In preparation for my upcoming Christmas tree decorating extravaganza, I thought I would provide some insight on some of the origami pieces I am in the (slow and torturous) process of completing. This first piece will be on the tortoise.
I am starting with the turtle because it has so far been the most difficult piece to create. I don’t know how many of you have attempted origami before, but some of the directions they provide are just awful. In several of the books I have, they all seem to have one thing in common; they spend several pages on a primer for “basic folds” and starting positions called “origami bases.” That is to say, all books except the one I started with…but that’s where this story takes place.
So, my biggest mistake was not reviewing these pages. In this day and age of “just tell me what I need to know right now” I figured I would review the things I needed when I needed them (and not a minute sooner!) My other issue with the directions is the pictures themselves. In many cases, they show the result of not one but a couple of folds at once. No fair! It is amazing to me how much time you can spend looking at a flat 2 dimensional picture of something and trying to figure out how they got there. It’s a good thing the paper is so cute!
Anyway, back to the tortoise. Let’s start off nice and easy with a bit of history. According to one of my books, the tortoise symbolizes long life and happiness. Placing a model of the tortoise by the back door of your home is said to attract good fortune. I don’t know about a long life, but I do know it took me a good long while to finally figure this piece out. The process went something like this:
Page 42: The Tortoise.
Step 7. Step 7? Where are steps 1-6? Oh wait, the directions say go to page 35 for steps 1-6. Got it.
Page 35: Blow Up Bunny. (Who names these things?)
Steps 1-5. No problem. It reminds me of making a cootie catcher. Why don’t they just say that?
Step 6. Collapse into a Waterbomb base. Hmmm….Waterbomb….Ok, where the heck is that? Back to the table of contents….nope. Terrific. Good thing I have other books.
Different book, Page 20. Waterbomb Base
Step 10. Done! Geesh it was only one more step. They couldn’t have sprung for the extra visual? Back to the other book…..
Page 42. The Tortoise (take 2)
Step 8. Fold just the front layer in half upward using the crease made in step 7 and squash so that your paper looks like picture 9. Squash?? That doesn’t sound very origami-instruction-like. Mine doesn’t look like picture 9. Let’s try this again….
2 hours later…..
Once again reverting to a different book, I find something called a “Squash fold.” The definition reads “A double layer flap is opened and squashed flat.” Grrr….back to the other book.
Page 42. (I never want to see Step 8 again, but now I do look like the picture in step 9.)
Step 11. Uses the squash term again, but this time I am ready for them! Feeling very confident now, I am finally ready to turn to page 43.
18 steps later……a tortoise!
It’s one of those designs that ends up all folded up and you have to gently pull apart to try and inflate. When that doesn’t work, I grabbed the toothpicks and start trying to work it from the inside. Eventually, you see the end result in the picture I included. Notice there are 2 of them? Well, I decided that I needed to make another one just to show that I wasn’t afraid of trying to do it again. The second one took about 5 minutes. (Stupid squash fold…)
After that, I decided to call it a night. The following night went much better, but that’s another story……
I am starting with the turtle because it has so far been the most difficult piece to create. I don’t know how many of you have attempted origami before, but some of the directions they provide are just awful. In several of the books I have, they all seem to have one thing in common; they spend several pages on a primer for “basic folds” and starting positions called “origami bases.” That is to say, all books except the one I started with…but that’s where this story takes place.
So, my biggest mistake was not reviewing these pages. In this day and age of “just tell me what I need to know right now” I figured I would review the things I needed when I needed them (and not a minute sooner!) My other issue with the directions is the pictures themselves. In many cases, they show the result of not one but a couple of folds at once. No fair! It is amazing to me how much time you can spend looking at a flat 2 dimensional picture of something and trying to figure out how they got there. It’s a good thing the paper is so cute!
Anyway, back to the tortoise. Let’s start off nice and easy with a bit of history. According to one of my books, the tortoise symbolizes long life and happiness. Placing a model of the tortoise by the back door of your home is said to attract good fortune. I don’t know about a long life, but I do know it took me a good long while to finally figure this piece out. The process went something like this:
Page 42: The Tortoise.
Step 7. Step 7? Where are steps 1-6? Oh wait, the directions say go to page 35 for steps 1-6. Got it.
Page 35: Blow Up Bunny. (Who names these things?)
Steps 1-5. No problem. It reminds me of making a cootie catcher. Why don’t they just say that?
Step 6. Collapse into a Waterbomb base. Hmmm….Waterbomb….Ok, where the heck is that? Back to the table of contents….nope. Terrific. Good thing I have other books.
Different book, Page 20. Waterbomb Base
Step 10. Done! Geesh it was only one more step. They couldn’t have sprung for the extra visual? Back to the other book…..
Page 42. The Tortoise (take 2)
Step 8. Fold just the front layer in half upward using the crease made in step 7 and squash so that your paper looks like picture 9. Squash?? That doesn’t sound very origami-instruction-like. Mine doesn’t look like picture 9. Let’s try this again….
2 hours later…..
Once again reverting to a different book, I find something called a “Squash fold.” The definition reads “A double layer flap is opened and squashed flat.” Grrr….back to the other book.
Page 42. (I never want to see Step 8 again, but now I do look like the picture in step 9.)
Step 11. Uses the squash term again, but this time I am ready for them! Feeling very confident now, I am finally ready to turn to page 43.
18 steps later……a tortoise!
It’s one of those designs that ends up all folded up and you have to gently pull apart to try and inflate. When that doesn’t work, I grabbed the toothpicks and start trying to work it from the inside. Eventually, you see the end result in the picture I included. Notice there are 2 of them? Well, I decided that I needed to make another one just to show that I wasn’t afraid of trying to do it again. The second one took about 5 minutes. (Stupid squash fold…)
After that, I decided to call it a night. The following night went much better, but that’s another story……
2 comments:
Gawd, you are a better woman than me. I wouldn't even make it to Page 2 in the books. Good for you!
Yes, well, I had to finish it otherwise I would have had a tree full of cootie catchers.
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