RESOLUTIONS 2013 /3

03. Today's resolution is to make one piece of origami every day for this month. If I manage to keep this resolution, I may continue it for another month. Or year or whatever. The resolution only covers this month however or else I will lose nerve and fail right away.

Why origami? Because it's a great way to focus the mind. If you pay close attention to the diagrams and instructions, it's usually very easy to get a reasonably good result.

The book I'm following is one that I bought several years ago: ORIGAMI IN ACTION, Paper Toys That Fly, Flap, Gobble and Inflate! by Robert J. Lang (St. Martin's Griffin, New York). As its title suggests all the models are created with the capacity of flapping or twitching in some way. The reason I made three models today is that ... well, today's the THIRD! So at least for a few days, I'll have one new model a day. Of course, after a certain point in the book, the models become rather difficult and I may need to spend a longer time practicing simpler models for a while before I'll be able to make the Strumming Guitarist and the Fiddling Bassist (probably never. They're really tough).

I've always liked origami -- who doesn't, after all? -- but last year I watched a documentary on Netflix called BETWEEN THE FOLDS (by Vanessa Gould, Green Fuse Films) which showed truly breathtaking examples of origami. I mean, origami bordering on sorcery. I realize that ordinary mortals aren't ever likely to achieve that kind of mastery, but it re-ignited my latent fondness for the art.

There is something extremely satisfying about producing small, three-dimensional objects out of paper, using just one's fingers and a blade to cut the initial squares and sometimes rectangles required as raw material. In the past, I've rarely been able to remember how to make a model after having made it once, following the instructions. The only one I've been able to store in memory for many years is the so-called "water bomb", which is kind of cool, because it puffs open to form a cubic shape and can hold a small amount of water.

Anyhow, so one of my aims, currently, is to be able to recall the steps for making the simple models. I do really love to make things that can do something -- I mean, something more than just look like a crane or a flower -- so I'm already enjoying this book. All three models in the picture do indeed flap and if I were a little more organized, I could make a 5 second video to prove the point but ... my resolution only covers making the model! And posting a new resolution each day! And updating my blog!

So I'm done for the moment.