Nick Robinson's Blog, page 33

Early last year I signed up to produce four origami “port...

Early last year I signed up to produce four origami “portfolios”. The work was duly delivered, but the company went very quiet and I suspected they had bit the dust. However, a few liquidations later, they have risen, phoenix-like, to contact me and ask for folded models to finalise the books. WHo knows, I may even get paid at some point ;)

So I’ve spent a merry day folding and re-folding the models to post of for “shooting”. One of the projects is “Origami Royalty”, which has proved harder than I’d expected to fulfil. I’d already turned down the offer of writing a complete book on the subject, feeling that the models would necessarily be contrived and unsuited to the beginners market, but for this I only needed 6 designs.

Even so, it required some thought, since the publishers kept rejecting ideas(!). Two that made the grade were a “throne” and “guardsman”, shown here. The latter was inspired by the work of Eric Kenneway, although his solutions came from rectangle and mine is from a square. The throne require quite a lot of refinement to produce a flowing sequence and I almost found one ;)

The book(lets) should be out later this year, no doubt I’ll be plugging them further at that stage.

Back in the USSR

Undoubtedly the friendship and Kremlin contacts of Assia Brill has boosted my profile in her native land of Russia – both my “Dummies” and “World’s Biggest Ori” books have ben translated into Russian. I hope it keeps the Komrades warm during the Siberian winters!

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Not just a Collection of Models

By and large, I keep this blog clearly distanced from the BOS and the work I do for them, but here’s a rare exception.

For the last 3 volumes, I have produced the BOS Model Collection (the publication formerly known as a Convention pack). It is a unique treasure, in origami terms. As well as being a twice-yearly smorgasbord for hungry folders, I think it’s value is greater than that.

What it forms, in a somewhat ad-doc fashion, is a representative slice of what is happening in the origami world at the time of publication. Whilst old designs should and do feature inside, the majority of designs have been created in the time since the previous MC.

This allows us to take a step back in time and look at what was “hot and happening” during any given year. We can trace the faltering early steps of those who blossomed into creative talents, as well as admire the “one hit wonders” who seemed to quickly vanish.

The moral of this is “don’t be shy” – your work, however modest or grand, is important to us and deserves its place in history. It’s almost impossible to guess who a given model will appeal to, but you’d be surprised – something you may feel pales by comparison to the “greats” might just appeal to many people. It’s also slightly selfish (IMHO) to create but not share, if everyone took the same approach, we wouldn’t have origami as we know it today.

So, as you may have anticipated, this is a plea for contributions to the Spring 2013 collection, currently in need of more content. I know the material is out there, it just needs the creators to get in touch. With a place in origami history and a free copy of the CDrom version awaiting, why wouldn’t you?

More info here www.britishorigami.info/society/meetings/conpack.php

Hey Paula

Just before Christmas, I had a contact from Paula Quiñónez who was in London and looking for a nice folding experience. The best I could do was to hastily arrange one on the 22nd December and invite her to travel up. Due to the flakey and slow bus service (5.5 hours London to Sheffield!) it made sense for her to stop overnight, so we had chance to chill and talk origami.

Wayne Brown was the only one free so close to Xmas, so he popped over and we folded a variety of festive designs (all grist to the mill for my “Christmas Origami” book project). Paula proved to be delightful and engaging company. She is a professional folder from Sao Paulo, so we sympathised with each other about the variety of pitfalls facing a professional folder.

On Sunday we took the scenic route to the bus station and I showed her some what little remains of Sheffield’s architectural heritage, before she boarded the snail coach back darn sarf. Another friend to add to the long list of those I have made through origami!

12 12 12, the number of the piece

I’m known as a paper-folder, but music has always been (ahem) my first love. So as my last meaningfully creative act of 2012, I’ve completed mixing of a piece of music.

It’s my contribution to the 12.12.12 looping project – the significance of the date is that such a configuration won’t happen again in our lifetime and so 12 is the theme of the project. 12 being the number,  11 is right out.

As a child, I struggled with my “times tables” and so fished out the blue vinyl 45 rpm EP my parents bought me to help matters. This provided suitable sample content for the track as well as cover art.

https://soundcloud.com/nick-robinson-uk/half-time

On the first day of Christmas, my postman brought to me…

Three book contracts! Two are for more volumes in the “My first origami book” series (Dover Publications) – featuring themes of “Christmas” and “Paper Planes”. The latter is an interesting challenge, since the planes must all fly and will be made from squares. However, this type of challenge (and reward) seem to bring out my creative instincts and I have designed 4 new planes already.

The other is for a book provisionally entitled “Origami Angels”. I’m sure you can imagine what it will contain. They will vary from simple to high-intermediate. Shown right is one of the possible contents.

The publishers are (unusually) quite insistent on what they feel will work, so I’ve been designing and sourcing many angels that don’t seem to fit the bill. However, I hope their clear vision and focus on the design elements of the book will result in a first-class book.

As ever, if you have a model you think might fit the bill, please get in touch.

Fir enough…

Since it’s heading towards the Festive period, I’ve dug up this oldie from nearly 20 years ago, created during a period when I was inspired by the concept of “painting with paper” – using the two sides to depict scenes in a silhouette fashion. The folding sequences were often random / not pleasing and rarely locked together in the way I usually aim for, but I still think the idea has merit. David Mitchell  explored similar ideas in his “Origami Alfresco” publication..

Square Planes?

I’m working on a projected book for an American client. They want it for children, about paper planes (not other flying things) but most importantly, from a square. Now as anyone who has tried to create a plane from a square will tell you, life gets much easier if you “stretch” it to a rectangle.

There’s just something about the extra paper at the end of a rectangle that allows you to create enough weight to drag the darn thing through the air, even if it’s not perfectly balanced.

As I’ve explained to the publishers, if it was so simple to achieve, there would be lots of square flyers out there. The fact is that they are thin on the ground for a good reason.

So, I’m opening this as a challenge to any creative readers. A plane, from a square, simple to fold, that flies at least moderately well. Go for it over Christmas – a free copy of the book, full credit and eternal glory await you!

Repeat behind?

For some years I’ve been using a symbol for “repeat behind” which has been pointed out to me is non-standard! It’s a fold behind arrow with a dash through it (and optionally, as shown right) which steps to repeat).

I’m not sure where my use of this symbol it came from, but I’d be very interested to know how other diagrammers tackle this thorny issue?

I’m also torn on the fold/unfold. For years I used a line going to the location then returning. more recently, I’ve adopted the single line with solid/hollow arrowheads.

This then leaves the issue of where you fold/unfold and it doesn’t matter which way, such as an initial diagonal. Here, both arrowheads are conventionally solid. Is this wasting a symbol and possibly adding an extra level of confusion? Should I always use “one end hollow”?

I’m losing sleep on this – your thoughts welcomed!

Ich bin der größte….

Spotted in a (quality) bookshop in Freiburg (and later on in Basle), a translation of my “World’s Biggest Book Of Origami“. I quickly persuaded an un-comprehending shopper to take my photo. He left rapidly afterwards ;)

They had also translated the “WB Paper Panes“. So yet more editions that the publishers hadn’t thought to send to me. Thankfully after an email chase-up, copies came my way. It’s always fun to see your work in another language, even if there’s no extra fee in it.