If you stumbled upon this blog you might be asking yourself, "why the hell is it called origamifolder when the guy never talks about folding paper"? Well hypothetical visitor, funny you should ask that. I do indeed fold paper in the traditional (and modern) style of the Japanese art of Origami. While it is less frequent now at one point I was quite a fanatic.
When my first born son arrived we didn't have much money to decorate his room so one day when I was at the library I saw a display of art books. Among them was an introductory paper craft hardcover that looked to have been minted in the 50s. The images were simple but clear enough to follow so I grabbed it and threw it into the pile with the stack of Sci-Fi books I had (I'm a big fan of Clifford Simak). At home I didn't have any square paper so I used a pair of scissors to approximate one from a piece of copy paper. I quickly learned that being precise was necessary for success with this art form.
I worked my way through the book of cranes, small boxes, flowers, boats, frogs, fish and the like. I then returned that book and got another eventually working my way through the available copies at my local branch. That Christmas in a gift exchange with my extended family my cousin Jackie got me a Page-A-Day origami calendar. Each day a new model was reveled and you used the previous sheet to fold it. Throughout the year the models got more complex. Some I would skip because I was busy or couldn't figure it out but it introduced me to a lot of variety.
One night when tucking Dave in for bed he looked around his room at the paper dangling from fishing wire or propped up on his shelves and asked me for a dinosaur. I told him I would try and kissed him on the head before returning to the kitchen. That's when I remembered a model for a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton in one of the books I had. Using the extra paper I had from the calendar I tried my hand at it. Being a modular piece there were lots of models to fold that would be combined to make the final product. Unfortunately the paper I had was rather small and different colors so it didn't look very good and I soon aborted.
At this point I got on eBay and ordered paper designed specifically for origami models. It was dual colored with white on one side and various pastels on the other. For the skeleton look I used them all inverted with the matte white side out and the colors inside. As a result of the diagrams some of the color could still be seen but when I presented it to Dave he didn't seem to mind. That dinosaur didn't last very long in a little kids room though and I never even got a chance to take a picture of it (this image is a similar one I found on the internet). The sense of accomplishment though led me to try more and more complex pieces.
When it came time to be a geocacher I began with a name easy to sign (DHW2) but only a few hundred finds in I came to my senses and took up a moniker that I felt was unique and fitting of my other passion. I leave origami cranes in caches as my personal calling card and have made a few puzzles around the theme.
Over the years my collection of origami books has grown significantly and all though I have made countless pieces I tend to give them all away. Sometimes I am smart enough to snap a photo but in my possession is really just a few that live in my office. All the same OrigamiFolder has become my name with geocaching, Pokémon Go, D&D, in video games and more. Who knows I might get around to posting origami specific details on here some day. I do have a few basic videos on my YouTube channel.
9/1/2021
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