It’s been a long time since I bogged about my ongoing origami book. Well I recently finished diagramming two more models. One is my Medieval Dragon, clocking an just about 100 steps. That’s twelve pages as I currently have it laid out. The other is my U.F.O., which is ten pages and a shade above 60 steps, but from step 40 or so onward it’s all fully three dimensional, so each step is a major work of drawing. These are by far two most involved models I’ve done so far. The only thing that comes close is my Adirondack Moose, which is also about 60 steps, but it’s only 3-d for the last few steps. Both the Moose and the Dragon are fairly traditional designs, using variations on classic bases and inspired by models in John Montroll’s first book. The U.F.O. however is completely modern and without an antecedent, and well over half the folding sequence is precreasing. So while it may not seem like a lot in terms of number of models, it’s a lot in terms of page count, and I knocked of two major models to boot. This brings me up to 16 models done, about 90 pages worth. I’m definitely more than halfway done with the book, so I think its time to start looking at the publishing process.
I signed up to teach both of these at the upcoming OUSA convention – only a week away. So I’m glad I got the diagrams finished but as usual I have lots of ideas for things I’d like to fold but haven’t had the time to fully develop. So I think this weekend will be a big folding jam.
I’m posting pics of the final step of each model as a way to motivate myself to continue by showing the result without giving away the whole diagram. I may go back and post pictures of the final steps of my other completed diagrams to create a sort of evolving table of contents. I need to update my origami site anyway. I have a number of models, going back more than a year, that I need to photograph and post. Well July will be a good time for that. I always get a big boots of energy and creativity from the convention, and that will fuel me into the summer to continue developing things.
