Hideo Komatsu – Origamiancy

Sheep (Design by Hideo Komatsu)

This weekend I chose to fold Hideo Komatsu’s Sheep, the diagrams of which are available in Origami Tanteidan Magazine # 105. If you are interested in folding this model from a CP, you can find the CP in Origami Tanteidan Magazine # 93.

There are 112 steps in all and this model can be categorized as Complex in the level of difficulty. I used a 9 inch square sheet of Tissue fur backed with natural fur paper on one side. Both of which, I have purchased from Nicolas Terry’s origami shop, not long ago.

For the duo colored paper, I came up with a new idea this time around. I ‘recycled’ an old origami model – Román Díaz’s Oveja – to use for Hideo Komatsu’s model. What I did was to open up Román Díaz’s model, which was folded out of black colored (both sides) natural fur paper, straighten out the creases by hand and then, by placing a handkerchief over it, iron it out to smoothen the sheet. I must say this turned out pretty well and I guess it can only be done for sheets which are used for simple models. I then pasted this, using common glue, to the back of the ivory colored tissue fur paper.

This looked great when finished even though the glue took some time to dry up. Overall, I am pleased with the way the model turned out, except for the Sheep’s face – for which the paper became too thick to make any distinct folds.

How to fold this model:
JM Origami Tutorials has got a nice video on the folding sequence on his YouTube channel.

Origami Wall Hangings

This weekend, I thought of decorating the hall room up a bit with my Origami. All of the models I had folded till date were getting stacked on a shelf at home or at my desk at work and I thought I’d do something about it. I made a simple ‘bird hanging’ with some of the bird models I had folded. This was a simple one, with no fancy beading or other trinkets.

I used the Owl by Hideo Komatsu, the Cranes by Eric Joisel as well as Robert J. Lang’s Songbird I to make this. In addition to this, I also attached the Icosahedral Model Sonobe by Paolo Bascetta.

Wall Hanging Icosahedron (Design by Paolo Bascetta)

For the second hanging, I used a single model, which is the Icosahedron designed by Richard Sweeney. This I had made using regular printing / copier paper which I then spray painted a variety of colors in order to make it look better. I opted to use natural beads for this hanging, which I purchased from Michaels (The Craft Shop). I also picked up ribbons which I used for this hanging.

All of the origami models in the two hangings are ‘threaded’ through using common sewing/stitching thread. If you follow the links in this post, it will take you to the individual posts for each of the models mentioned here. You will then be able to follow the folding instructions / source of diagrams.

Origami Owls (Designs by Hideo Komatsu & Stephen Weiss)

Hello everyone! I am back from a short hiatus 🙂 I really did miss posting on this blog. I was away in Indianapolis for the long weekend – 4th July…visiting my fiancé. It was a good little holiday; it’s a pity the rains dampened the 4th of July fireworks, though. 🙁

Anyway, back to origami. I have been experimenting with different designs of owls these past few days. I tried my hands at folding the Stephen Weiss model from the book – Origami Zoo: An Amazing Collection of Folded Paper Animals – and the Hideo Komatsu from the book – Origami Tanteidan magazine Issue #49 (Volume 9, 1998).

Stephen Weiss’ Owl

This particular model of the owl is relatively easy to fold and can be categorized in the lower intermediate category. One point to be noted here is that the folds you make should be crisp and firm. This model also makes use of the “pivot fold” which is something I have rarely come across.

The diagram to this model can be found in this origami book – Origami Zoo: An Amazing Collection of Folded Paper Animals.

All the steps are clearly depicted along with areas / folds you need to watch out for. The best paper to use for this model is a brown shade of origami paper, square shaped and approx 6” to 9” in size. Ideally, it should be single – side colored paper, so that your final model will have the ‘back’, head and tail of the owl in brown and the ‘chest’ of the owl in white. Even if you do have duo colored paper of brown and yellow (or something very similar to the color of an owl) you can use such a kind to fold this model.

You need to start off with the light shade or the white color side of the paper facing you.

Hideo Komatsu’s Owl

This model of an owl is slightly trickier than Stephen Weiss’. It took me a lot longer to fold this one too, but that more got to do with the fact that I had to redo a few steps towards the end in order to correct a few things. The folds I found most tricky were those which were to shape the owl in the required form. I was quite pleased that the paper did not crease all that much with the rework. 😀

For both of the models in the image above, I have used single side colored (orange) origami paper which is square shaped and measures 9″ in size.