I’ve been getting back into folding again lately. A couple of weeks ago my friend John from Maryland visited and we spent the weekend doing a lot of origami (in addition to introducing Lizzy to Settlers of Catan). He’s working on a new book or origami polyhedra, which is always fascinating for me since there are not alot of people doing polyhedra from a single sheet. I came up with a design for a stellated icosahedron. I worked out the CP but it’s pretty difficult to make 3-D. I made a study of a half stellated icosahedron which should be a bit more doable.
I also came up with a new design for my Hot Air Balloon just before John’s visit. Recall that I developed this model at the OUSA Convention back in June. It is the newest member of my series of flying-vehicles-based-on-a-polar-plan. Others include my Rocketship and UFO, and the forthcoming Dirigible. The main change to the Balloon is in the basket. The original version had the basket made from one corner, but it had the problem of not holding together very strongly. The new one makes a basket joined together from all four corners and is more secure.
I am working on an exhibit-quality version of the Balloon now, and soon will post pictures and the CP. I realize I’m running out of nice paper for origami. I tried it out of a few different kinds: all my nice Japanese foil is used up, and anyway foil looks nice and folds well, but is terrible to photograph. Regular 10″ kami works pretty well, but doesn’t look that special to me. I have other papers in my stash such as Wyndstone but that my be too thick for the strings, and I don’t need a really large sheet anyway, 10 to 12 inches will do. So I’ll have to take another look and see what I come up with.
Meanwhile I have interesting problem, which is the balloon doesn’t stand so it needs some kind of stand or holder. I’ve never had a model that needs this before, although I’ve seen plenty of models that require propping up its something I’ve tried to avoid until now. I made a stand out twist ties but the wire wasn’t stiff enough and the weight of model causes the stand to bend. The best I came up with was re-bending and old Easter egg dipper, but end loop that holds the balloon isn’t big enough, and besides its bright orange. So I need to find some wire that is thin and stiff and bendable and black. If any origami people out there can recommend a good kind of wire and where to get it, I’d be grateful.
The other origami thing I’ve been doing of late is folding dragons. There is a Chinese food and sushi restaurant down the street that we go to alot and Jeannie suggested I make them a nice gold dragon as a gift since they’re so nice and their food is really good. So I did, and along the way I got some ideas and folded several more variations with different body proportions. Then I learned that the Origami Society, who does an origami holiday tree every at their headquarters in the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, was having as their theme this year fantastic an mythical creatures. So I just had to fold one to contribute to the tree!
I dropped it off one day last week. It’s about a mile and a half from my office to the museum, and most of it is thru Central Park, and it was a beautiful crisp fall day, perfect for a brisk walk. They’re already setting up the bleachers for the Thanksgiving parade. I met the OUSA people who were in the middle of putting up the tree. The lighting ceremony is on Monday. I’ll have to take the kids in to see it once it’s up.