Origami Creations - Siamese Fighting Fish (暹羅鬥魚)

I have always wanted to try and fold a Robert J. Lang origami model.  This famous master is an American physicist who is also one of the foremost origami artists and theorists in the world.

He has designed and folded so many models from the simple to mostly highly complex pieces so it is a bit of a challenge for me to decide which one to do.

Finally, I got to see his Siamese Fighting Fish design and decided to make one for me.

It's a real fighter!
 

I chose foil paper to fold this design which makes a bit shiny on the photos but the actual piece is really beautiful and can stand by itself.

Hope you like it too!

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More info:

Robert J. Lang Wiki

Robert J. Lang Website

Origami Creations - Maekawa Seahorse (海馬)

I chance upon another wonderful design by the famous japanese origamist Jun Maekawa.  It is his seahorse.

I am very impressed by this artist as his works are very fun and exciting to fold.  I have wrote about him before here.  It was with regards to his wonderful squid design.

Same with the squid, his seahorse design is simple yet surprisingly unique and beautiful.  

With awesome ear flaps.

Now with the real thing!

Please do try it.  You may find the diagram on the 19th Tanteidan Convention book.

Have a great week!

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Origami Designs/Creations - Simple Dogs and Puppies

Finally, I was able to fulfill a friend request ... to make an easy origami dog.  

I am calling this one "Muttley Dog" from a favorite cartoon character of mine in the TV show "Dick Dastardly & Muttley".  He is undeniably a happy character with a great laugh.

Here is my Muttley Dog fold.

A lovely reversible color change design too!

To top it off, I gave them some cute puppies too!

Dog family & friend

So happy to give simple yet lasting pleasure to a friend.  She is so overjoyed with the model especially with the cute puppies.  That is a great feeling!

Have a great day!

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More Info:

Dick Dastardly and Muttley Show

Simple Pleasures - The Wonderful Friendships We Keep

I have been fortunate enough to be blessed with new talented friends who share the same passion and are very generous and kind hearted.

It is with great joy to design and create art but even greater joy when it is shared and appreciated.  In origami, the penultimate happiness is when you see people folding your own creations.  Quite humbling and overwhelming feeling!    

Here are the latest folds made by friends:

Happy Baby Whales - Details here

My most favorite as it is being taught and shared by a wonderful origami teacher by the name of Hisako Tanji to kids.  The photo was for Children's Day.  A lovely and wonderful soul indeed!  She's a living angel to me!

The other model is my Wind Swept Tree.  Details here.  It is very nice to see how they individually express themselves and uniquely applied their own flair on my design.

Hadi Tahir

Barth Dunkan (a.k.a Magic Fingaz)

Rui Roda

Natalia Romanenko

My sincerest gratitude to all as it has continually inspire me to do more and pursue bringing simple pleasures for me, my family, friends and to the world!

Have a nice day!

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More Info:

Hisako Tanji FB Page

Hadi Tahir Flick Page

Barth Dunkan Flickr Page

Rui Roda Flickr Page

Natalia Romanenko Flickr Page

Origami Creations - Awesome Cat (貓) by Fumiaki Kawahata

I have seen a flickr posting of a friend showing the different origami Cat models that he has folded.  So many lovely pieces but one of them caught my attention.

This is the model designed by a japanese master named Fumiaki Kawahata.  The same creator of the Pegasus I folded and blogged here.

Fortunately, I have the whole Easter holiday week to relax and try this art piece.  Below is the result of my fold.

Close Up photo 

Quite impressed with its shape and structure.  The folding sequence flow was also fun and very smooth.  The only problem I had was with the shaping which could have been better if I used a better quality of paper.

Overall, I am very happy with the outcome so I took another photo of the model with my upcoming design (still under development).

Cat and Puppy

Hope you like it and have a great week!

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Origami Designs/Creations - Baby Bunny (復活節兔子) Tutorial

Just in time for Easter, I was able to spare some effort to make a tutorial of my minimalist baby bunny and uploaded to youtube.

Here it is:

Details of my blogpost can be found here.

Enjoy!

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Origami Design/Creations - Minimalist Easter Bunnies (復活節兔子)

It's the Easter Week and I've challenged myself to do something for this occasion.  An obvious choice is making an easter bunny.

As I have done 3 simple origami competitions (sadly without gaining any win :o(), I have decided to try my skills on making these lovely critters.

Tada ... my minimalist Easter Bunnies.

At first thought, I was a little bit doubtful because of their short ears.  But when I ask the expert opinion of my daughters, they said that they are babies so they will need time to grow them. 

Lovely Babies

Other than this, there are indeed rabbits that have short ears.  These breed is called the "Netherland Dwarf Rabbit".

Super short yet Cute

It was great fun and hope I was able to justice on my Easter Bunnies.

Video tutorial can be found here.

Have a great Easter week!

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More Info:

Easter Bunny Wiki

Netherland Dwarf Bunnies

Origami Design/Creations - Paper Airplane from a Rectangle

I made and extra entry for the "It's a Windy Day" origami competition which I have joined.  This one is inspired from the short animated movie the Paperman.  It's an endearing love story with a paper folding twist.  

Here is the link to the movie.

I folded a simple piece still within the rules of the number of folds with no cuts and gluing.  

Here is my entry:

From a rectangle

This model uses 12 steps to make plus pen rolling of the tail to make the wind effect.  

T'was a great joy to make as it reminds me of my carefree younger days ... well, who don't?

Enjoy your day! 

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Origami Design/Creations - Dragon bookmarks (龍書籤)

Anyone for Dragon origami bookmarks?

I've been so enamored with bookmarks as these are the special request I always get from my kids for gifts to their friends.  Though I normally get to do the usual pretty stuff, I was surprised to be asked to make a Dragon.  Hmmm....

I did a search in the web but couldn't find any so I just have to create one.  Well the best I could do was something like this ...

Complete with slit Eyes and Claws (back & front view)

Fits quite well on a book

My daughter's friend was so happy to receive a unique gift so I very much believe that I did something "awesome"!

Have a great week ahead!

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Origami Creations - Winged Divine Stallion

One of the best known mythological creature in Greek mythology is the Pegasus.  It is the winged divine stallion (horse) and also is one of the favorite origami models being created.

Among the many models, I have learned that the most favorite one is by Mr. Fumiaki Kawahata.  I clearly remembered to have folded it a long time ago and was lucky enough to find it still intact.

Here is my interpretation:

Hope you like it.

Have a nice weekend!

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Origami Creations - Sakura from an Octagonal Star Cube

Another impressive origamist from Japan goes by the name of Ms. Tomoko Fuse.  She is quite famous with making modular origami balls or Kusudama and has written so many origami books.

Lately I saw a very nice model of hers that I have enjoyed a lot.  It is quite simple with a good locking technique and makes a perfect 8 pointed star.  Here it is:

Now, I tried to do some variation and came up with a small Sakura (cherry blossom) flower in the middle.

What do you think?

Hope you like it!

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More Info:

Sakura Wikipedia

Ching Ming Festival (清明節) in Hong Kong

Yesterday was the Ching Ming Festival (清明節) in Hongkong.  It is a holiday celebrated by the chinese people to pay respect to their dearly departed ancestors.

Literally, Ching Ming means "clean and bright".  And yes, this is so as we had to work and clean the graves from weeds aside from making offerings of food and lighting incense candles.

It was a bright and sunny day.  I prayed for my Ah Ma to watch over us and bless us with good health, success and happiness always.

Here is a short video taken on the occasion.  Hope and pray that this tradition lives on especially among the young ones.

Have a great week ahead!

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More info:

Qing Ming Festival Wiki

Origami Creations - Cube Art Origami

I've read about Cube Art Origami from the book of Mr. Kunihiko Kasahara titled "The Art and Wonder of Origami".  Quite interesting as this technique is described as akin to painting on a square canvas.

I tried it and it is such a challenge to work within the square boundary.  Here below is my fold on one of the models in the book.

Owl among the the birds

Noticed the pigeons in the background?  Well, a surprising thing happened as I was sitting on the ground to take a photo of my fold, a huge flock of pigeons gathered around  me.  One even took a lot of interest and went really near my owl captured in my short video here:

Have a great weekend!  

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More Info:

The Art and Wonder of Origami Book Review