In addition to keeping a written journal, I periodically take pictures of the worktable in my studio, the place where I do most of my paper folding. This is my visual journal. The video below shows this table as it appeared at different times throughout 2013. Click to see videos of my visual journals in 2012 [...]
• Origami, Education & Therapy
One of the most frequent paper shapes used to make origami is a square. But many beautiful figures can be made with other shapes as well. Rectangles, triangles hexagons, pentagons and circles can be used to fold paper. The pentagon in particular is a magical shape to make stars and flowers. This is an example [...]
Do you ever feel resistant to make an origami model because you need to fold paper into thirds? The video above shows a very easy technique to fold a square piece of paper for any origami figure that requires folding into thirds. This technique can be applied to folding any rectangular piece of paper into thirds. [...]
Do you remember what was on your creativity table twelve months ago, or even twelve days ago? I have kept a visual journal of my art work for a couple of years now, by photographing my work table at different moments throughout the year. Every image on this visual journal is linked to daily events [...]
Do you remember playing with this traditional paper toy? It belongs to a select group of traditional origami models. It is known as a fortune teller, or cootie catcher. Below there are more names, in many languages, by which this toy is known along with how it is used. As a fortune teller the holder [...]
In this post Ronald Koh shares his challenge with serious health issues and the path to recovery through his passion for origami. It is an inspiring example of inner strength and perseverance. Origami and me Origami has been a large part of my life for as long as I can remember. It was a love [...]
I love the creative potential of a “clean slate”. An annual ritual of mine is to begin the year with a tidy worktable. Of course just as I’ve finished organizing my studio and put everything in its place, a new project appears. Soon enough there is a blizzard of papers and materials flying all over [...]
Not long ago I read Faiza Elmasry’s article “Bringing the Beauty of Math to Life“, a review of the book *Here’s Looking at Euclid, written by Alex Bellos. Elmasry’s review mentioned that the book contains a section on origami, a field of study that is one of the hottest areas of research in mathematics today. [...]
Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852), educator, crystallographer, and originator of the kindergarten concept, was one of the first to point to the creation of folded patterns like these featured here. Using white paper only, Fröbel created his own unique collection of folded forms of beauty, as he called them. In the book Extreme Origami author Kunihiko Kasahara displays [...]
