Fold a better samurai

January 19, 2021 5:43 PM

Artist Spends 3 Months Planning and Folding Origami Samurai From a Single Sheet of Paper - "You can see how each of the parts develop in the folding process."
posted by kliuless (17 comments total)

The process pictures have a very strong "now draw the rest of the owl" quality.
posted by jedicus at 5:57 PM on January 19, 2021 [15 favorites]

Incredible!
posted by darkstar at 5:58 PM on January 19, 2021

I love that a) the figure is asymmetrical--it shouldn't surprise me that high-level origami includes asymmetrical figures, I just can't remember ever seeing one--and b) that he uses binder clips as part of his process.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:00 PM on January 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

....but....HOW? I don't mean, how do you make it but how do you design something like that? That's amazing work right there.

And becaise I can't help but joke: so how many times did he fold the katana?
posted by NotTheRedBaron at 6:06 PM on January 19, 2021 [14 favorites]

That is absolutely insane, and is a pure wonderment. I can't imagine how one approaches doing that without instructions. Or even WITH instructions, really. Thanks so much for posting!

Wow!
posted by hippybear at 6:29 PM on January 19, 2021

This is basically the 3D equivalent of those people who can make exact replicas of famous paintings on an Etch-a-Sketch. In other words, inconceivably awesome!
posted by Atom Eyes at 6:50 PM on January 19, 2021

Oooooohhhhh I’ve wasted my life.
posted by aramaic at 6:57 PM on January 19, 2021

I can’t understand it but I love it.
posted by PussKillian at 7:10 PM on January 19, 2021

....but....HOW?


Robert Lang has a book on the subject (and some helpful software), though it doesn't get quite this advanced.
posted by eruonna at 7:15 PM on January 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

The artist, Juho Könkkölä, has a reddit account. He posted this a few days ago and answered several questions about the process. He also posted some of his other work there.
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 7:32 PM on January 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

I'm looking at that reddit thread now and he mentions his instagram and HOLY CRAP
posted by NotTheRedBaron at 7:37 PM on January 19, 2021 [6 favorites]

eruonna's link above appears to be broken, so here are Robert Lang's books.

I was gifted Origami Design Secrets when I was a teen and into origami and... it was way over my head, but very cool all the same. The article's brief description of Könkkölä's process (carefully pre-crease, then spend lots of time shaping) sounds like what I remember of the method Lang described. I think Lang's process involved custom software at times, but also relied on an understanding of how various base folds and crease patterns form certain shapes, and then applying those patterns to subsections of the paper, and sub-sub-sections, etc. to develop first the general form and then the specific details of a model.
posted by sibilatorix at 8:27 PM on January 19, 2021 [5 favorites]

But...I thought a true samurai would rather die than fold!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:55 PM on January 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I don't think it's good to think a samurai would participate in a gambling game.
posted by hippybear at 10:12 PM on January 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Gob is thoroughly smacked.
posted by pompomtom at 1:11 AM on January 20, 2021

Stunning! Thanks for posting, kliuless.
posted by Avalow at 2:24 AM on January 20, 2021

Since childhood I’ve had Lang’s insects book, inscrutable now as then. I just don’t think I’m wired that way, though I will readily admit I haven’t spent a lot of time applying myself to the technique. Jeremy Shafer is more up my alley.

That samurai though—WOW!
posted by maniabug at 11:42 AM on January 21, 2021