More-igami

Since the last posting on my nascent origami fetish seemed to go over rather well, I thought I'd tempt/torment you with more of my "oeuvre." Plus, given recent events in my life, I'm in no mood to write, especially anything too frivolous, which, given the almost-exclusively silly nature of previous postings, obviously poses a severe communication challenge for me.

OK, so writing about the ancient Japanese art of paperfolding still seems pretty frivolous in retrospect, I'll grant you that. But I can only adapt my blog (and real-life?) persona so much and talking about my origami jones should at least help me avoid my usual goofy, slipping-on-a-banana-peel-in-a-rainstorm style of humor for a little while.

One hopes.

As you can see, I managed to finish the yellow daylilies, in fact did so while on a recent visit to my parents' home in Kansas. I had started these over Christmas and had planned to finish them on my next visit out Midwest in April. But because of a severe downturn in my father's health, I had to travel in a hurry to the Sunflower State. So to better channel my crisis-based adrenaline rush and to make me feel as though I was doing something, anything, to help during my family's time of need (even if it was something solely to distract me long enough to leave off jumping on everyone's last nerve, including my own), I finished the orange daylilies before I left Pennsylvania and completed the yellow ones within a few days after arrival.

Not much of a contribution during troubled times, you might say, and I would agree, but we do what we can. For the record, the origami frenzy accompanied other tasks, such as making phone calls, greeting visitors, asking questions, running errands, comforting others, and doing all the other things one needs to do at times like these.

I'm pleased to say that the yellow daylilies look attractive in the blue cobalt vase, and I feel fairly confident that the arrangement will look even more appealing when the orange ones arrive to accompany the yellow. (And, yes, I know, the stems need to be trimmed, as the flowers are too tall for the vase. All in good time.) My family, who encourages my new hobby (and who tolerates my questionable timing for whimsy), seemed happy with the result as well. Maybe I couldn't help the situation in Kansas, but I'd like to think I offered a little color (and maybe some needed distraction) in the midst of a stark, gray reality.

Once the yellow daylilies were completed, I started some "test folds" for another origami project I have had in mind, this one a mobile of African animals for my sister, the Journalist. In her previous job, the Journalist had occasion to travel to South Africa and Zimbabwe and even went on a safari or two while there. Thus, she has a fondness for Africa as well as a long-standing love for animals. Symbolizing the union of both her interests, in my office at work I have two photos, one of a lion and the other of a cheetah, which she took while on safari near Victoria Falls some years ago.

I made a little progress on the project, using special African animal-themed paper to create a zebra and a crocodile, as well as a tree, grasslands, and a really awful sacred ibis from regular origami paper. I also created an elephant and a giraffe, but I haven't had a chance to take photos of those yet. Soon, I promise.

In retrospect, the daylilies were easy, and it may be that I just do better with the larger and less detailed folds of flowers than I do with the intricate, delicate, and tight folds that origami animals necessitate. Time will tell, but using as a guide John Montroll's African Animals in Origami, a book I purchased during the winter when I first envisioned this project, I quickly became aware of my rank amateur status as an origamist. Of the animals and objects folded above, only the tree, the grass, and the ibis come from this book. The crocodile and the zebra (and the subsequently made giraffe and elephant) come from a leaflet featuring animal designs included in the African animal origami paper I bought for this project.

The ibis took a lot of time and energy, and the results, frankly, don't really justify the effort. I attempted the elephant design offered by the African Animals in Origami book, as well as a pink flamingo, but failed at both after repeated attempts.

I can't get too worked up about the failures though, as I've come a long way in a short time, and, frankly, was pushing myself to follow designs that, at this point, are to the limit of or beyond my abilities, at least at this early stage. Most origami books or guides mark the difficulty of paperfolding designs with asterisks or stars(*), with 1 star meaning beginner/easy and 4 indicating advanced/difficult. So far, I've managed to complete designs from various books and sources marked with 1, 2, and 3 stars. The African origami book features almost exclusively 3- and 4-star designs, but even their 2's (the ibis and the pink flamingo, for example) are complex and frustrating. And, frankly, I'm not sure I have the necessary dexterity in my hands and fingers for it.

Look at it like this--the same size sheet of paper is used to make the body of the zebra and the crocodile (but not the heads--these are examples of "two-part" origami designs, the body and the head, which are then glued together) as is used to make the tiny, tiny, and really rather pathetic ibis.

After a couple of days of frustration, I figured out that I needed to retrench and get better at some of the basic designs before tackling the advanced ones. So I took myself to the Borders in beautiful downtown Lawrence, Kansas, and bought a copy of Teach Yourself Origami, also by John Montroll. The book is organized in large part by the type of fold or base you need to learn (squash fold, square base, etc.). Thus, you gain skill and experience in making the folds, while working your way through star level 1, 2, and 3 designs.

While I hate to admit defeat or retreat at anything, ultimately, it was a wise decision to purchase the book and go back to the basics of paperfolding. For example, with a little practice in creating the waterbomb base that was outlined in the Teach Yourself book, I was easily able to finish the body of the elephant I'd been working on for days, a design I had followed from the leaflet included with the special origami paper--a leaflet, I should add, that was written entirely in Japanese.

I'm not sure that the African animals mobile will be completed anytime soon, and there's always the possibility, given my longstanding experience with craft projects, that it won't get finished at all. Nevertheless, with a little perserverance and a lot more practice, there's a strong chance that it will get done eventually, maybe even before all the African animals go extinct.

That or come her birthday, my sister is getting a vase of origami tulips instead.

The flower of my secret pastime

By popular demand, I present you with the initial offerings from the Raplicious Origami Collection.

Since December, I've made a few mentions of my burgeoning origami habit in the digital pages of Blogtucky. It may seem like a new phenomenon, but I've been thinking about picking up the pieces of the folding paper habit for years. In fact, my friend Fouchat gave me a beginner's origami kit for Christmas a few years back. And, finally, in the week leading up to this past Christmas, when I seemed for once in my holiday life to be totally on top of the season, for some strange reason, I decided to break open the kit and start folding my way through the basics.

I even took the paper and instruction booklet with me on my trip home for the holidays, and it came in very handy traveling on the plane and, naturally, while stuck at O'Hare (once again) waiting for the crew, the plane, the plane and the crew, the food, the fuel, the luggage, or whatever the hey-it's-not-our-fault reasoning for the delay the airline was spewing forth that day. Surprisingly, the origami kept me calm and kept me active. I even had some fun leaving little origami surprises around the terminal for my fellow travelers, none of which, thankfully, drew the untoward attention of the FAA or Homeland Security. "Code red! There's an origami box and drinking cup at Gate H-22!"

While in Kansas, though, I got the origami monkey on my back in a big way, and it has not yet let go. I went through all the designs in the beginner's booklet, including the tough lily and the surprisingly easy flower ball. Then I bought a book on Christmas origami and created a few more objects, although with uneven success.

One of the ideas proffered in the Christmas origami book is for the origamist to re-create the twelve days of Christmas through the art of folded paper, geese-a-laying, maids-a-milking, and lords-a-leaping ad infinitum. I briefly entertained the idea of making for every member of my family a full set of origami in homage to the twelve days, and who knows? that may yet happen. But after arriving at a decent swan-a-swimming, I struggled through the calling birds and the French hens and have pretty much decided to scale back the project. If I get one set of all twelve days completed in my lifetime, well, then, joy to the world.

I've had more luck--although not complete success--with origami flowers and have since purchased a book on paper flower designs. I've done well with the tulips and alright by the primroses, but my carnations are, shall we say, petal-fully lacking.

I've battled with the lilies, too, but I decided to create a bouquet of orange and yellow day lilies to go with a bare, cobalt blue vase my mother has in her dining room, and by focusing on a project, I've done so much better. I'm creating a vase of ten lilies, five yellow and five orange. So far, I've made nearly all the flowers (eight of ten, with one or two of the yellows, where I started, in need of a do-over), and now have begun folding leaves and creating stamens/carpels/pistils/whatever, for the internal parts of the flowers.

I've also become a regular at Michael's--perhaps the only man to ever make this claim--buying 18-gauge and 20-gauge flower wire to create stems, along with floral tape to attach the leaves and flowers to the stems. I feel like such a florist! But, minus a little glueing, I have finished at least three of the flowers and feel hopeful that I can complete almost all the others by the time I head back to Kansas in April.

Sadly, I don't think I'll be quitting my day job anytime soon to become a Master Origamist. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying this newfound, long-delayed hobby. It gets me away from the workaday world, relaxes my mind, and exercises my hands more than anything else of late, save gardening, the latter of which is a bit difficult to get excited over during a long, brusque Pennsylvania winter. (Waiting for tulip bulbs to rise from the deep freeze can only entertain one for so long.)

What's also fun for me is that I feel like I'm creating something. I've spent too many years admiring the abilities of others, focusing too much on work, on distractions, on the stuff that goes on inside my head, instead of taking the time to acquire skills and talents that I've longed to do for years (perfecting my Spanish, learning the rudiments of German and French, practicing calligraphy, cooking, and writing, to name but a few).

But with this origami jones, a cooking class or two, some half-begun short stories in the works, and the occasional German-by-radio lesson, maybe I'm on to something.

Honestly, I wasn't sure I had it in me, never having been too dexterous or patient and generally dissatisfied with my attempts at anything that I can't be "perfect" at. But this origami gig is working out, at least in the way I want it to, giving me a chance to do something enjoyable, make something with my hands for someone else, and, if done well, add a little delicate beauty to the world.

In the panoply of all art, my origami may be slight, it may be crudely executed, and it may be (I fully admit) completely dorky. But it is at least mine.