Friday, April 01, 2011

“Sculptural Origami”--published!





At last! my little book is now seeing the light of day.

("Sculptural Origami" is available on Amazon, sometimes with a different image depicted as the cover by mistake.)

Equally parts coffee-table art book, and hands-on, get your fingers twitching model and sculpture-making guide, there's a text, and there's a DVD, covering three of the four main branches of origami that I've been exploring in recent years:
  • FACES
  • ANIMALS
  • CURVES


I didn't want this to be just an “instructional manual” (= origami diagrams book) but even so instruction, that is, constructing-guiding-demonstrating-suggesting-directing-cajoling-provoking-leadingbyexample (with lots of hand movements) is very much the essence of this book, because it's very much the essence of origami.

So there are diagrams & step-by-step guides in both book and DVD, and there is some fancy talk, but the sculpture images are what's really meant to linger in your mind.



I give away probably the two most important secrets for how I make my faces. The DVD shows both basic concepts and one complete project for making a head. The text also shows how to relate faces to busts. Most of the rest you should be able to figure out for yourselves, by exploring.

Among the animals taught is my Horse, both standing and grazing postures. Your author humbly suggests that this model alone is worth the purchase of the book.

A few other animals diagrammed or DVD'd are pictured below. All are pure origami from one square, but none of the models is "complex".



Some extremely basic curve-folding ideas, easy enough to state informally, give rise immediately to striking and unexpected origami/geometric consequences. So, this book should interest also those of you who like to think about math.




The publisher worked hard on this book, and had to put up with my rants, raves and overall terror at having zero artistic control. But I have to admit, in the end it came out a handsome product. Thank you Dover.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Saadya