Happy Pride Month

Paper Moon never misses an opportunity to celebrate! Happy Pride Month to the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies! Most countries still have a long way to go, some longer than other, but great things are happening more and more often and quickly. Y'all rock!

Here is a little paper tribute.

 

 

 

The little box people are based on Jo Nakashima's Origami Groom, Little Girl, and Little Boy. The "gender" symbols are my own design. Hopefully I'll get around to making a tutorial on how to make letters, numbers and symbols using a very simple technique.

Crane Mandala

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. 

Paper Moon Is Back!

After a very long leave of absence, I am happy to bring back Paper Moon! This time from the deep south of the US of A, in Athens, GA. It's been a very busy few months, getting acquainted with the town and my new university.

Georgia is very big on American football, something I still don't quite have a handle on. I am not a big sports person, as readers of this blog may already know. I'd much rather stay home and play with paper. Still, being here has certainly been inspiring. We here at Georgia wear our colors proudly, but instead of painting my face red and black (our colors) and standing under the hot southern sun for four hours, sweating and waiting for someone to kick the illusive oblong ball, this is my tribute to my new alma mater.

Here's one for our team, the Georgia Bulldogs. This little fella was designed by Jack Chan.

I love how the seasons change here. I don't believe I've had a real autumn before. Trees in Lebanon usually keep their leaves most of the year, so seeing the streets lined with yellow and orange and red was quite delightful. Here are a couple of design ideas for your leafy needs.

Begonia Leaf by Peter Engel (tutorial by Sara Adams)
and an autumn leaf (the tutorial is in Dutch).

And now, 'tis finally the season. I thought what better time to come back than Christmastime? (I don't really know why this seemed appropriate, but I've got a case of the holiday spirit again.) I didn't go all out like last year, but I did make some nice origami ornaments. If you're not into trees, just make them and hang them somewhere anyway. Here are some favorites for this year.

Star ornament by Ekaterina Lukasheva and a simple ornament by Gay Merrill Gross

The other ornament seen in this picture is a traditional model.
Here is a useful tutorial by happypuppytruffles. No post is complete without her.

It's almost Christmas! It's going to be over way too soon. I miss the extra week of merry-making and good cheer we get in Lebanon for Orthodox Christmas, but I hope you have a great one wherever you are, and whether you celebrate it twice or not at all. And here's to good New Year hopefully full of paper folding! There's so much paper out there, and I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Much love from Paper Moon 

at our new offices in Georgia, USA.

Paper Moon Logo

While I am working on my next project, which keeps growing the longer I spend in front of my computer screen researching models to fold, I thought I would post this neat little logo I made for Paper Moon. 

I'm really happy with how it came out. 

The letters are a mix of techniques I sort of improvised which I might turn into tutorials sometime. I'm not a big fan of the traditional two-dimensional letters; I much prefer these three-dimensional ones.

And of course, I couldn't help sprucing it up a bit with photo editor. It appears more professional and makes it look like I spent more time on it than I actually did.

Happy Teacher's/ Women's Day!

Well, I have not posted in ages. It only seems fit that I should post about two events at once today!

First, Happy Teacher's Day to all the wonderful teachers I know. 



I think Teacher's Day is celebrated on the 9th in Lebanon, but today was an official day off to celebrate our wonderful teachers, so this is appropriate. Today I'm not just thinking of my school and university teachers, but anyone who may have taught me something or helped me become a better person, whether they meant to or not. I know I would not be who I am today if it wasn't for all the people I've met, good and bad.

This thing I made is not strictly origami. I've recently become fascinated by pop-up art after getting my hands on this beautiful book by Benjamin Lacombe called Il était une fois. It has made me want to dabble in pop-up. Hence, this card I made for my wonderful supervisor.

It's part origami, part glue and inky fingers. It's a little bit messy, but it was only my second try, so I'm not too upset.

Second, a very Happy Women's Day to all the lovely ladies out there! 

(And a very average day to all the not-so-lovely ladies.)


Unfortunately, I know a truck-full of disappointing ladies I try to keep out of my life, but I'm infinitely grateful for the handful of beautiful women I know who I can look up to and trust. You know who you are.

 I hope you remembered to celebrate the women in your life today. And I hope all you ladies had a beautiful day. 

And, okay, gentlemen teachers, you're great too...

A New Year, A New Page

It’s the New Year, and for the first time I have felt the real weight of a whole year. So much has happened in one short year. It's surprising how much a person can change (and what a sentimental sissy they can become), and for the first time, I am looking forward to a new year. But I suppose it's all useless if we don't learn something along the way. So here’s what I learned this year.

I learned how to make this neat (as in cool, funky, interesting; definitely not meticulous, precise or clean) firework origami by Yami Yamaguchi. This is a very cool model because it changes shapes. It’s not big, fiery or bright against the night sky, but it doesn’t wake the neighbors.

 

 

You will, of course, excuse the rough and tattered edges.

I thought we’d kick off the New Year with something new on this blog, so here’s my first ever video to show off the shape-shifting abilities of this model! Hopefully, there will be more to come and a tutorial next time.

 
Here is a tutorial for making this model. 


I also learned a few lessons this year that I hope I’ll remember.

If you’re mad at someone, don’t start the year being angry. You might not know what’s in store for you this year, but a good way to start is with good intentions and an open heart.

Make your resolutions realistic, so instead of saying “I will be more patient and less hot-headed”, say “I’ll learn origami this year to help me relax.”

Don’t take anything personally, unless it’s a complement. And don’t take anything seriously, unless it’s about food, J. R. R. Tolkien or origami.

Don’t be resentful, and don’t get too wound up about things because it’s never really worth it when you look around and there’s a friendly face staring back at you, and you realize that nothing else matters.

So enough romantic mumbo jumbo and sentimental Metallica songs. Here’s hoping that wherever you are, you’re spending the New Year with someone you love.

Happy 2013!

The numbers above are adapted from this person's origami numbers. The number zero is my own hasty variation. I did not like how they did it, however, so I changed the method somewhat. I might make my own tutorial sometime, as I have not found any tutorials I liked.