Origami Reversion
Mirriam-Webster defines reversion as "an act or instance of turning the opposite way." So while origami is often about folding paper to represent an object, Origami Reversion would be about reconstructing the object from the origami. It's kind of like how archeologists create dinosaur models from old bones.
I'm making this up, by the way. But it's what I've been exploring in my studio these past months, and having too much fun with it not to share. I started with an origami giraffe folded from a 9 foot x 9 foot square. I forgot to photograph it, but it looked pretty much like this floppy giraffe. At 5-1/2 feet tall, it would never stand on its own.
I added some masking tape to hold it together, some metal tubes to help it stand, and some stuffing to flesh it out. After that, I needed to make it sturdier, so I layered on an exoskeleton using fiberglass casting tape, essentially creating a reasonably sturdy armature or framework for a sculpture.
Then I added cement. Actually, I did this several times as I learned about different types of mortar and concrete. Each has a different texture, hardness, and curing time. I also needed to figure out how thick the cement "frosting" needed to be so that it wouldn't crack like an egg shell with the smallest movement (learned that the hard way) and didn't look too clunky like a mud figurine (learned that the hard way too) or weigh so much that the finished piece would forever stay right where it was made. There was a time when I really wasn't sure Giraffe would make it out of my studio. The project took enough perseverance to complete that my canine partner lost interest, but loyalty kept her with me at my studio providing moral support in slumber.
I needed to add a base in order to create more balance for the piece. In the final stage, I added some color and voila! Something resembling a giraffe based on an origami!
Did I learn anything about origami design from this exercise? Yes! Using origami as an armature for sculpture is a way of seeing the proportion and balance of the origami design.
Separate from that, it was just fun!! And another way of creating large-scale origami-based sculptures.
One year later: Here are a few more cement sculptures I've made using origami as my armature.
