When I was a little, little kid, I remember Jack & Jill magazine had a page of little flowers to cut out, and to use the sharp edge of the scissor to curl the petals (mom, of course, did all those parts); then you put it in a bowl of water, and the petals would unroll like the one towards the end of the video. It was one of the coolest things ever, which is probably one of the few things I remember from my preschool years. posted by AzraelBrown at 8:20 AM on May 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
Neat. Very soothing. I wish there was a latenight cable show of this sort of thing with some soft piano music I could fall asleep to. posted by Gator at 8:34 AM on May 16, 2011
Nice find.... thanks. posted by tomswift at 8:46 AM on May 16, 2011
And in the category of "art that destroys itself"...
This was so much fun to watch. I'm bookmarking this as a future midmorning meditation aid. posted by gillyflower at 8:51 AM on May 16, 2011
That's great! Etienne must have great eyes to make those tiny things. posted by Mister_A at 8:55 AM on May 16, 2011
I feel like I'm going to hyperventilate. posted by aramaic at 9:21 AM on May 16, 2011
well technically since these all involve cut paper they are not correctly termed "Origami" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origami posted by mary8nne at 9:23 AM on May 16, 2011 [2 favorites]
So true, it is exquisite. Love the pace of the opening, the delicacy. Really lovely.
This Flotille one reminds me a little of those Japanese clam shell toys that I used to drop into water as a kid and watch the shells open with paper flowers inside that bloomed or those blooming tea things that seem to be popular these days. posted by nickyskye at 9:56 AM on May 16, 2011
This rules.
(There's no sound...right? Or did my sound system conk out?) posted by DU at 10:17 AM on May 16, 2011
Really cool diffraction effects on the last couple. And did anyone else notice the water level gets lower and lower? posted by DU at 10:29 AM on May 16, 2011
I wonder if you could paint parts of the paper with some kind of hydrophobic substance to manipulate the degree of unfolding. posted by rhizome at 10:56 AM on May 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
Deeply, deeply cool. Thank you! (And DU: I don't think there's sound since I wasn't hearing anything either.) posted by dendritejungle at 11:58 AM on May 16, 2011
Elegant and lovely. Thank you. posted by k8oglyph at 12:25 PM on May 16, 2011
posted by AzraelBrown at 8:20 AM on May 16, 2011 [2 favorites]