Irrelevance Glorified

Week 33, August 11th – August 18th

Modular Unit Ball

Not to be outdone by the 5 day Pagoda, here is a six dayer! Wow, Week 34 is gonna be pissed when it finds out that Monday was stolen by this ball. Anyways, six sides, six days, and some tape was needed to get certain joints to stay together while I connected other joints.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 32, August 4th – August 8th

Dollar Armadillo

Yet another dollar origami. I’m starting to hate these for a couple of reason. One, dollar cloth just doesn’t take a fold very well. Second, a dollar bill is smaller than a normal origami square. So this is a tiny tiny armadillo. The plating folds didn’t take very well. Still, I like the ears.

Travel Wallet

The idea here is that when you travel, you take the local newspaper and make a wallet out of it as a keepsake. I didn’t have any foreign currency or foreign newspapers on hand to demonstrate, but I’m sure you get the idea.

Cat Head & Body

I feel like I’ve done this before. It’s probably just because I’ve done a dog and a rat before.

Panda

I really wish the designer would take into account what’s on the back of the origami sheets. The June 7th page had a black back (instead of orange), so it’s clear that they intended it to be used for today’s origami. But all the yellow and stuff on the back ruin the effect. Or it makes the panda look like it has a face-tattoo.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 31, July 28th – August 1st

Pagoda

My very first five-parter! Five stories, five pagodas.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 30, July 21st – July 25th

Magic Tipper

I assure you, no cgi magic was used to make this video.

Four-Pointed Star

I’m intrigued by this one. If I folded up steel to make this, I wonder if I could make a real shuriken.

Monkey Climbs the Mountain

Not only origami, this sounds like one of those Kung Fu forms that Jackie Chan might go through in Legend of Drunken Master(go to the 4 minute mark).

Message In a Bottle

The key, of course, is that you write a message on the piece of paper and then use it for the origami. I doubt it’s watersafe, though, so you might not want to go this route if you’re stuck on a desert island.

Buck Bra

This origami was really really hard to take a picture of. This is pretty much the best I could do. I certainly wasn’t going to model them. So stop asking.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 29, July 14th – July 18th

Catamaran

Definitely seaworthy.

Flower

I don’t know where this design came from….perhaps from this article speculating on plants on other planets.

Goldfish

I tried to liven it up by giving this goldfish a face.

King’s Crown

If you have to resort to a crown like this…maybe you need to rethink this whole “King” thing. Maybe you should lower your expectations a bit. Like maybe become a pizza delivery person or something.

Knight’s Helmet

This guy would probably be very interested in this concept.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 28, July 7th – July 11th

Elephant

This one was interesting because of the negative space involved. The trunk is defined by the whitespace between two folds. However, I was using a black background, which ruins the effect. So I had to cheat. Hence the pen ink.

Snake

This would have full of awesome if it had been preceded by a badger and a mushroom.

Party Hat

Pikachu here is modeling this hat for me. This hat definitely screams party to me! Why do I have a Pikachu, you ask? Uh….Uh….none of your damn business, that’s why!

Day Lily

Whatever. Another flower.

Buffet Napkin

I either need smaller silverware or a bigger napkin. Or one napkin for each utensil. I’m open to my options.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 27, June 30th – July 4th

Dollar Bowtie

This origami desk calendar always uses dollar bills. I can only assume that somewhere there is an excelsior version out there, some Platinum Edition, where you use $100 bills or something.

Ladybug

This would be more impressive if the backside of the paper was consistently colored, instead of being both red and white. Even more impressive if it was actually black. And still more impressive if it didn’t look like I stepped on it.

Dollar Bill Snail

I’ll have to thank Gina for this one. I felt it was impossible, even though I know it is. I had neither the dexterity nor the patience to get this one going. Stupid dollar bills.

Snail

To counter the catastrophe of the dollar bill snail, here’s a more reasonable snail. I think he/she/it looks quite dignified.

Betsy Ross’ Star

Oh man, this is super lame. Super duper lame. Pretty much folding this paper a few times, and then taking some scissors to it.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 26, June 23rd – June 27th

I’ll preface this week by mentioning the note in the calendar, which gives us something to look forward to : “Feb. 14 is Annual International Envelope and Letter Fold Association Day”. Mark your calendars, people!

Bamboo Letter Fold

This is less impressive in picture than in person. And also less impressive since you can’t see the awesome letter I folded this into.

Tamper Proof Letter

The dealio here is that once this letter is open, you can’t reroll and crimp it, so you know if someone has been in your Lucky Charms. So to speak.

Stand

This origami is a convenient place to put important notes.

Rowboat

There have been a number of rowboats and boats this year. This one looks a bit more like an actual rowboat than the one in Week 23, but still, no oars! C’mon, where’s the two parter, rowboat and rows? And maybe a coxswain.

Basket

Just a basket.

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 25, June 16 – June 20th

Sweet Swallow

I’ll admit, this didn’t get my best effort. Step 5 was pretty impossible. As such, this swallow is pretty depressed. That’s why it’s pointing downwards.

Offering Stand

It seems like this would be a better stand if it was upside down, but I am not an expert in offering stands, so I’m sure there is a subtle and spirtual reason it is the way it is.

Heart Place Card

Yet another heart-related origami. This one is perfect for putting on your mantel.

Wedding Noshi

This is something you’re supposed to give at a wedding, I suppose. It contains folded representations of a tortoise and a crane, which both are supposed to give good luck. I’m not going to take the time to actually look up what they mean, but I’m going to guess that the tortoise represents a long marriage, and the crane represents fertility or something, since cranes are big birds, like storks, and storks deliver babies.

Boutonniere

What lucky lady wouldn’t want to be presented one of these by Ranjeet?

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.

Week 24, June 9th – June 13th

Swordfish

It’s amazing to me how much “personality” I can add to an origami by adding an eye and an eyebrow. I’m rather proud of that eyebrow. Doesn’t it look like that swordfish means business?

Seal

I like this seal. It seems eager and ready to balance a ball on its nose.

Blue Whale

I thought about making this life-size, but my paper suppliers couldn’t get me something of the right size. And I couldn’t get access to one of those hangars that they use for Mythbusters episodes. I do like how the pattern on the paper is reminiscent of the grooved throat of an actual blue whale. Serendipity? Probably.

Mouse

I thought this one was kinda of hard to make out….when looking at it, you just can’t be sure of what you’re seeing. So I colored in the nose, to make it a little more obvious. I think it looks a bit more like Pikachu than a real mouse.

Emergency Tie

I found this one to be hilarious. There is a certain subset of these origami designs that claim, whether realistically or facetiously, to be useful in real life. I try to imagine the Japanese businessman who realizes after he’s left home that he forgot his tie. Or maybe he got it caught in some machinery and had to cut it to same his own life. No worries! I will grab some paper, and no one will ever know! This is much better than just showing up without a tie!

As always, these origami designs were found in the Origami Page-A-Day Desk Calendar.