Sea Creatures – Page 3

Shark (Design by Fernando Gilgado)

I had come across this particular design on the popular pajarita.org website sometime ago but never got around to attempting it. So this weekend, since I am on a roll folding things..I thought I’d give it a try.

This origami Shark has a total of 48 steps in the making of it and is of an intermediate level.

Paper I used:
I used a single side colored origami paper measuring 9 inches in size. This is square shaped and I found it pretty flexible to fold those intricate folds required for the fins. You are free to use either duo colored paper or single side colored paper for this model and you can even experiment with tissue foil or other types of paper.

How to fold this Shark:
Pajarita.org has the freely available diagram for this model. When folding this model, you will need to make sure that the creases are firm and crisp. This way, everything will get aligned properly when u fold the model in to half towards the end of the process. Most of the folds detailing the fins are rabbit ear based, whereas the rest of the steps are pretty much simple.

Doesn’t this model remind you of JAWS, now?

Sea Urchin “Crumpling Technique” (Vincent Floderer)

This is another design similar to Vincent Floderer’s ‘crumpling technique’. After trying out his mushroom design, I thought i’d give this one a try just out of curiosity. I am not sure who is the original creator of this design – either Vincent Floderer or Paul Jackson. So if any of you out there are aware, do let me know!

Crumpling this tissue paper into this design was pretty simple and easy to do, but however, it requires a bit of patience as the folds start ‘sticking’ together pretty often.

Paper to use:

I used a rectangular sheet of tissue paper which I got from the gift shop. What I did was cut one sheet into half and then used one of the “halved” pieces.

How to ‘Crumple’ tissue paper into a sea urchin:

I came across a video on YouTube.com by Ionoialdo, in which the contributor was shown this particular technique by Paul Jackson at an Origami workshop. It is quite easy to follow and the paper used in the video is an ordinary table napkin. So you can choose any fine paper as such in order to crumple it into various forms.

Just make sure you don’t end up tearing the paper when the ‘creases’ get too ‘tight’ 🙂

Manta Ray (Design by Quentin Trollip)

This weekend I chose a Manta Ray to fold, a design by Quentin Trollip, whose work I was trying for the first time. I am quite pleased with the way mine turned out even though I used single side paper, that too wrapping paper 😀

I have been debating whether to fold Quentin Trollip’s Pig or the Manta Ray for quite sometime now, considering I have the diagrams for both. I finally settled with the manta ray.

Paper to use:
I used a 30 cm (or 12 inches) approx single side patterned wrapping paper which I cut down to size. This is a specialty wrapping paper which I found in my local stores which looked pretty and was of a decent thickness. However, I would recommend using duo colored paper for this model so that you won’t have to make a few modifications to cover up the white part. Both sides should be colored the same color for best results.

How to fold this model:
I was able to get the diagram for this model off the Internet, which was posted by Origami Weekly. It is quite easy to follow and the steps are explained pretty well.

You will have to spend sometime shaping the ‘wings’ and the tail of this ray. A bit of shaping will also be required for the ‘body’ of the ray.

Have fun trying out this one! 🙂

Origami Goldfish (Design by Michael LaFosse)

This particular goldfish design is from the book – Advanced Origami: An Artist’s Guide to Performances in Paper – by Michael LaFosse. It’s intermediate in nature and not for the beginners in the art of Origami. This model incorporates the ‘wet folding’ technique, rabbit ears and reverse folds in it.

If you are a beginner and are interested in folding pretty fish, you can try your hands at folding this simple, easy to follow video on folding Origami fish.

Folding this model:

I used a 8 1/4 inch duo colored origami paper for this model and wet folded it towards the end in order to shape it up a bit. I think using Washi Paper or other Asian made papers would make it a lot easier to fold, especially when it comes to shaping this model. This is because even if you try wet folding common origami paper, it tends to tear with the moisture.

It took me about half an hour approx to fold this model and another 15 mins to shape it.

Murex (Design by Robert J. Lang)

This weekend, I thought I’d try something from John Montroll and Robert Lang’s book – Origami Sea Life. I ended up selecting a design from the mollusks section, designed by Robert J. Lang.

This particular design is known as the Murex and they are really pretty and therefor the most sought after by shell collectors. These shells are identified by their spiky projections and frills; this particular model is called ‘Venus’ Comb’ and has a single row of spikes or needles on the opening to it.

I have used a 9 inch square sheet of paper single side colored and started folding it with the white or blank side facing me. There are approximately 55 to 60 steps in folding this particular model. Some of the steps are repeated in the middle. It takes around an hour to fold this model and some more time to shape it, if you will.

The part which you need to pay special attention to, whilst folding is the ‘legs’ section which has a lot of reverse folds incorporated in it. Hence, it can get a bit confusing at this point. The rest of the steps are pretty easy to follow. One point worth noting is that your folds should be crisp and smooth without any ‘crumpling’. This makes the folding a lot easier when it comes to the legs section.

The finished model is about 70% of the sheet of paper you have initially started off with, so based on this you can experiment with smaller or larger sized paper. Using sheets smaller than 6 inches will pose a real problem in my opinion, as there are a lot of intricate folds involved. So it’s best to start off with 6 inches or larger as you would like.

The legs section certainly has room for improvement in my case, which I will definitely address the next time I fold this model.