The Strange Case Of Origami Yoda

A while back, I was wandering around the book store with my bookish friends and came across The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. I immediately found the folding instructions in the back and committed them to memory (only 15 steps, none of them complex). Then when I found my next sheet of paper I folded away. 

I don't know who designed it, so I'll just 

credit the author, Tom Angleberger.

Then, I later went back to the book store and bought the book so that I could read the story. It is a case file written by a middle schooler. Each chapter is a story about an origami Yoda and how it affects the students at the school. Each story has a bit of analysis (at 6th grade level) of what might be happening. 

Their classmate, Dwight, has folded a small puppet that looks like Yoda and begins giving out advice. Some believe that the puppet can see the future, others are skeptical. I really enjoyed it, because it reminds me of when I over analyze situations and try to find the truth, while ultimately missing the point that was right in front of me the whole time.

Faces!

I was drawing with some people recently and one of them mentioned the likelihood of a art show featuring paintings and drawings of Lady Gaga. I said that there may be a way to fold a likeness of her, instead of draw it, so I got to thinking.

I began experimenting with faces, hoping to develop some skills.


This first mask is a model by Jun Maekawa that I dissected to better understand faces.


This is an attempt to create a face wearing a masquerade mask. I tried to make the eyes apparent without a color change.


This is another attempt at the masquerade, but with the added element of tiling on the mask to give it texture. The resolution of the tiling is low, so it is not all that apparent.


This is the masquerade again, but out of a much larger sheet of paper (from a presentation) and I was able to get a higher resolution on the tiling. Unfortunately, the paper was really springy and it did not have the effect I wanted.


This is an orc wearing a helmet that I designed.

 

I don't know what this is, but since it is blue and elongated, it reminds me of a Navi from Avatar....

 

This is an experiment, and I kind of really like the eyes.


This is something of a samurai with his eyes hidden. I really like this look, I think I'll make it my profile picture.

Fiber Arts Festival

On July 24th and 25th I was at the Fiber Arts Festival in West Fargo. When most people think of fiber arts, they think of wool or cotton, which is not entirely wrong. In fact, there is a strong wool contingent at the festival, including shearing sheep, carding the wool, spinning the wool, knitting, crocheting and felting the wool. There were also a variety of other fiber artists there, who taught embroidery, weaving, nålebinding (check it out!), dyeing, quilting and other things.

But what people often forget is that paper is a collection of fibers. Someday, I might be able to do a posting here about how paper is made, but suffice it to say, each sheet is made of untold millions of tiny fiber lengths. In fact, the way to form a crease is to break the fibers in a line (unless you are wet-folding, in which case the moist fiber bends instead of breaking).

At the festival, I spent a lot of time teaching people how to fold a variety of things. One thing I noticed was that a lot of the children had a really solid understanding of space and geometry. I was able to give an instruction once and it would be understood. I suspect it might have something to do with the fact that this craft comes as their third or fourth, not their first. A lot of spacial reasoning is transferable from craft to craft, even if people don't realize it right away. Also, I think that there is a cultural difference between the families in Fargo and the ones in Brooklyn Center, where I teach at the library. I suspect that children in Fargo have more opportunities to learn and are encouraged to do so. It reminds me of an organization called Learning Dreams, where the idea is that if you can get the parents and adults to get excited about learning, then the children will follow the example. I wonder if my teaching origami in the library is one small encouragement for students that seem to be struggling.

Of course, I need to be careful that I do not mix up individuals with statistics. Each student is different.

I realize now that I should have taken a lot of pictures, but simply did not. Maybe I will see about getting photos my friends took and doing a follow up posting.

Before I end, I must give mention to a woman named Caron that I met at the Fiber Arts Festival. She is an artist who is working on a memorial to honor those who have died in our current war. It is titled and still counting. She is making small colorful squares that each represent an American soldier who has died, and on each square is 212 knots or beads to represent all the Iraqi citizens that have died. It is a bit overwhelming to think about the numbers involved. I am glad that she is honoring them in this way.

[The image of paper fibers is from wikipedia; the second image is taken by me, of the models I had on display, most of them traditional designs.]