Half of What I've Been Doing Lately

I've wanted to fold a basketball for a while now, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it. I finally used the windmill base with all of the corners squashed, which leaves me with just the right number of color-changeable lines. There is no real point to having a CP, because the base is just too simple (and I just explained how to make it). After folding the base, four lines have to become the horizontal and vertical lines, while the other four become the "curved" lines. Then the sides and corners just have to be folded in, and you have a basketball. I suggest using orange and black colors, but you can use whatever you want to.

Pokémon

This month, the challenge on the english origami forum is Video Games. Seeing as I can't remember playing many video games in the past, I decided to try folding a Pokémon. I didn't even know that Pokémon still existed until I saw some recent models on flickr of what people claim are some, but didn't look like anything that I remember. The only Pokémon that I remember were the original red and blue versions. Actually, come to think of it, I remember some more but those first two were the only ones that I ever played. I lost interest before emerald, sapphire, ruby, etc. came out. I guess that I just figured that it couldn't still be going, but I was wrong. I don't have a CP for this model, mainly because the base is so simple.
To make the Kakuna (which I've always found strange, as it is the cocoon between a caterpillar and bee stage) , just make half a windmill base using the two two corners. It should end up looking somewhat like a house. The top corners become eyes, and the rest of the model is just details such as all of the pleating on the body. Try to make it look something like these pictures:

Lest We Forget

November 11th in Canada is Remembrance Day, the day that we remember all of the soldiers who went to war for our country. Every Remembrance Day, we wear a poppy. I felt that this year I should try to make a poppy such as the ones we wear, so last night I started folding. I used a Kawasaki twist to make the black center, and then folded the sides in beneath the twist to make the red petals. I then made it into a octagon shape and added curves. Here is the CP:


The square twist has to be done first, and I suggest precreasing the folds into the center before actually finishing them, because one of the corners has to be tucked inside so that each part overlaps another part, and the center shows through correctly. The corners can be folded in with an inside reverse fold, and then just fold curved pleats from the center and lock them.

And Another Rat, too

It seems that I like to repeat subjects, but not the way that I fold those subjects. I end up with the same things over and over, but they are never done the same way.
I had decided to try using the Maekawa 22.5 degree angle arrangement (as I like to call it), like what I used on my Moth. This time, I wanted to base it on the diagonal. Also, I decided to make two squares using boxpleating. At first, I made a cat out of the base, but yesterday in class I tried folding it twice more, and the second time I ended up with a rat instead. When I folded it out of two-colored paper, i found that there could be a color changed tail. Here is the CP:


The CP doesn't really get you very far, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. The head is probably the hardest to make, and after that the back is pretty strange without the right shaping. Folding the point of the body up to the halfway point the right way to go. Hopefully it isn't too strange. I hope to make diagrams, anyways.



And heres a refolded version:

Back to the Horseshoe Crab

I didn't get to fold many things last month, as I had a pile of things to do. Hopefully I'll be able to get more done, especially seeing as I have a project on the mathematics of origami coming up. I finally decided to go back to the old horseshoe crab, because I never did give it any legs like I said that I would. I started out basing my model diagonally on thirds, but that didn't give me enough legs. Then I tried fifths with the same idea, and ended up with nice model that has all ten legs. There are a lot of details left out of the CP. This crease pattern just shows how to make a base with all of the legs, but no distinct head of tail. Either end can make either, and they aren't hard to make. The head has to be shortened up and pleated so that the points on either side can be formed. The abdomen and telson has to be thinner, and the telson (tail) can just be made one third the size of the abdomen. A mouth can also be made with the paper between the legs, by folding four 45 degree angle folds.