March Mania Day 11: Origami: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I started taking origami seriously nine years ago when I bought an Origami Page-A-Day Calendar for the year 2010. In the years since then I've folded many sheets of paper into many things, torn more than a few trying to coax out some origami "limbs", and generally have enjoyed most of the journey. Today's post will be a showcase of the good, the bad, and the ugly as I'm pretty sure I've folded enough to have at least one photo for each adjective. I don't apologize for the bias towards "The Good".

THE GOOD

1000 cranes folded

In 2016, I decided to embark on a challenge that would prove my origami worth: folding 1000 cranes. There is a legend that whoever folds 1000 cranes is entitled to one wish coming true. I read a book titled Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes in elementary school which centered around a girl named Sadako Sasaki who initially survived the atomic attack of 1945 but later was diagnosed with leukemia. The book claims that she did not finish her goal of folding 1000 cranes for the wish, falling short at 644, but there are competing claims that she did indeed fold 1000 cranes and then some from various sources including her brother Masahiro Sasaki. In any case, I saw a challenge and I figured I'd be able to fold a crane by memory by the time I folded 1000. Three years later and I'm trying to repeat, but with tiny cranes instead. Only, with the tiny cranes, I don't feel as motivated as I did in 2016.

Origami Playing Card Case by Jonathan Graham 

Link: Origami Playing Card Case

I used to and to a certain extent still do collect decks of playing cards. I collected mostly for the cool back designs such as the NYPD logo or Busch Gardens Williamsburg. My cards were all disorganized at one point and I recently (at that time, circa 2017) bought a box that was shaped for storing cards, so I decided to place all my playing cards in that box, but I thought to myself, "How can I keep the cards organized, especially if they've lost their packaging? I stumbled upon Jonathan Graham's video on YouTube while searching for a solution and I have to say it's a neat and nifty way of using origami and I've yet to lose a playing card since.

Tiny Origami

At this point, regular origami was starting to become easy and I like challenging myself, so I decided to cut up some origami paper into smaller sheets and try folding tiny versions of origami models. So far I've folded one tiny modular wreath, at least 20 tiny cranes, more than 250 tiny swans, and at least one tiny crown. I'll update y'all when I create more tiny origami.

THE BAD

It looks impressive, but...

So my journey into modular origami (fold multiple units of one shape and then put them together to create a larger different shape) started as early as 2014 when I folded 16 sheets of square paper into units to create a 16 pointed star, so far so good. The bad made itself quite clear when I was trying to assemble it and units kept separating from each other. The 16 pointed star did not endear me when I was finished with it as it was so easy to separate the individual units from each other, which is not a good sign in modular origami.

THE UGLY

One of the very few models I did not enjoy folding

I tried folding the above model, but was not satisfied at all after completing it. So many parts were sticking out, a lack of symmetry, and a general dissatisfaction with how the model turned out is why I placed it under "The Ugly".

Thank you for reading about some of my origami adventures throughout the years and if you want to hear more about my origami adventures, please do say so!