Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Vol 3 Iss 1

Folding the Clematis Origami Rx: Out of the Abyss Pebbles with Variable Color Origami Bonsai Décor

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Table of Contents Folding the Clematis

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Origami Rx: Out of the Abyss

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Pebbles with Variable Color

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Origami Bonsai Décor

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Web-Enabled! Click on any highlighted item or text in this document and you will be taken to a link on the web.

Origami Bonsai® is a registered trademark of Benjamin John Coleman

You are free to adapt and share Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1 as long as you attribute the material you use to Benjamin John Coleman. Glow-Fold is a patented technique and must be licensed separately. Contact [email protected] for details.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Origami Bonsai Resources on the Web Click on the thumbnail to be taken to the corresponding web site.

www.OrigamiBonsai.org Origamibonsai.org has tips, books you can buy, free folding videos, photos of Origami Bonsai created all by people living all over the world, and lots more.

www.Scribd.com/Benagami You'll find Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine here along with less expensive electronic versions of Advanced Origami Bonsai and Origami Bonsai Accessories.

FaceBook When you become a "fan" of Origami Bonsai on FaceBook you will be notified when new issues of this magazine are released. You'll also find craft show schedules where Origami Bonsai artists will be present, along with other announcements.

www.YouTube.com/OrigamiBonsaiForum A lot of Origami Bonsai folding videos.

www.Etsy.com Search "origami bonsai" and "makigami accessories" to see lists of items for sale in these categories from artists and craftspeople around the globe.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Benjamin John Coleman’s Paper Craft Books Click the book cover to order or preview.

The first book in the Origami Bonsai (2010, Tuttle Publishing) series is available at bookstores worldwide. This book teaches how to fold the basic flower form from which many varieties of flower can be folded. Comes with folding videos on DVD. 112 pages.

Origami 101 includes more than 40 fun and interesting models from every genre of origami. This book is written for the absolute beginner with strategies to go from beginner to expert in one book! Origami 101 is the first origami book with glow-fold diagrams and videos making learning origami easy!

Advanced Origami Bonsai teaches how to make branches from newspaper using the Makigami technique. Also teaches how to create intricate branch networks for Origami Bonsai sculptures. 182 pages on DVD or through Scribd.com

Artist-inventor Benjamin John Coleman guides you with stepby-step instructions in how to make over 30 durable, wearable jewelry projects. Learn how to recycle ordinary newspaper into intricate, complex natural shapes. Instructions for making earrings, bangles, pendants and much more! 132 pages with 14 videos in full HD

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Origami Bonsai Accessories teaches how to make durable Makigami jewelry, accessories, bangles, planters and other items. Make virtually anything you can conceive of from paper. 152 pages on DVD or through Scribd.com.

Books ordered through OrigamiBonsai.org ship the same day they’re ordered!

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Folding the Clematis Flower The Clematis flower is based on the Basic Flower Form. If you are not familiar with how to fold the Basic Flower Form there are instructions on how to fold it on page 50 of Origami Bonsai. What makes this flower particularly good looking is the dramatic change in color on the bottom of the flower. This color transition occurs in a set of folds that is not visible in the finished flower, so it appears both abrupt and natural in the folded flower. In general you should choose contrasting colors to take greatest advantage of this feature. When painting a square you plan to fold into a Clematis, make sure your leaf color is painted a fair distance onto the bottom of the petal. Notice my painting pattern (pictured left). I painted a small additional area on each petal which corresponds to the wide part of the kite shape in the top picture.

Step

1

Begin with the basic flower form (p. 50 Origami Bonsai). Book fold the top layer of paper (diamond shape) from right to left.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Step

2 When you perform the fold in step 1, one of the petals will partially open. Insert your finger into the petal and then run the index finger of your other hand over the edges to flatten it.

Step

3 Fold the bottom corner of the top pleat of paper up as shown.

Step

4 Your model should look like this. Flip it and perform step 3 on the other side. Then book fold and perform steps 1 through 3 on the other two petals.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Click here to see a list of Origami Bonsai sculptures available on Etsy. Origami Bonsai artists and craftspeople, make sure to include the keywords "origami" and "bonsai" when posting your work to Etsy so it will be included when readers click this advertisement.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Step

5 Lift your model off your work surface and then book fold it such that you have an even number of layers of paper on each side, separated as shown.

Pull each petal down and away from the center. Step

6

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Your completed Clematis flower should look similar to those pictured above. You can watch a video which shows how to fold the Clematis flower by clicking the icon above. This flower folding pattern has two distinct features which will help you determine when to use it. Firstly, it has a complex and beautiful bud shape, which makes it a good choice for sculptures with flowers that don’t point directly at the viewer. The other feature to notice is that the Clematis flower does not require that you push petals up from underneath. Instead, this flower’s petals are pulled from the center. This means that the smallest size you can fold is not a function of the size of your smallest finger. You can fold a much smaller Clematis flower than you can a Primrose.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Origami Rx: Out of the Abyss As we live our lives, occasionally we are challenged with some sort of obstacle that seems insurmountable. Perhaps that obstacle is a disease which requires a long treatment, and then a long recovery period afterwards. It could also be a handicap, or some sort of disorder for which there is little or no treatment. Or it could be something for which it seems there is no resolution, except for the passage of time, like the long wait for a loved one to return from war. In many respects, these challenges are like a tall and impossible-to-climb mountain. Because we can’t climb it, the only option is to tunnel through. And so we proverbially dig, deeper and deeper, until we become blinded by the dark. It is a scary place we enter; a pitch black abyss envelops us. It’s so dark we fear we could lose ourselves, but the only way out is to continue digging, and we press forward. After what seems like an eternity we emerge whole, victorious, into light at the other side. What follows are the stories of four people who had challenges thrust upon them. Each of these people entered a period of their lives that could have lead to crippling despair or isolation. But in each case the burden of the challenge was lessened, either by falling back upon the origami they learned as a child, or by discovering it for the first time. Rachel Taylor’s grandparents emigrated from Japan to the US just before World War 2. Her father joined the US Air Force and flew F-15’s for a living. She remembers moving around a lot in her younger days, “sometimes we would fly to a new state. I remember my dad sitting next to me and pulling out one of the airline magazines, tearing out a page, making it into a square, and then folding it into a crane.” At about age 6 she learned to how to fold origami cranes from her father and grandmother.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Taylor’s family moved often, and she came to depend upon the friendship provided by her older brother, “we never lived anywhere longer than three years,” she said. “My brother and I grew up best friends. When your family are your best friends, no matter where you go you have each other.” Taylor’s brother joined the Marine Corps, while Taylor followed in her father’s footsteps, joining the US Air Force. “While I was still a cadet at the US Air Force Academy my brother was deployed to Iraq,” she said. She remembered a family tradition. When her grandfather had gone away to fight in World War II, her grandmother had folded one origami crane each day he was gone. And so she began folding cranes, she believes, to keep her brother safe in Iraq. “I would fold in my dorm room, quietly at my desk. It’s a therapeutic process if you let it be. One crane per day - because luck is needed that day. I don’t forget. You don’t forget to brush your teeth; you don’t forget to fold a crane. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of my brother in Iraq, so not a day went by that I didn’t fold a crane to keep him safe.” “My cranes are all folded the exact same way. There’s something meaningful about doing it the same way you were taught. There’s history there… you’re paying homage to that history. When I’m finished I feel in control, at peace, like I did what I can do.” Her brother safely completed a total of three tours in Iraq and one in Africa and Taylor ended up with a shoebox filled with over 800 cranes. “We don’t talk about it. We’re not big on talking about our emotions. I think from being in Iraq we each have our own crap that we’re dealing with. That’s what is so beautiful about the cranes. You don’t have to talk; you just know. There’s a real strength that comes from that.” Florina Mitrea lives in Bucharest, Romania and was diagnosed with breast cancer in March, 2010. “It is very hard to be sick here in Romania. No one seems to care about sick people. If you want to survive you have to be inventive and

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World, meet flower. Flower, meet world. Plastic

Introducing the world’s first mass-produced, pre-folded Origami flower. The Origami Bonsai® Instant Flower ships flat, but with two simple movements, opens to reveal a beautiful flower.

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

find an escape,” she said. Mitrea has undergone surgery and at the time of this interview she was at the end of her first round of chemotherapy treatments, a total of eight of them, that would continue until December, 2010. “After one chemo session it takes seven days to feel better,” she added. According to the American Cancer Society’s web site, chemotherapy has numerous side effects including hair loss, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. Typical treatment lasts three to six months over which time multiple doses of drugs will be administered. After each dose there is a recovery period. “In Romania we say never say it is done until it is done,” Mitrea boldly said. “Right now I’m at the beginning of my recovery from this disease. I’ll undergo more testing to see if I beat the cancer, if not, I’ll start the fight again.” Some months ago when she was feeling up to it, Mitrea began surfing YouTube with an IBM PC. She likes to paint and was searching for flower videos when she stumbled upon some flower folding videos. “I was fascinated and I started to look with great interest at your tutorials” she said referring to an Origami Bonsai video she watched. “When I was little, at school I made an origami cup, some frogs and boats from paper, so I was already familiar with origami.” Mitrea spent two days reverse engineering the shape shown in an Origami Bonsai Instant Flower video to discover how the basic flower form is folded. “After that it was easy. All the beautiful flowers began to blossom in my hands!” she said enthusiastically. “I was happy, and I forgot how sick I was. After the first flower, I began to fold more and more. I couldn’t stop. It made me so happy!” When Mitrea is unable to fold, either because she’s receiving a treatment or is too sick following one, she’s still working on her art. “I’m working on a lot of sculptures in my head, every night, and in the morning. Sometimes I draw them and then wait until I feel good enough to fold the paper. When I am finally able to work at it, my thoughts go to a faraway place and I feel wonderful.” Whether Mitrea’s illness is cured or not remains to be seen. In the meantime she has discovered something inside herself that she is proud of. “I started my professional career as a graphic artist, but now I want to follow this Origami Bonsai path. I think I make beautiful arrangements,” she said.

Jason Shrand was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger’s syndrome when he was child. According to Wikipedia, ADHD is a developmental disorder which affects problem solving, planning, understanding, and impulse control areas of the brain. Asperger’s Syndrome, again from Wikipedia, is “a pervasive developmental disorder distinguished by a… qualitative impairment in social interaction.” Having both disorders put Shrand at a severe disadvantage with respect to his peers. Because of these disorders, not only would he have trouble concentrating on a lesson, but he would also have trouble making friends.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

He said “I had a lot of difficulty staying focused in class throughout elementary and middle school. I found that doing something with my hands helped me stay on task. I often used stress balls or small pieces of clay, but sometimes other students would get distracted when I brought a ball of clay into math class.” And then he was introduced to origami in his fifth grade Social Studies class at the Eames Way School in Marshfield, Massachusetts, USA. The class was reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Puffin, April, 2004), a story about a girl living in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing by the US. As part of the lesson, his teacher, Joyce Biagini made origami books and squares of paper available to students. Biagini says that origami “can focus some students who can become bored in a traditional classroom. It has been particularly helpful with some of my special education students.” Shrand says he was “intrigued by how a simple piece of paper could be folded into something so complex and beautiful, and since all I needed was paper, there was never any shortage of materials. My teacher recognized that folding was a good way for me to deal with my ADHD, and I found that I was actually able to pay attention to the teacher more effectively by making paper cranes. My teacher let me fold cranes every class, and put them on display around the room.” On a visit to the classroom, Shrand’s father, Dr. Joseph Shrand was astonished at the number of cranes his son had made. He said that “hundreds of origami cranes decorated the perimeter of the classroom.” It seems origami continues to help the younger Shrand overcome the challenges life has given him. He recently arrived at college and “taped a small box of origami cranes, flowers, turtles and everything in between outside his dorm room door,” said Shrand, “People can choose a model – it’s been quite the social booster” he said enthusiastically. 13

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Troy Lovick has his hands full. His ten year old son, Aidan, was recently diagnosed with both ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome. “He routinely tests in the genius range in language and analytic skills, however his fine motor skills remain underdeveloped,” said Lovick. Specifically, Lovick says that Aidan has a problem with frustration, “pushing the wrong button on a TV remote can take you to a screen you can’t exit from; this can make him apoplectic (rage) and cause a 20 minute crisis.” He says that Aidan learned origami from a classmate, a “1/2 Japanese young lady he has a crush on,” last year. Since then, Aiden folds in “fits and starts, but really works at it. I have never seen him become agitated while folding, even though he forgets or is sometimes not pleased with the aesthetic outcome of his efforts. This is a major benefit. Considering he still hasn’t learned to tie his shoes, I view his attraction to origami as a minor miracle,” he said. Perhaps for Aidan, this miracle has only begun to unfold?

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Pebbles with Variable Color The other morning I was reading the New York Times, turned the page and just stared at this advertisement. Notice the colors; these vivid hues are hard for a newspaper to achieve. It’s a beautiful advertisement. I wondered if it might be possible to obtain interesting pebbles from it. I processed the pebbles as described in Advanced Origami Bonsai p. 120 up to and including step 5. I made sure that this advertisement was facing the outside as I made each pebble. Once my pebbles were dry, I mixed 9 parts wood glue with 1 part water. I added the pebbles to my sculpture by following the instructions on p. 123 using the diluted glue and water mixture rather than full strength glue. This requires a little patience because the pebbles tend not to clump together very well. In fact, they kind of tend to go all over the place. Consider putting a large pan under your sculpture to catch wayward pebbles. The finished look is worth the extra effort. Once your pebbles have dried you should apply a second coat of the diluted glue and water mixture to them. This will ensure that none come loose in the future. After you apply the second coat, use a dry brush to pick up any of the glue mixture that may have pooled around the pebbles.

Notice the color variation (right) in the pebbles created from the advertisement pictured above. There’s a bit of red, from the beach (above) and a lot of blue hues from the ocean.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Notice (above) that there is no visible excess glue in the finished sculpture. There is also a distinctly matte surface that allows more color to come through.

These pebbles (left) were made from an advertisement that was primarily red in color.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Origami Bonsai Décor When I take pictures of Origami Bonsai sculptures it’s usually for commercial purposes. I take a group of photos of a specific sculpture in order to sell it. The pictures tend to be dramatic in terms of the space afforded the sculpture, but sterile in terms of the space surrounding it. For the purpose of selling a specific sculpture I don’t want anything competing with the sculpture for your attention. I seldom have the opportunity to reflect upon my works and how they interact with their surroundings. I’m talking about décor here, and how an Origami Bonsai botanical sculpture compliments a room, a hallway, or some other space. Whenever I complete a sculpture I put it on display in a common hallway of a building my parents live in. Residents pass by the sculpture and I obtain feedback through comments they tell my parents. This has resulted in numerous design changes over the years and is a big part of the evolution of this art form.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

In the past few months my sculptures have become more compact and complex. The same hallway space that had room for only one sculpture now has enough space for three. More importantly, I’ve noticed a change in me. I can’t simply walk by the little shelf. For some reason I have to pause, and inspect. There is some sort of elegant beauty in these small sculptures. They have reached some sort of new esoteric level; an unrepeatable uniqueness that I can’t quite put my finger on. Simply put, I love them.

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1

Makigami Accessories are durable, wearable and biodegradable. To see a list of Makigami accessories available on Etsy, Click here.

Origami Bonsai artists and craftspeople, make sure to include the keywords "makigami" and "accessories" when posting your work to Etsy so it will be included when readers click this advertisement. 20