The Happy Little Dragon

I have not posted in a really long time, so I thought I'd make this short entry. I recently got a request from a friend for a little dragon family. I love getting requests since it gives me an excuse to fold things while I should be doing other things.

I enjoyed this idea so much that the Happy Little Dragon is slowly developing into a character with a back story in my head. We'll see where that goes, but for now, as requested, here is the Happy Little Dragon with his two moms!

The two adult dragons are designed by Edwin Corrie. There is no tutorial for this particular dragon that I could find, but here is a tutorial for another dragon by the same designer. The only difference between the two is the head. If you need help making the head, you can refer to this.

As for the little star in the middle, he was based on a design by Gilad Aharoni.

A Song of Ice and Fire

I've recently finished reading the first installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and since then I have been trying to avoid spoilers like the plague, what with the show now in its fourth season and all. I have not had the time to get into a good fantasy series in a long time, so I thought I'd do a House Sigil series as I get into the second book, A Clash of Kings.

I start with House Stark because they are the coolest/least dysfunctional, and House Targaryen because dragons.

The Great Houses of Westeros

House Stark

Winter Is Coming.

Origami Wolf

House Targaryen

Fire and Blood.

Three-Headed Dragon by John Montroll (five-part tutorial)

House Lannister

Hear Me Roar.

Origami Lion by Robert Lang

House Baratheon

Ours Is the Fury.

Based on this origami reindeer

House Tyrell

Growing Strong.

Evi Rose by Evi Binzinger

House Greyjoy

We Do Not Sow.

Origami Squid

House Martell

Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.

Origami Sun by Jo Nakashima

House Tully

Family, Duty, Honour.

Origami Fish by Davor Vinko

House Arryn

As High As Honour.

Origami Moon designed by Fernando Gilgado and Origami Eagle

The Chinese Zodiac: An Origami Story

Now that we've celebrate, rested, and adjusted our brains to the new year (well, sort of. I just dated a check "January 2013"), it's time to get back to work. I don't believe in New Year's resolutions, because if you were going to do it, it would not require all the theatrics and fanfare, would it? But I have concocted some new origami projects for 2014. To kick it off, I have summoned forth the twelve animals of the zodiac in a glorious procession to tell us the story of the Chinese Zodiac.

Origami Buddha in zen meditation
by Claudio Maranta

One day, God, Buddha, or the Wizard, whichever you prefer, invited the animals to a banquet. During the feast, they would decide which twelve animals would become the signs of the zodiac.

Origami Cat Tutorial

The Rat and the Cat were very excited. They decided they would go early to secure their places. The Cat made the Rat promise to wake him in time for the banquet. (If you are not bothered by the fact that the animals can talk but find it odd that the rat is bigger than the cat, then...too bad.)

Cat Nap by Philip Shulz

But the next day, in a fit of squeaky excitement, the Rat forgot his promise and rushed off to the banquet, leaving the Cat asleep. By the time he woke up, it was already too late, for twelve animals had arrived before him, and the Cat was excluded from the zodiac.

So there were the twelve animals for the twelve zodiac signs, and the lineup was complete. Buddha announced to the animals that there would be a race across the river to determine the order of the twelve signs. 

When the signal was given, the animals all rushed to the river. Each wanted to be the first to make it across, probably not realizing that after a few millenia it really wouldn't matter whose year came first in the cycle. 

Right before they set out, the Rat jumped up onto the back of the Cow (or Ox if you prefer) unnoticed by anyone. That's right, I said unnoticed.

They all ran and jumped into the river and swam as fast as they could. As the race was nearing its end, the Cow was ahead of all of them and was almost at the finish. Even though there was like, a flying dragon in the race. But whatever. 

An Unexpected Blog Post

Please excuse the lameness of the title. I just couldn't resist.

The Hobbit was released in theaters this week, and I have yet to see it. I have been waiting for this movie all year, and it's finally here! Pete, please don't disappoint me.
In honor of the occasion, I made some origami.

“By some curious chance one morning long ago in the quiet of the world, when there was less noise and more green, and the hobbits were still numerous and prosperous, and Bilbo Baggins was standing at his door after breakfast smoking an enormous long wooden pipe that reached nearly down to his woolly toes (neatly brushed) – Gandalf came by.”

Here are some Goblins to start us off on our adventure.

And their trusty mounts. I think it's very interesting how wolves are evil in Tolkien and in C. S. Lewis as well.

Sting is glowing blue to signal danger.

And of course, no adventure would be complete without a giant spider.

Fortunately, the Eagles will always come to the rescue.

And then behold Smaug, the fiery worm guarding his hoard.

  

But where is Gandalf? This wizard always has a funny way of popping up when you least expect.

Initially, I wanted to make the awesome origami wizard by Satoshi Kamiya, but to my shame, I had to give up halfway through. Wrong paper, terrible tutorial, and, well, turns out, I am diagram-illiterate. I have the worst time reading those things. I might try again some day. I got the crease pattern alright, but then the assembly was something else entirely. By the end of my two-hour attempt, I was so tired and disheartened, I had trouble folding even this, like, 5-step wizard. I have brought dishonor upon myself.

And although these rings do not figure in The Hobbit, I thought they deserved a mention. Three Rings for the Elven-kings under sky: Vilya (the Sapphire/Blue Ring of Air),  Nenya (the Red Ring of Fire), and Galadriel's Narya (the White Ring of Water).

These ring designs are very basic, but fun nevertheless. 

If all goes well, I am going to see the movie tomorrow! There was a special screening on Tuesday for a charity called Himaya against child abuse here in Beirut, but my friends couldn't make it. They used the age-old excuse: I have to work (Pfft.)

Dragon Hoard

I think dragons are awesome. So I made paper dragons.

Some of these models are easy and some are nigh impossible to get just right. But all of them are great fun to make.

This is an exceedingly easy model that takes
literally a minute to make. Instructions here.

This is one of the most amusing to make. Instructions here.

Here are Jo Nakashima's instructions for Gilad Aharoni's Dragao de Origami.

Simple dragon. Instuctions

This neat little dragon was designed by Jeremy Shafer. A word to the wise: use as thin a sheet of paper as you can get your hands on. Mine was so thick I had to skip a couple of steps. I was too lazy and disheartened to try again with thinner paper. Maybe for Dragon Hoard Part II.

 

This is by far the coolest one. But, nothing is for free; it is also the trickiest. Here is my messy version of Tadashi Mori's version of Marc Vigo's Snake Dragon. 

The extra creases and tattered edges on mine are all intentional...