The Origami Forum

Now to fold something really big?

Check out my Sears tower Model at:
http://home.comcast.net/~firstfold/index.htm

Firstfold, you never fail to amaze me! How long did it take you to make that?

I would guess it took me about 40 hours to complete the larger mode. I would work on it about 2 to 3 hours a day. However, as an estimate of how long is required to duplicate the model that would be a seriously overblown estimate. Once you work out the details, the folding is simple. I made a smaller model out of less than 27 sheets that took only a couple of hours.

A modified version of the model with just 9 "sticks" could probablly be done in less than 1 hour. It can be actually quite simple! It would only be as tall as the largest sheet of paper. I am looking for some very stiff wrapping paper (at least 30 inches by 8 feet) with something like a window pattern print to make an 8 foot model with 9 sticks.
I guess I will need a bit more time due to the slowness of folding sheets that large.

40 hours? The most time I ever spent on a model was Jeremy Schafer's flasher hat, and that would have been maximum 8 hours.

Maybe I should explain the process for this one. I wanted a model thatyhad the look of the sears tower so I decided to print a window pattern on cardstock. I designed the pattern with turbocad. Then I needed to recalculate the size of my sitcks to fit on standard 8.5 by 11 inch card stock. I used Excel. I choses 8.5 by 11 cardstock because you can by in it packs of 250 sheets for less than $12.00. That is cheaper than most origami paper. Next I had to design and print the slips - those are the dark strips that you see in the picture. First I tried overlapping the slips. If you had seen my website at this stage you would have seen the central tube of 4 x 8 sticks with slips sticking out the side. When I tried to put the outside tubes the tension on the slips continually tore the slips so I came up with interlocking slips using another small piece of paper to tie the slips together. That worked. To make a much longer story shorter. It took a lot of trial and error.
As I said, now that the details are worked out, the next model took much less time and with redesign takes even less time.
I promise, the easy version takes less than 1 hour and even beginners can master the folds required.

Okay, 1 hour is much better than 40!

Nicely done firstfold. Oh, this is the first time we've actually been enganged in the same topic. In that case I'd like to tell you that I like what you've done with your slip & stick system. It is very versitile while still maintaining a large degree of simplicity. One thing I've noticed about you is that you spend a lot of time folding. I on the other hand I'm a cronic procrastinator which of course keeps me from tackling too time consuming a project. (This is the reason why I haven't yet folded the long awaited Rubik's cube. It's all figured out, I just need to fold it.)

But in spite of this I would like to issue a friendly challenge between the two systems. Would you be up for it? I'm thinking a stucture (like the Arc de Triomphe) with only static type stuff (i.e. no rotation or anything fancy).

What do you think, could be fun now that you've broken into the building bussiness.

Sorry to take time in responding.
I had to consider if I was up to this challenge - the answer is maybe.
I'd have to come up with some new construction to handle the multiple arcs of the structure you proposed. I have some possibilities but wouldn't know until I tried.

Besides I have never been outside North America and have not seen The "Arc".

How about, you proposed a structure, than I will follow with one I think would fit my capabilities:

My proposal is the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco.

Do this back and forth uintil 10 structures are porposed - then run a poll.

The top choice from the poll is the one we will work on.
No fair loading the poll with opinions from familly and friends !

Warning, I do a lot of folding but I am old and slow (ie. retired) - may not have a model complete for some time.

I think that would work just fine, except that I don't think we should limit it to buildings/monuments, but rather include other things (I searched the net for pics of buildings, and not many caught my eye) like perhaps a rotating globe (which, if you agree, is my second proposal)

About the Arc, I myself haven't been there, nor do I know anybody who has. I was thinking that we might ask one of our french colleuges on the forum to take us a few pics. Which brings me to the friends and family part. Barring the friends made on this site itself, none of my friends or family ever visit this site, so the flooding just won't happen.

This would be a good way to refine the techniques in both systems. It's gonna be fun!

You can find quite a lot photos of the Arc de Triomphe on the internet. Wikipedia is a good place to start. I've actually been to Paris and seen the Arc de Triomphe a long time ago when I was a kid. It's quite a lot bigger than any pictures can show you.

A building that would make an interesting challenge in my opinion would be the Atomium in Brussels

How about the opera house in Sydney

I accept that we should add the truning Globe to the list.
I have a couple of ideas along this globe theme are somewhat unusual. I should warn you that I frequently give people what they ask for but not what they expect.

My next proposal for our challenge is a bridge, could be of the spectacular type such as the Golden Gate Bridge or of the more challenging type as in a moving bridge. Chicago has several types of moving bridges including pivot bridges, lift bridges and swing bridges.

Do a search under "Chicago Bridges" on You-Tube to see some examples.

Keep on folding !

Sorry for the long pause before this reply, but I have a busy schedule and kinda forgot to reply when I first read the previous post I think that a bridge would be quite an interresting challenge. Something I think kinda fits in with the bridges idea can be seen here:

http://www.keringhuis.nl/maeslantkering ... ensnel.gif

This brings me to my third proposal. I propose making a balancing bird, something like this one:



It of course doesn't need to be all coloured etc., just the shape of a bird balancing on its beak. I don't know how mathematically inclined you are, but I do know that this one is a bit more tricky along those lines. I've all but figured it out and will share, of course

Jeremy Shafer has a model like this. Look here:
http://www.barf.cc/jeremy/origami/PDF_d ... signs.html

Yes, daydreamer, he does, but it wasn't mabe using a construction system such as ours. I mean firstfold & myself to make one using our respective systems.

B.T.W. I've folded Jeremy Shafer's eagle a few times now and nice little combo (I've found) is his bird balancing on Thoki Yenn's hyperbolic parabola. Gives a surreal 'on the edge' feel.