#seth friedman

[thisisbalok]

Seth Friedman

[foldswithinfolds]

“Money Rose” designed by Sok Song and Seth Friedman. Folded by Annalisa from a US dollar bill (and a standard weight paper for the test fold). Video tutorial available here from Seth Friedman.

After a brief interlude where the computer wasn’t working, we’re back to Christmas gifts! This was a gift for my sister-in-law, Aubrey. I’ve been wanting to make this since Seth Friedman originally posted his video, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it. Aubrey’s just one of those people you want to give flowers to all the time.

As opposed to the star for Joan, this is a complicated model. I highly recommend doing a test fold or two. It was really helpful to have made Kawasaki roses in the past, so if you haven’t made one of those before, I would try that first; it’s good to get the feel of the twists involved in rose-making before trying it on a real dollar bill. Oddly, though my dollar bill rose looked better, the test fold photographed better, which is why I’ve included both, so you can get a sense of how the ‘stem’ looks from the front. Though, to be honest, I didn’t do the stem quite right on either model, which probably contributes to why it lies differently.

The one thing I didn’t really think through before making these gifts was the fact that one must unfold said gifts in order to use them. There’s either the reaction of “But it’s so pretty I don’t want to unfold it!” or “How do I unfold it without destroying the bill?” Maybe in the future I should send the folded fake bill and just lay it on the real bill. What do you think?

[foldswithinfolds]

“Rabbit” designed by Seth Friedman. Folded by Annalisa from 2 sheets of 7.5 cm squares of kami. Video tutorial available here from Jo Nakashima.

This is my second Seth Friedman rabbit. Obviously the other one that I folded is far more complex than this little guy, however I like that Friedman didn’t design just one rabbit, but instead explored different ways of expressing rabbits via origami.

To be honest, I was a little surprised (and reticent to fold) when I realized this was a composite origami made of two sheets, because that’s not usually a style that intrigues me. However, I knew that I had enjoyed folding Seth Friedman models in the past, and I thought the ears were adorable, so I just went for it. And once again, my weird origami biases were proved to be ridiculous, because I very much enjoyed folding this. Clearly there is fun and interest to be found in practically all origami and I should get over myself.

For those of you who are into supporting artists on kickstarter, Seth Friedman is running a campaign to make himself a studio so he can take his origami to the next level. The project closes in 3 days, so if that’s something that intrigues you, you can go here to find out more.

[foldswithinfolds]

“Sheep” designed by Seth Friedman. Folded by Annalisa from a 30 cm square of kami. Video tutorial here by Seth Friedman.

Among the many things to enjoy about Seth Friedman’s models (and there are many), I think my favorite is just how interesting the models are to fold. I mentioned this on the other model of his that I’ve posted, but it remains true. The bases of his models are different than a lot of what I’ve seen, which adds a really fun element of uncertainty to folding. What’s coming next? How will the model resolve itself? It’s like watching a mystery unfold, and it’s a complete delight to fold.

eta: I completely forgot until @punkkimono’s comment reminded me; I had to do a little bit of tape rehab on this sheep’s head. My paper split a bit as I was folding this, but since that paper tension is what holds the head’s shape, I had to put some double-sided tape inside the layers to keep the paper together where the horns meet the head. This is what I get for posting pictures weeks after I make a model; I forget some of the details!

[foldswithinfolds]

"Dutch Rabbit" designed by Seth Friedman (with bonus New Kawasaki Rose). Folded by Annalisa from a 30 cm square of (black) kami. Tutorial here by the designer.

This is honest-to-goodness rabbit-sized! (Okay, a small rabbit, but still.) Aside from the really stellar detailing on this model, I think that what impressed me most was how interesting it was to fold. I just had a really good time folding it! Sometimes I get frustrated at how much subjective shaping is required to make a model actually resemble what it's supposed to resemble, because shaping is a weak point for me. However, I think that this model has a really nice basic structure that evokes the rabbit, so even if my shaping isn't the best, it still comes out looking very rabbit-like.

I'm not sure exactly how I managed it, but the model ended up pretty top-heavy, so I stuck the rose underneath the rabbit's nose to avoid having 20 pictures of a rabbit faceplanting. I actually really like the effect, so even once I figure out how to get the model balanced, I'll probably still give each rabbit a little rose to sniff.

[itscherylcole]

Unseen photo of the AML shoot by Seth Friedman (via @CherylOnlineNet )