Stellated Cuboctahedron

Design from "Exquisite Modular Origami" by Meenakshi Mukerji

Snowflakes

Design by Sok Song from "Crease and Fold"

Winter Tree

From Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa

More complicated to make than the Christmas tree in my last post, yet the result looks much simpler!

Christmas Tree

The idea for this design came from "The Gingerbread House" blog

Japanese Macaque

"Japanese Macaque" design from Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa

Dragon

"Western Dragon" design from Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa

Frog

"Frog" design from Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa

Hina Dolls

Two "Hina Dolls", each wearing a unique Kimono. Folded out of rather some rather exquisite origami paper from the Japanese Shop.

Hina Dolls design from "Genuine Origami" by Jun Maekawa

Cow

Cow design from "Genuine Origami" by Jun Maekawa

Mice

Mouse design from "Genuine Origami" by Jun Maekawa

(Thank you Grandma D for the super present!)

Paper Plane

Propeller Place design by Seiji Nishikawa from "Essential Origami"

Wolf Howling at the Moon

I like this design because, surprisingly, the Wolf and Moon are both part of a single sheet of square paper. The finished piece give the illusion that the moon might be separate!

Design from 'World's Best Origami' by Nick Robinson

Unicorn

Ever since I took up Origami I have been creating origami birthday cards for my family & friends. Anticipating this, my big sister recently requested a Unicorn for her birthday card this year! This proved a bit of a challenge... this was my third attempt and the one I went with, and although I'm not 100% happy with the result I think it did the trick! I might post this design again in the future after I've had a few more attempts and improved it a little!

The unicorn is based on the following design by Donya Quick; 

http://donyaquick.deviantart.com/art/Origami-Unicorn-Instructions-123623739

Bear

"Square Bear" design from 'Encyclopedia of Origami' by Nick Robinson

Bunch of Flowers (and Snail)

My wonderful mother turned 60 and retired this weekend, so to mark the occasion I gave a bunch of Iris' - unfortunately a crafty little snail managed to sneak into the pot.

I used a number of different designs to make this bunch of flowers; the idea came from a photograph in "The Encyclopedia of Origami" by Nick Robinson, the flower pot design came from "The Simple Art of Japanese Papercrafts" by Mari Ono and the Iris and Snail designs both featured in "Essential Origami" by Steve and Megumi Biddle

Cube #2

A few weeks ago a posted my first attempt a modular origami cube. This is cube #2, which is made from half the number of pieces of paper compared to my last attempt, and which slotted together in a much more satisfyingly solid cube-like way!

 



Scottish Diplodocus

On a recent walk to 'The Hidden Valley' of Glen Coe in Scotland, the group I was walking with commented that the landscape reminded them of a scene from Jurassic Park! As a result I decided to make a wee Scottish Diplodocus pal to photograph there!

The Diplodocus design was taught to me by Michael of Papershake, although this is a much simpler design (fewer folds) than the one he originally taught me, but it did the trick half way up a mountain!

Lotus Flower

Baby Dragon

I made this baby dragon for two awesome young men, Josh and Joe. Welcome to the world Josh, and happy 1st birthday Joe!

This little fella was made from three sheets of paper following a design by Kenji Jinbo, which appeared in the book "Essential Origami" by Steve and Megumi Biddle (which was recommended to me by Michael from Papershake)

Skeletal Cube

In the 'Encyclopedia of Origami' by Nick Robinson he states that "arguments rage in the origami world as to whether the sequence or the end result is the most important". The way that the 24 pieces of paper slotted together to form this 'Skeletal Cube' (from the same book) was very satisfying, and helped me to understand this argument much better!

Tiny Crane

For my last two posts I have experimented with slightly bigger paper, using a large map to create a dragon and tissue paper for a swan. This time I've gone the other way and create a tiny Crane made from a piece of origami paper originally 4cm x 4cm.

Dragon

I believe the dragon design is called 'Neal's Dragon' after it's designer Robert Neal. I used video instructions for this one which can be found here. The large dragon was actually made from the map of West London (pictured right) and measures 40cm from head to tail.

I'm not sure if I prefer the larger or the smaller of the pair, so I thought I'd post both!

Swan

The largest model I've posted so far, and the first I have made from tissue paper. The design is "Fancy Swan" by Eric Joisel from the book 'World's Best Origami' by Nick Robinson.

(I couldn't get the lighting right in my flat to get a decent picture on such a dull and rainy day, and therefore the swan is a little blurry... will try again when it brightens up!)

Animal Print Paper

Today I've been playing with some animal print paper I picked up last weekend 'The Japan Center'.

This is 'Shivanni the Giraffe', another of Sok Song's designs from 'Crease and Fold', chilling out by a watering can and watching the world go by.

Maps & Birds

I've been trying out a few designs using old maps. I love the way that the contour lines seem to give the flat paper more texture, and how the choice of location (forest, mountain, lake, etc) will have an impact on the colouring of the final piece. Here are two simple bird designs made from maps of the lake district.

Dino-gami

Tried out a simple dinosaur, the first step towards my very own Jurassic Park;

Instructions: http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-dinosaur.html

Baby Elephant

Ok, this is the same design as my first post on this Blog, but I think it was worth a re-post with a new picture!

Red Polka Dot Dress

Red Pot

Design "Star Box" by Francesco Guarnieri from "World's Best Origami" by Nick Robinson

Butterfly & Frog



"Lucky Frog" Design from 'Crease and Fold' by Sok Song
"Yoshizawa Butterfly" Design from http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-yoshizawa-butterfly.html

Happy Easter!

 

Design: "Alan the Bunny" by Sok Song

Sakura Blossom Lampshade

This is a prototype for a lampshade made out of simple coloured paper, but I will probably make the final piece in plain white... but first I need to find some heat proof paper!

 

Design: "Crease and Fold" by Sok Song

What is Charliegami?

Late 2012 I took up Origami as a new hobby after a conversation with an origami expert at a house party! Up until that moment I had been fascinated by the concept of origami and intrigued by the mathematics behind it, but never actually folded a piece of paper to resemble anything other than a paper aeroplane or a simple Christmas Santa.

A week or so later I was in Foyles and found myself drawn towards the paper craft section, and before I knew it I had a couple of origami books a big pile of square coloured paper in my flat.

So, this Blog is to become an outlet for my projects. I am still very much a novice so don't expect anything impressive... but hopefully it will form a nice log of my origami journey! I hope that over time the simple designs I am following will become a little more complex, but for now I hope you enjoy the beauty in their simplicity!

So, to get things started, here is a pink baby elephant!

 

Design from "Crease and Fold" by Sok Song