only had three different origami designs. So, today I will be using the designs from the book "Origami Farm Animals" by Lisa Miles. One of the key folds since the book is about animals is the Inside Reverse Fold, the book saying "An inside reverse fold is useful if you want to make a nose or a tail," (Miles, 5).

Today, I will be folding an origami pig, which is ranked as a medium difficulty animal to make according to the book.

STEPS

Step 1: The first step to creating an origami pig is to start with a valley fold, one the base folds. Unfold to the colorless side.



Step 2: The next step is valley folding into the middle, then valley fold in half from left to right. Unfold the second valley fold.


Step 3: Valley folding the corners towards the middle then creates a hexagonal shape. This is closer to the final shape of the pig, as most of the basic folds have already occurred. Repeat for all 4 corners.


Step 4: Next the book says to gently open the right corner, and flatten it out (Miles 10). The key word there was gently, as I rushed one of the corners and it came out uneven. The final product turned out okay, but it is much neater and easier if you listen to the book's advice.


Step 5: The next fold is a mountain fold under the other side of the paper. This begins to create the shape of the body for the final product.


Step 6: Coming to a close, a mountain fold is used to make the legs of the animal. If executed correctly, the pig should be able to stand by itself. In this stage, it should begin to resemble an animal.


Step 7: The final step is to mountain fold the front and back ends to create the tail and the nose. Then, inside fold one of the sides so that it resembles a nose. Make a black dot to show eyes on the nose side. And voila! You have an origami pig.


Compared to my last project, this is a major upgrade overall. Even though it's not the greatest, I'm proud of my improvement from the my Origami Candy Cane blog post (yikes). Although pointless to some, origami can mean a lot to someone else. For example, I gave this origami pig to my brother and he threw it away. So what are your guys' thoughts on giving origami as small gifts? I'd also like to hear feedback on what I should work on, as well as opinions.

Let me know in the comments below.

Miles, Lisa. Origami Farm Animals. New York, New York: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2014. Print.

Origami Candy Cane

For my blog, I will be writing about origami. Origami is something that I've never done, and have never really thought of as something to do in free time, but to each their own. Anyways, origami is the art of folding paper, which truth be told, sounds like THE most boring thing of all time, but despite the definition, the results seem cool. The book that I will be using is called 'Jumbo Christmas Origami Paper Pack' by Gavin Motnyk, which I had not found out was not actually a book until it was too late. However, the book does have a few basic instructions for holiday themed origami, so I guess I'll just live with it for now.

When describing the necessary base folds of origami, the book says "Learning to fold these base folds is not the most exciting part of origami. They are, however, easy to do, and will help you with your technique." (Motnyk 15). So, the author did put an emphasis on getting these base folds down, but me being dumb and impatient, decided to just jump right in to the first project. Since this was the first time I have ever done origami, I decided to start off with what the holiday themed book put first. A candy cane. Seems simple right? It's pretty much just a stick with a curve at the end, in a red and white pattern. How hard could it be? 

Very hard apparently.

Step 1: Valley fold in half. A valley fold is just a vertical or horizontal fold down the middle.

Step 2: Valley fold in half.

Step 3-6: Valley fold then unfold

Step 7: Valley fold then unfold.

Step 9: Repeat steps 1 through 7 four additional times to complete 4 additional piece.

Step 10: Connect the 5 pieces by inserting one into another as shown and apply glue.

Step 11: Make valley folds. 

Step 12: Valley fold in half.

Step 13: Inside reverse fold, rotate.

Step 14: Outside reverse fold, completed candy cane.

:(

The author stresses that technique and folding with care can create clean folds and to not be frustrated with first attempts (Motnyk 5). Contrary to the author's words and advice towards origami, this project frustrated me because I have never been so trash at something before, but I know this isn't the end, and I have room and time to improve.

I hope you guys cringed just as much as I did when looking through this struggle of a first attempt at origami. I am scared to hear feedback on my work because I know it's straight horrible, but I am willing to listen to literally anyone on improving my origami.  Do you think that origami is a useful hobby that can be applied elsewhere, or just a unnecessarily complex way of folding paper to make pointless sculptures?

Let me know in the comments below.

Motnyk, Gavin. Jumbo Christmas Origami Paper Pack. New York, New York: Sterling Innovation, 2014. Print.