Visi's Origami Corner

Origami side blog! My main (18+ only, please) can be found at: visibun.tumblr.com

[bunnigami]

A little bit about me!

Hey there, my name is Vivian! I'm 33 year old, a trans woman ("She/They" pronouns, please), pansexual, and most importantly here... I'm an origamist!

I first started folding origami at the age of 12, back in 2005 in the 5th grade, and ignoring a five-year folding hiatus between 2018 to 2023, this has been my strongest and most persistent artistic medium to date! As in, I first managed to fold Satoshi Kamiya's Ancient Dragon by 2008, and had his "Yellow Bird" model fully memorized by the time that I was 16!

(...I'm also autistic.)

Any models that I fold myself, I'll post here, along with the name of the author behind its design. This is just to space my creations away from my... mixed bag, of a main account, and keep things more accessible to anyone that wants to see what I can do.

Any and all visitors are welcome here, so long as you're willing to be nice and such (i.e. no bigots, fascists, TERFs, Zionists, or any other typical "DNI" categories like those). I hope that you enjoy your visit... and if I inspire anyone else to start folding origami, too, that's even better!

[bunnigami]

Pajarita (x2)

I wanted to fold something with tracing paper, today. But, I took too long to decide on a model.

So, as one does, I decided to torture myself with micro origami again, since it's been a good while since I've last done that. The one on the left was my first round, folded from a 6 mm square of tracing paper. That somehow felt too easy for me, so I cut out a 4 mm square from the same tracing paper next, and then made the model on the right (I think that my fingertip sweat slightly warped the paper, hence the wonky left arm on that one). Estradiol for scale as per usual, since I have a brand image/running joke to maintain here.

I also didn't use a microscope to take this photo, since I returned the one that I bought for micro models (I felt like I wasn't using it enough to justify the purchase). This one was taken with an LED 5x zoom magnifying glass being held up against my phone's camera, which worked just as well for the job... and, for much less money. Guess that this is my go-to method for micro shots, going on.

[visibun]

...i might need a bigger display shelf for my origami models, soon. guess that i've been folding a lot more lately than i thought. 💜😇💦 [She/They]

[bunnigami]

Fiery Dragon v2, by Kade Chan

...I've been in such a bad burnout rut with origami, lately. This is the first model that I've managed to finish ever since folding that Doberman two weeks ago, out of several other models that I've started and then failed to complete for one reason or another.

I'm just glad to have finally made something, I guess.

[bunnigami]

Doberman, by Park Jong Woo

This one's a special model, serving as two different "test run" firsts for me.

Part one was testing a better way for me to neatly make the largest sheets of tissue foil that I can without it being a wrinkly mess. My original method was awful and prone to errors, but my new method worked almost flawlessly, here. This square was 17.5" all around, which is the biggest sheet that I've ever been able to create and cut out without any major setbacks (my puffer fish was roughly the same size, but the quality of that tissue foil was DEFINITELY not as good as this one was).

Part two was a test with my new LED light box (my old one that I used in this shot from years ago required external lamps to use, which I no longer have), which I got specifically for photographing my origami models. Up until now, all of my model photos were shot either on my bed in a setup of black sheets, pillows, and blankets, or between the pages of a big sketchbook for white backgrounds, all being illuminated only by my phone's flashlight. This light box comes with both of those background colors, and more. The lighting is just inherently better than what I'd been working with this whole time, too.

Both tests were great successes, in my eyes! I'm excited to see what any future advanced models will look like with this new setup.

[bunnigami]

Puffer Fish, by Jang Yong-Ik

I was initially folding another advanced model, before this one... but, I ripped it very close to the end. I might try that one again, in the future.

To avoid completely spiraling over that, however, I decided to fold something else that was flashy and difficult, instead. This was a great first trial run of my latest and best origami-adjacent discovery online, that being a 500' roll of specifically standard-duty aluminum foil that was 18" in width. Everywhere else that I've checked in my area, the options are either 12" standard-duty foil (thin) or 18" heavy-duty foil (thick), so larger tissue foil models would be VERY prone to horrid thickness issues if they had too many layers or small details going on with them.

This was folded from a square of tissue foil that I think was about 17.5", and it was a DREAM to work with, compared to heavy-duty tissue foil of the same width. Both the larger size and the thinner foil made working out the fine details MUCH easier than when I tried this one with an ~11" tissue foil square in the past. This is definitely going to be my go-to medium for advanced models, from here on out.

[bunnigami]

Tubby Cat, by Kimura Yoshihisa

I wanted to fold something a bit more complex, earlier today... but, I got tired and passed out for like 4+ hours, instead. So, I just used my usual method for finding new models to fold: I opened any book, scrolled down it a lot, and whatever caught my eye that I probably wouldn't have folded otherwise, I went with that. This time around, it ended up being this model.

The decision to use orange-colored paper was obviously very intentional, here. Not sure if there's a diagram for Garfield out there, but if there is, maybe I'll try that in the future.

[bunnigami]

Anteater - Burning, by Miyamoto Shintaro

Today is my three-year anniversary of my official coming out as both a trans woman and pansexual. Three years of me finally being able to openly be who I really am to the world, and also three years of me finally starting to love myself for the first time in my life (so just over a month before I turned 30, in May 2023).

While I had initially planned on going out somewhere to celebrate this day... it's chilly, windy, and overcast today. So instead, I decided to stay in my room, play some games, and most importantly, fold out my most favorite starter Pokémon of all time: Anteater Burning Cyndaquil! This one was a fun challenge to get that fire effect established, which I pulled off with a bit of layering work on tissue foil. I went with a messy hand tear along its edge to give the lower part of the fire more of a "realistic" look, and I'm really happy with how that ended up looking, here!

[bunnigami]

Armored Knight, by Miyajima Noboru

It was a very spontaneous decision on my end to give this model a first try. I kind of struggled with forming the helmet, since the sides of it got really thick, but I'm still really happy with how it ended up.

[bunnigami]

Inchworm, by John Szinger

Quick thing to fold, since I've been feeling horribly burnt-out with origami lately, and just wanted something cute to look at this time around. This actually turned out a lot better than I thought it would (the square of paper that I used for this seemed to be just barely warped and not symmetrical).

[bunnigami]

Hi! I just found this blog and I’m stunned by how incredible your origami is (and very grateful you take the time to photograph your work and post with credit!!)

I used to be into folding but stopped for a while because I couldn’t figure out what to do with finished pieces, since they’re delicate so can’t be turned into a keychain or similar, and often small and get visually lost on a shelf. How do you display your pieces/do you have any advice on what to do with a finished piece?

...I am so good at noticing my inbox in a timely manner—

But, thank you for this message! At the moment, all of my models get put on a tiered display shelf that I keep at my job (for now). Past that, I may give away my models to friends if they want them, and I'm also floating the idea of selling them for money (but I have no idea how to price these things, so I haven't done that yet).

[bunnigami]

Hermit Crab, by Robert J. Lang

I've been trying to burn through my excess origami paper packs, lately. I used to fold this specific model pretty often when I was younger, so naturally, I had to give it another shot in this current wave of my revived origami interests. I used to rip it rather consistently in the final steps, too (namely, the step where you pull loose paper out from the inside of the shell, so the crab can actually be physically inside of it)... but, I managed to prevent that this time around. I'm really proud of myself for that one!

[bunnigami]

Angel Playing the Harp, by Fumiaki Kawahata

My mood has been kind of low lately, and that's been making it hard to decide on what I wanted to fold, next... so, I decided to effectively fold myself: A (fallen) angel girl with a harp. The resemblance is very striking, isn't it? 🪉😇💜

[bunnigami]

Quetzalcoatlus, by Park Jong Woo

I've been in a bit of a motivational dry spell lately, regarding what I felt like trying to fold, next... so, I settled on giving one of my most favorite "dinosaurs" a try (I know that pterosaurs aren't actually dinosaurs, but you get what I mean). Something about the existence of a creature the size of a giraffe having flown around at some point in the past has always just really fascinated me.

Another case of wet-folding on kraft paper being one of my most favorite processes to work with, especially with how the neck and beak turned out.

[bunnigami]

Violinist, by Hojyo Takashi

...I really don't know how I haven't posted this one, already. I could've sworn that I did?

But anyway, this one is actually a MUCH older model than everything else on this blog. I folded this back in about 2016 or 2017 out of a big square of kraft paper, and used wet-folding to shape out the fine details of the model. One sheet, with no cuts.

This is one model that I don't have on-hand anymore. But, that's strictly due to the fact that I buried this one with my mom when she passed away in 2018. Up to that point, it was her most favorite model that I'd ever made, to the extent that when I first showed it to her upon completing it, she instantly took it (with my blessing) to display at her work desk in the living room. All that being said, it only made sense that I buried it with her... I placed it right under her hands, just before the casket was closed. She's been carrying it ever since then.

I might try to fold this one again, at some point... but, that might be a ways off. For clear and extremely obvious sentimental reasons, it feels a bit mentally "wrong" for me to try and replace it. I'm just glad that I at least have this photographed proof of it having existed, at all.

(...sorry for the really personal info dump, here. It's just impossible for me to share this shot without providing that bit of vital context along with it.)

[bunnigami]

Coffee, by Wang Shuo

Giving my poor fingers a little bit of a break from micro origami, for the time being. I woke up this morning to three of my fingers being swollen and hurting like crazy, so I definitely can't foresee micro folding going over well until that clears up.

So, in the meantime, I decided to fold in a category that I typically don't go for: "scenic" models, with a specific object being shown against a clear background, like this one. I tend to veer towards physical 3D models since they're easier to display (and are generally more challenging, overall), but this one was still cute enough to draw me in. Especially with how much coffee I've been inhaling over the course of this godsforsaken winter, just to not freeze to death.

And, of course, you can bet that Belle wandered over and got directly in the way of the photography process, like always. I don't know what she gets out of doing this. 😭💦

[bunnigami]

I'm so glad that all three of my top featured posts at this point prominently feature an Estradiol tablet in them. This is my most favorite running joke/established bit to play of all time. 🏳️‍⚧😭💦🏳️‍⚧