Semi-annual update

I see the last post was in January, my how tempus fugits. That entry was an unabashed attempt to push my tawdry wares on Etsy, and whadda-ya-know, so is this one. Much of the collection had been travelling in the interim from one show to another, most recently to the art fair in Bellevue Washington last month. A photographer from the area, Michael Norton, has some images from the origami exhibition there. You can probably tell which ones are mine – there’s a tessellation and an undulating, pleated “spinal” doohickey from the lovely and talented Christine Edison - I believe that’s the inestimable Robert Lang’s Irish Elk at the end there – and the four pointed corrugated thingy might belong to the venerable Goran Konjevod. The other animals I cannot identify but perhaps one of my dozens of readers be able to.

From the end of last year until last month the Cooper collection has been floating around from one exhibiton to another: From Rhode Island (that’s my stuff way in the back (and thanks again Ray for those great 3D shots (for the uninitiated, you have to do that “Magic Eye” stare to see the 3D effect))) to Ohio to New York. There are still a few pieces in Spain for the upcoming exhibition in Zaragoza this fall - I wish I could be there in person (putting me in the unusual position of being jealous of my own origami, which seems to be more well-travelled than I am). But as I was saying, the season of exhibitions is (mostly) over and all of the touring pieces have (mostly) come home, and now they will be available for purchase by you, you lucky devil you.

But lest you think shameless self-promotion is my only reason for being here, I would also like to take this opportunity to promote the work of others (who just happen to be promoting my work too, but that’s beside the point).

        Daniel Kwan Whirls CP      Joel Cooper's Whirls
Folder Daniel Kwan has recently reverse engineered one of my designs (imaginatively entitled “Whirls”) and created a crease pattern for it. Click on the thumbnail above and see his CP in all its dichromatic glory.

  This is Daniel’s version of the model:   Daniel Kwan's Whirls

As near as I can tell he’s got the design precisely right, without any input from me, mind you, he just looked at the pictures I posted of my own model and figured it out. He asked permission, of course, to post the CP he created. I heartily endorse this behavior since I am always pleased to see someone else folding my designs, but I just don’t like to create instructions for them. I don’t create diagrams or CPs and I don’t use them. So if someone else is willing to do that work, I’m all for it.

A while ago, another folder, Andrew Hudson, did a deconstruction of one of my masks and likewise created a CP of his efforts.           Mask study   Andrew Hudson's Mask    

That’s my original on the left and Andrew’s reconstruction on the right. You can click through the picture to the Flickr page and find a link to the PDF of Andrew’s CP for this model. You may notice that the model here is not quite finished but I can tell that Andrew has figured out the folds. I have not yet seen any evidence that anyone has successfully folded a complete model, though. If anyone reading this feels emboldened by the challenge, why not go out and try to fold this baby for yourself.

And if anyone feels emboldened to do their own reverse engineering, may I suggest this model:Satyr

That’s a crease pattern I would surely like to see. I’ll give you a little hint to get started – get a really big piece of paper…

3 Comments

  1. August 3, 2009 at 8:10 pm

    Hi joel, here sebastian arellano, a fan from mexico. Well, I tried to fold the mask andrew hudson cp-eated, and well, just wanted to share my poor result.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/sebastianorigami/3534780210/

  2. joelcooper said,

    August 3, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    Hi Sebastian, nice to hear from you. I’m glad you gave the mask a try. For what it’s worth, the original has a pretty big nose too. I think you can get that feature under control by shaping around the mouth and eyes. I did the original in elephant hide paper, which might be a bit stiffer than the paper you used.
    You do some good folding, by the way! I took a look around your Flickr – nice work!

  3. sigma said,

    September 30, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    Such a beautiful fantastic work that you do!
    Great talent!
    I love origami, and you paper-folded pieces are just extremely amazing!


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