Fold Till You Drop

There's an origami convention convention underway in Japan this weekend, with some truly impressive pieces on display. There's an AP story, but words don't do it justice. See the personal site of one of the professional paper-folders, or photos taken at a previous convention, or just discover the essence of origami.

Stress Sheep

[barks (640793)]

As a result from stress and aggrevation I've apparently made a couple of origami sheep while in school.

And I thought they were just cruppled up pieces of paper.

Re:Stress Sheep

[by Anonymous Coward]

And I thought they were just cruppled up pieces of paper.

what you created was an origami boulder [maximonline.com] young grasshopper

Re:Stress Sheep

[PsiPsiStar (95676)]

As a result from stress and aggrevation I've apparently made a couple of origami sheep while in school.

How many sheep did you make?

Serta. We make the world's best mattress.

[tepples (727027)]

By asking barks to count the sheep, are you trying to put barks to sleep?

So much folding...

[phita23 (667236)]

So much folding that it even makes SETI jealous!

Re:So much folding...

[airbie (767806)]

don't you mean protein folding? seti is for ET.

Warning

[shopi (614755)]

Don't click next on the dragon paper photo.

please.

ugh

Re:Warning

[Mad_Rain (674268)]

Please, next time, just link to the next picture! [yahoo.com]

wow. :) Yay volleyball!

Re:Warning

[MikeXpop (614167)]

Either they're from Brazil, or truth in advertising is getting pretty strict!

(check out the girl on the right's top if you don't get it)

Re:Warning

[MikeXpop (614167)]

Yahoo News slideshow does this a lot. Basically they have a blurb they want to cover, but no picture. So they take a semi-related picture, post a caption, and then mention the blurb right after it. Think about it, is Kerry riding a bike newsworthy in the first place?

the profession

[iamdrscience (541136)]

I know what you're all thinking: "Professional paper-folders? How can that be?". Well actually, it's not too difficult for a talented paper-folder to make a decent living touring the competitive oragami circuits and getting endorsement deals with paper companies and such. They're really a lot like pro skateboarders or Nascar drivers, except they get more paper cuts.

Re:the profession

[gordlea (258731)]

...and less women.

Re:the profession

[rf0 (159958)]

Origami Condoms were never that effective anyway

Rus

Origami on Steroids

[Alien54 (180860)]

Everything you could care to know [langorigami.com], including the application of origami to space telescopes.

we are not worthy

Folding?

[ragingsamster (798408)]

You know you spend too much time online when you immediately think of "@home" whenever anyone mentions folding

Amazing folding

[TimeTrip (254631)]

Immpressive paper folding! Awesome, but did you know they can also fold SHIRTS impressively?

Check out the amazing action here [howtofoldashirt.net]

btw.. i'm not sure if the woman in the video is japanese, but its close enough.. right?? ;)

+5, In-fucking-formative

[by Anonymous Coward]

That woman works magic. It's that simple

Re:Amazing folding

[Bastian (66383)]

I'm going to go to the mall right now and show up all those weenie Gap employees with their weenie folding boards.

Robotic origami folding

[foobsr (693224)]

Robots can do it too [cmu.edu]!

CC.

Re:Amazing folding

[jcr (53032)]

Oh. My. God.

That video could have saved me hours of my life. It's one of those things that's so freaking simple once you see and try it, but I would NEVER have stumbled across that trick in a million years.

-jcr

Re:Amazing folding

[infinite9 (319274)]

Next time you're in Japan, go to a store and buy a gift for someone, then ask the store to wrap it for you, then watch in amazment. They place the box diagonally on a sheet of wrapping paper (one size fits all), then they simply roll up the box and seal it with one piece of tape. It takes about three or four seconds. I watched it dozens of times and I still can't do it.

Re:Amazing folding

[mst76 (629405)]

For the hordes of us who don't understand Japanese, here's a Chinese version [mit.edu]. Seriously though, this version is much longer and somewhat easier to follow.

Re:That blows my mind

[Jugalator (259273)]

Yes, I know even some geeks that have done it. :-)

I think I'll try it out later today. :D

Pepakura

[iamdrscience (541136)]

Okay, this isn't really oragami, but it involves building stuff out of paper and it's really nerdy and it's really cool. There's a program called Pepakura [e-cardmodel.com] that I discovered a while ago that can take any 3D model and make a sheet that you can print out, cut out and fold to make a real-life 3d version of your model. I'm not great with 3D modelling so I couldn't do all that much with it, but it was still pretty fun. IIRC they have a version that's free to download so you can play around with it. Also, as an added bonus their English website is absolutely chock full of bad English translations!

Re:Pepakura

[danamania (540950)]

While origami where no cuts happen (is that the only form that's truly 'origami'? I'm not sure) is more impressive, you reminded me of this site [theapplecollection.com] with paper cut out models of Apple gear.

Scrolling down to some of the constructed models shows how cool they can look :)

Re:Pepakura

[martinthebrit (565913)]

There was an interesting paper at SIGGRAPH this year on the same topic. Again, not origami as cuts are involved, but impressive non the less, enabling smooth surfaces to be modelled in paper.

http://www.den.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mitani [u-tokyo.ac.jp]
http://www.den.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~suzuki [u-tokyo.ac.jp]

From an artistic stance

[dj_cel (744926)]

This is simply awesome, I look at some of these peices and they resemble 3d models in the sense of polygon modeling. My hats off to those who can do this, because doing it even in the computer is quite a difficult task.

Watch now on "Pay-per-view"

[Charles Dodgeson (248492)]

I can't even take the credit (blame) for this terrible pun. But I can't recall who to attribute it to.

Re:Watch now on "Pay-per-view"

[PsiPsiStar (95676)]

Watch now on "Pay-per-view"

The Lucky Cow comic strip had a joke along these lines.

Wow, L33t sk1lz

[Johnno74 (252399)]

Check out the "ball" [origami.as]

From the artist's caption:
"This ball is crumpled from a single uncut square. I suggested that they could crumple a ball themselves, but they wanted to defer to "the artist." Who am I to argue?"

Amazing

[qmchenry (266894)]

These are quite impressive. In clicking around, I happened on this database [origamidatabase.com] of origami containing references to more than 23k models.

Re: Origami Database

[AEton (654737)]

You know you've been Slashdotted when.

Database Stats
Total Models: 23521
Total Creators: 1898
Last Search: Model Name: penis
Total Searches to Date: 147243
(google cache from two days ago: 146388)

Makes ya wonder....

[Prod_Deity (686460)]

How many of these people are Gentoo users that are tying to pick up a hobby as they're compiling.

But do they run Linux?

[SYFer (617415)]

Apparently so. [origami.gr.jp]

In a strange coincidence...

[Sailor Coruscant (713289)]

I'd actually just started folding a crane while absent-mindedly hitting refresh on slashdot.
It has to be the first origami I've done in a month, and I was thinking of looking up some new things to attempt.
Of course, my favourite is still Yoda [happymagpie.com] (Instructions [pajarita.org], pdf).

kinda off topic but try this

[Rooked_One (591287)]

try to fold a peice of paper over 7 times

It doesn't matter how thin the paper, or how big the sheet, you just can't do it. Have fun proving me wrong :)

Re:kinda off topic but try this

[Vo0k (760020)]

Tricky :)
Just fold it in harmonica instead in a block ;)

A different task: Take a 1"x1" piece of paper and rip a hole in it so you could put your head through it without ripping it apart (so it remains a loop around that hole)

(the trick is to rip a zig-zag pattern so it stretches into a long tape)

Re:kinda off topic but try this

[Order (469817)]

try to fold a peice of paper over 7 times

It doesn't matter how thin the paper, or how big the sheet, you just can't do it. Have fun proving me wrong :)

Actually, proving you wrong is very easy. Here's your proof! [osb.net]
On that page you can see a photo of a piece of paper folded 11 times, and a discussion of all the math and physics involved.

Re:kinda off topic but try this

[WiseWeasel (92224)]

Hahaaaaaa, I folded a square of toilet paper eight times, though it looked somewhat like a ball after that last one...

Origami Boulder

[krahd (106540)]

None of them can compete with the origami boulder! [origamiboulder.com]
:)

--krahd

Oragami boulder

[nsayer (86181)]

I am rather good at making an oragami boulder. I get to practice almost daily given how much junk mail arrives in my mailbox 6 days a week.

How Timely

[l0ungeb0y (442022)]

Just got through watching my Blade Runner DVD again.
Remember the origami unicorn? Fold your own [linkclub.or.jp].

Fold for gold

[by Anonymous Coward]

So why isn't this an Olympic sport? It has all the requirements - drama (is it another freaking crane?), risk of serious injury (paper cuts), and obviously a worldwide following - but most importantly I might even be able to win a medal.

Eye Candy

[oz_ko (571352)]

Don't say I don't do anything for you boys.
On the yahoo site link [yahoo.com], hit the next button for some Olympic Eye Candy ;)

Terrific origami book

[haruchai (17472)]

Peter Engel's book, Folding the Universe, is the most interesting book on origami that I've ever read. The first half of the book is almost like a
Godel, Escher, Bach for Origami. The models are simply terrific but most of them are ONLY for advanced folders.

More info...

[dmayle (200765)]

I'm a paper folder, and I've got to say, right now is a really exciting time for folders. I'm a member of Origami USA [origami-usa.org] which is an organization that, despite it's name, is open to people from all over the world. Every year there's a convention held in New York at the end of June where about 1000 people come together to learn new models, to socialize. and to have fun.

I said it's an exciting time, and that's because for the first time, folders are really starting to explore the bounds of the craft. You've got people like Robert Lang [langorigami.com] who have been exploring the mathematics and geometry behind origami, and teaching the secrets of creation to others.

You've got people like my friend, Daniel Robinson [origami.as], who take animals, insects, etc. of a particular species, and instead of trying to create a generic representation, try to get the model to be exact, right down to the length and number of feelers on a frilled longhorn beetle [origami.as], for example.

And as much as you might not believe it, there are some really hot origami chicks [though they are for the most part drowned out by the rest... ;) ]

Re:More info...

[Mal-2 (675116)]

And as much as you might not believe it, there are some really hot origami chicks

How I adore thee,
my origami chick, but
you're shredding my wang.

Mal-2

Moebius Strip With Ants

[antdude (79039)]

See here [t-online.de]. :)

origami pr0n

[martin-boundary (547041)]

I'm sorry, but this is slashdot. If I don't link [zork.net] to it, someone else will ;-)

For the rest of us

[wombatmobile (623057)]

File > Print, cut and fold... Yamaha's excellent PaperCraft [yamaha-motor.co.jp] models are challenging but require no great origami expertise. The results are truly spectacular and will delight your kids or your friends.

Oh, and PaperCraft is free.