“Pine Cone” designed by Beth Johnson.
Folded by Annalisa from a 25 cm square of tant.
Diagram provided by Beth Johnson here on her website. Wet folding tutorial here by Alexander Kurth.
I love this model with one caveat. First, what I love. The use of tessellating scales to create the pine cone’s...poky bits? (The internet tells me these are actually called scales! The things I learn.) is brilliant. The shape overall is really lovely and evokes a mature pine cone so well. I almost do a double take whenever I see it, because I think it’s real (and I wonder why there’s a random pine cone sitting around the house).
Now for the caveat: the bottom. I have actually made this model twice prior, and each time I couldn’t get the bottom to close without the aid of tape. At first I used a 15 cm square of kami, which ripped way too easily. Then I tried a 15 cm square of tant, which didn’t rip, but was too stiff to gather together at the bottom. Even with tape, various corners would pop out because there wasn’t enough paper at the bottom for the tape to hold onto.
Fast forward to recently when I folded Beth Johnson’s frog and remembered that I had never gotten her pine cone right. I decided to try again, but this time using the wet folding skills I had just learned. The vast majority of the folding was very easy and soothing. The diagram is very easy to read, and I enjoy the repetitive motions of making the scales. Then came the formation of the peduncle. (i.e. The part of the pine cone that attaches to the branch; isn’t that a great word?) I made the primary part of the fold dry, then I used my handy tree mister to wet the corners and try to massage them together. It was working okay, but I kept feeling like the corners were on the verge of popping out and deforming. I decided I wasn’t getting the paper wet enough (a conclusion that I still think is valid), so I tried to spray closer to the paper and managed to get it too wet. That’s why we have the rather torn and mangy peduncle. Fortunately, there paper didn’t rip so much that the model fell apart, and while it still feels fragile, it holds together pretty well.
Moral of the story? Either use tissue foil, as Beth Johnson suggests, or don’t get your paper too wet.
