The Fitful Flog

We have been uncharacteristically quiet of late — it goes with the Marshwiggle physiognomy and the unwieldy amounts of pollen in the air. But there are a few things that want mentioning.

¶ Much thought is going into tato boxes, whereof the dining room is slowly being buried. A crease pattern for the above. It’s like learning a dance or a fencing move, but with a lot of trial-and-error, as we discover which steps matter and which are ornamental. And then we forget again. Someday, it’ll be a handy algorithm, but not today. (The curves, here, are particularly difficult to describe. When I make them, I know the curve wants to go thisaway and then thataway — the word is probably tractrix, but this is just a sound to me.) Mélisande* and I will be teaching a Monday session on tato boxes at the Convention this year, by the bye.

¶ Eric Gjerde‘s book is slowly fighting its way out of the world of forms and into a bookstore near you. Keep your eyes peeled.

¶ I am profoundly dissatisfied with the constitutional structure of OUSA. There, I said it. You don’t have to do anything about it — I’m certainly not going to. I like and respect the people in the administration, but it has been and continues to be a regional group that pretends to represent a nation of folders. It doesn’t. Bless them, they’re trying, but you can’t put web 2.0 lipstick on a 19th century pig. We need a whole new model hog.

¶ Brazilian mathematician and origami artist, Jorge C. Lucero has launched a blog, chock full of interesting things. Of course, I spent ten minutes trying to google the Greek mathematician, Antigüidade. I had never heard of him and he posed some fascinating problems. Hmm. No, I won’t tell you who he is.

¶ If you like folding dollars, you might try this. It’s a variation of the Dollars to Doughnuts fold and divides the dollar into a 9 x 21-point-something grid. Named the Hoppin’ Bobbin, a bobbin being a small steel gizmo that sits under the plate of a sewing machine and holds thread. You lap the left end over the right to the gray vertical — it represents the 16th division — and then collapse like a mad thing. There is no trick to this, just brute force and psycho-accuracy. You’re left with a one-sheet hyperboloidal spring that you can play tiddlywinks with. Or quarters, maybe.

Hey, you’ve got to do something with your dollars — you sure as hell can’t buy oil with them. Have a crease pattern.