




From: brad@x.x
Date: Mon May 23 17:08:38 1988
Subject: origami adminstrivia

Welcome to the origami mailing list.  There's lots of origami related
stuff we can talk about, but this letter doesn't contain any of it.
We'll get the administrivia out of the way, and my next letter will
get us started on the real fun.

So far we have a total of five people on this list, so given this
small number, I propose the following procedure.  Every member of the
mailing list is responsible for keeping a mail alias (or explicit list
-- however you want to do it) of all of the other members on the list.
The firs list is at the end of this message.  All mail will be
directed to everyone (let's try to avoid private conversations.  They
invariably get referenced publically, and then everyone is confused).
At regular intervals (say, once a month) I'll send out an updated
list.  In the meantime, anyone who wants to join can do so by sending
a request to me.  I will pass all list traffic on to new members, and
all new members's postings on to the list until the next update.  This
seems like a reasonable way of keeping traffic to a minimum without
constantly calling for alias updates or forcing new members to wait
for the next update.  From this it's probably obvious that I've never
run a mailing list before, so if anyone has a better suggestion, I'd
love to hear it.

Speaking of new members, I am also open to suggestions for places to
recruit other origami devotees.  My origianl posting was to rec.misc
and soc.culture.japan.  I don't know which group ya'll saw it on, or
if it was pointed out to you by a friend.  In any event, I think it
would be a good idea to do another posting.  The groups I have in mind
for this second round are ut.general (U. Texas campuses), misc.misc
(why not?), misc.wanted (again, why not?), and the newly created
alt.sca (since they might be into this sort of thing).  If anyone has
other suggestions for semi-appropriate newsgroups (soc.misc, maybe?
talk.bizarre?) the let me know.  If anyone thinks it might be a good
idea to send a notice around your site/campus, go ahead and have
interested parties send me some mail.

Email may be somthing of a problem in the coming months, since the
arpa net is going away from this neck of the woods.  Anyone using uucp
links shouldn't notice any problems, but given the massive shakeup
that's about to happen, I wouldn't bet heavily on that.  The local
sysgods are working hard to keep us connected and have assured us that
we will stay that way.  I imagine we will, but there may be a glitch
or two during the summer so keep trying.  Interestingly enough, all
the mail I received seems to have come via the arpa net (or at least
from the edu domain).  The list is in this format; I assume ya'll can
find your own routings if the addresses don't work for you.  If you
need help, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

I will be keeping archives of the traffic, although I don't expect it
to be that big of a deal.  Email is pretty obviously an inappropriate
medium for trading folds (I can just see it: "Take the right angle of
the triangle that was produced by the blintz fold in step 3 and fold
it to the middle of the top edge produced by the second squish fold in
step 6."  Right).  Therefore, it might be a good idea for everyone to
post their SnailMail address, and we can just assume we're going to
spend a little on xeroxing and postage.  We might also consider making
SnailMailings by request only (not everyone will be interested in
every fold).  For trading some of the simpler folds/techniques (which
covers all of my original stuff), we could just send examples around.
If the work happens to be a modification of some published work, we
can send an example and a reference.

I guess that's enough to keep us running for a while.  As I mentioned,
the first list is at the end, and the first real posting follows.

Take care,
brad

Email Address:                                  Name:
-------------                                   ----
brad@cs.utexas.edu                              Brad Blumenthal
lavin@athena.mit.edu                            Anne R. LaVin
bkc@omnigate.clarkson.edu                       Brad Clements
Kevin.Knight@f.gp.cs.cmu.edu                    Kevin Knight
shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu                       Maverick

To get the Snail Mail list started, mine is

Brad Blumenthal
4601-A Avenue H
Austin, TX  78751





From: brad@x.x
Date: Mon May 23 17:09:18 1988
Subject: so, let's get started....

Greetings,

One of the more popular topic suggestions that almost everyone
mentioned was an origami bibliography.  Since many of us seem to be
folding mostly from books, this sounds like a good way of finding out
what's out there.  So, here's my list to get things going.

Origami for the Connoisseur,  Kunihiko Kasahara, Toshie Takahama
  Japan Publications via Harper & Row.  March 1987.
This is a great book with a nice mix of commentary, folds, and even
some theory.  The folds range from fairly easy (not quite beginner
level) to pretty difficult.  Most of the folds produce *very* nice
artifacts.  There is also some discussion of how to divide paper into
various odd numbers of equal sizes and some theory as to why it works.
There is a mention of Kawasaki's theorem (did I get that right?) which
relates angles of folds to number of resulting points.  Folds include
a number of solid geometric shapes, seashells, flowers, dinosaurs,
boxes, etc.  There is also a section on modules.

Complete Origami  Eric Kenneway  St. Martin's Press 1987 (c) the estate of EK.
  first published in Britain by Ebony Press.
I just got this one a week ago.  This is more of an encyclopedia than
a book of folds, although it contains a large number of folds as well.
Lots of interesting tidbits, from how to fold a calling card to the
origin of "Noshi" (Japanese gift decorations).  This book is more for
reading than for folding from; it's got a number of articles on
various origami masters, various traditions, and also addresses for
various organizations (anyone belong to any?)  Folds includes some
tissue papaer folds, a jack-in-the-box, a couple of hearts, and some
of the more traditional boxes, birds, etc.

Origami for the Enthusiast John Montroll Dover Publications, 1979
Montroll has some of the most unbelievable folds I've ever come up
against.  Whenever I do something of his, I constantly ask myself,
"*Where* did he come up with *this* one?"  Once you get the hang of
them they're not that hard, but they still amaze me.  This is a book
of strictly folds at the intermediate to advanceed level and includes
several examples of fish, birds, mammals, rodents, and bugs (always
dear to computer scientists.  For luck, I have several bugs guarding
my computers, and an elephant guarding the SCSI connector on my hard
disk :-).  It also has a pegasus fold.

Origami:  The Art of Paper Folding,  Robert Harbin
This is a kiddie book that I checked out of the library here.  There
were maybe six folds in here that I really cared for; the rest were
not that inspiring.  I mention this because Harbin was a fairly
prolofic publisher of origami books, including one called *Origami
Magic* which is mentioned as an advanced book in *Complete Origami.*

Japan's Creative Origami, Toyaki Kawkai.
My first origami book.  This is a little pocket book that has both
traditional and creative origami.  Most of the folds are fairly
simple, but some of them are rather challenging, and many of them are
either very attractive, very useful (boxes and such), or very
traditional (traditional crane, eagle, etc).  It's surprisingly good
for an introductory book.

Origami Ominbus, Kunihiko Kasahara.
This is a brand new book that just appeared on the shelves down here.
This is the same author as Origami for the Connoisseur.  It is *large*
volume with a lot of folds, and a fair amount of discussion of
technique and theory.  I don't own this one (yet), but it has a large
collection of dinosaurs, geometric shapes (including a soccer ball),
and various animals.

Hope this gets us started.....

Take care,
brad

(brad@cs.utexas.edu)





Date: Tue May 24 09:01:19 1988
From: bkc@omnigate.clarkson.edu
Subject:  Re:  origami adminstrivia

Hi everyone,

The concept of Emailing folds is interesting.

As far as mailing lists go, I can set up a 'real' email list here at
clarkson that folks can mail to for automatic re-distribution.
Its no trouble at all and it would save everyone having to update their
local aliases. If there is any interest, I'll set it up.

Brad, I can set up the list so that requests for subscription go to you
automatically, etc.

Anyway, for SnailMail addresses, here's mine:

	Brad Clements
	P.O. Box 631
	Potsdam, NY 13676

btw: I live in a very small town, where obtaining proper paper is nigh to
impossible, does anyone know of, get this, mail order firms for origami paper
or other art supplies?

Thanks

Brad Clements





From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Date: Tue May 24 14:08:01 1988
Subject: Re:  origami adminstrivia

Brad,

Well, I just had a *long* talk with the local sysgods, and the upshot is
that we may be able to set something up here when our new mailer software
is installed about three weeks from now.  It doesn't make much sense to
try to do anything here before then, since it will be invalidated by the
new software (i.e. /usr/lib/aliases, as such, is going away).  I appreciate
your offer, but I'd like to try to maintain this sucker from here.  However,
if I still can't set something like this up after our new software is in
(about the time of our first scheduled update), then I'll take you up on it,
and we can make a real mailing list.  Thanks.

Take care,
brad





From: Kevin.Knight@f.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Tue, 24 May 88 23:54:56 EDT
Subject: Taken into the fold

Origami-folks:

	My USMail address is:
		Kevin Knight, 3604 Pinnacle Road, Austin, TX, 78746
	(This will change on September 12th when I get out of the sun).

	I'm looking forward to getting some new books suggested in the
bibliography ... it would be nice if the bibliography contained useful comments
by the peron who's used the book most.
	Some other topics I can think of, although I might not have things to
say about all of them, are:

	1) Improvisation
	2) Memorization
	3) Realism v. Abstractness
	4) "Key features of objects"

	On (4), it seems that a piece of origami is effective mostly when it
captures a SINGLE feature of what it is trying to model.  More general
folds that try to capture a whole set of features don't seem to come out
as well.  Examples are hard to give in ASCII ...
	On (3), flowers can be VERY realistic if done right, with good colors.
Fool your friends!
	If there were some "code" for origami, that would be very nice: we
could send folds via E-mail, and we could also write computer simulations
that would do folds on a color screen to a degree infeasible with real
paper (which unfortunately thickness!).
	Anyway, these are pretty random thoughts ... catch you later.

		Kevin





From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Date: Fri May 27 16:44:55 1988
Subject: addresses and discussions

Well, we're starting out slow but steady....

Re: Brad and finding paper -- I don't know of any mail order origami
suppliers, but I'm pretty sure there are some craft magazines we could
look in the back of.  I'll check next time I'm at our local
mega-bookstore.  In the meantime, here are the addresses of a couple
of American origami societies (or at least the ones given in _Complete
Origami_):

Friends of the Origami Center of America
c/o Michael Stall
15 West 77th Street
New York, NY  10024

West Coast Origami Guild
c/o Robert Lang
P.O. Box 90601
Pasadena, CA  91109

I've been meaning to write to these folks and see about joining; now
that I'm motivated, I'll try to get to it this weekend and pass on
whatever I get.  In any event, they might have some pointers to paper
sources.  In particular, I have seen some pictures of origami done
with almost clear celephane that seems to hold a crese, and I'd love
to get hold of some of that.

Re: Kevin's posting -- I hope my bibliography got out (I assume so,
since it didn't bounce).

You bring up some interesting points for discussion.

On improvisation: I've just started to create some of my own folds,
and only one of those is even close to being totally original (and I
had to cheat (er, cut) a little to get that one to come out).  The
other two (three if you count minor variations), have been
modifications of other folds which had most of the features I wanted.
In one case, I modified a common paper plane to look more like the
SST, and in another, I modified Peter Engel's kangaroo to look like a
couple of different dinosaurs (e.g. T. Rex).  I think a key
prerequisite to doing improvisation is to know a lot of folds to begin
with.  The nose wheel of the SST came from a fold I learned doing a
whale's tail.  It's only now, after folding for a couple of years,
that I know enough folds to begin to see alternate ways of folding
things, or ways of achieving different shapes.  I'm still not very
good at it, but I am enjoying the puzzle-like qualities of the
process.  The goal is to produce a particular shape from a given
starting state, and the legal moves are all the folds you have
experience with.  The more different folds I find in books, the more
legal moves I have available.  One day I hope to have my zen finely
honed enough to be able to come up with new folds, but until then,
I'll keep trying new folds out of books (which is one reason why I'm
eager to see everyone else's bibliographies).

Memorization is an interesting issue.  Since much of origami is very
repetitive, I haven't found it very hard to memorize most folds (e.g.
when you repeat one feature four times, it's easy to remember it the
next time you try that fold).  When I have trouble, it's usually with
one "key step" that is only done once in a fold, and is a bridge
between one set of obvious or repetitve folds and another.  Since the
final form of the thing is memorable, it is easy to keep the goal in
mind.  Much of the time I find that I can only remember steps in the
context of particular fold (sort of like navigation in Boston, i.e. I
can show you how to get there but I can't give directions).

On realism vs. abstractness and "key features", I agree that flowers
can be *very* realistic.  I made a yellow rose (the one in _Origami
for the Conniseur_) for a gift to the hostess of a dinner party I went
to last weekend, and one of the other guests remarked that he had
thought it was real when he first looked at it.  I disagree, however,
that the most effective origami captures just one feature.  This is
often true of traditional origami, which tends to be very simple and
two-dimensional, but I find some of the modern creations, such as
Montroll's work, to be both very detailed and very realistic (e.g. his
bugs).

As for computer codes, there may be some out there.  Again from
_Complete Origami_, "...in 1971.  Arthur Appel, under the direction of
the IBM World Trade Corporation's art director Bob Salpeter,
programmed an IBM System 360 (!) Model 91 computer to print out simple
geometric configurations at the rate of more than one hundred a
minute.  Ninety percent were considered unsuccessful, but the
remainder were folded...."  Anyone think they can track down a
reference?  Surely, they had some representation for folds....

Let's keep those bibliographies coming.

Yours from the fold,
brad





From: bkc@omnigate.clarkson.edu
Date:     Wed, 1 Jun 88 10:07:58 EDT
Subject:  Re:  addresses and discussions

This may sound strange but, on the topic of exchanging folds via E-mail,
does everyone have access to PostScript laser printers, such as the
Apple laserwriter, QMS PS-800 etc?

I hate to mix work (computers) and hobbies (origami) but if an easy, useful
method were found to describe the folds in an algorthymic way, then a program
could be written to print the fold diagrams on paper.

Of course, that is assuming that it would be useful to send folds by E-mail, and
that users wouldn't have to spend days learning how to describe folds to
the program.

Just a thought, I ask only because one of my major duties is writing PostScript
programs and I have run accross a similar (albiet different) problem to this one
and have been able to solve it nicely.

Brad Clements





From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Date: Wed Jun  1 10:16:42 1988
Subject: Re:  addresses and discussions

On folds by email:  Now there's an idea, Brad.  I hadn't thought about
exchanging graphics.  We've got laserwriters out the waz here at UT, and
a MacDraw like program that can produce LaTeX semi-compatile output (putting
it into a LaTeX file is idiosyncratic, but algorithmic).  Speaking of Macs,
how many folks have access to one?  Drawing things up in MacDraw and passing
them around in BinHex format would be a lot easier than typing in PostScript
text.  Now if I just had something worth passing around.

I guess one reservation I have about passing folds around, even graphically,
is that I have never tried my hand at drawing/writing instructions for
folds.  It doesn't seem like it should be that hard, but I'm not very good
at drawing.  Has anyone else tried this?

Another address for ordering paper is
Charles E. Tutle Company
Rutland, Vermont

I don't have anyting more specific, but how big can Rutland, VT be?
This is from the back of a pack of paper I got at a bookstore here:
Origami Paper-Folding Packets
(a) 46 squares of special Japanese origami paper, 6" x 6" in 23 different
    solid colors [This describes the pack I have, and it includes one
    piece of silver foil, one piece of gold foil, and two each of a bunch
    of colors]
(b) 100 squares ... in different sizes from 3.5" x 3.5" to 8.25" x 8.25"
    in 24 solid colors, four different patterns [you can parse it that one
    four yourself :-)].
(c) 132 squares ... from 4.5" x 4.5" to 9.5" x 9.5" in assorted colors and
    patterned papers

Order paper and books from: [and then it gives the address above].

They have some books listed, but they seem to be very intro-level type
stuff.  The ABC's of Origami: Paper Folding for Children (Claude
Sarasas) is described as a "classic."  It has 26 folds, one for each
letter of the alphabet.  Origami: Japanese Paper Folding - Books 1,2,
and 3 (Florence Sakade) looks like basic intro stuff ("32 pages and
over 100 ... diagrams").  Finally, Origami in the Classroom -- Books 1
and 2 (Chiyo Araki) has/have folds "inspired by popular holidays"
which are also graded for age level.

Happy folding,
brad





From: lavin@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Subject: folds via Email, etc
Date: Wed, 01 Jun 88 13:25:08 EDT

well, I've done a fair amount of drafting and drawing, and have even
tried drawing directions for origami folds, and it's pretty difficult.
(For me, at least.  maybe my brain doesn't work the right way.)

The main problem seems to be that you have to get the picture
geometrically correct in terms of proportions and angles or it's not
really a very useful picture.  I don't know how other people follow
origami instructions, but I do a lot of "does my piece of paper look
like the one in the picture?" when getting proportions and things that
are not easy fractions of existing folds, or even just to figure out
what a cryptic instruction meant.  So if the drawing isn't quite right,
the it can be misleading or just useless.

Maybe there's a clever way to represent a folded piece of paper.  How
could you set up logic to draw, say, an unfolded paper, and then the
shape that resulted from folding one corner into the center?  The new
shape would no longer have the same number of vertices, the part that
was folded over might be of a different color, etc.  Possibly that
could be solved, but what about the fold that you have to do for the
crane?  (the one where you tuck things inside and then flatten into the
"crane base" or whatever you call it)  For an advanced folder you could
just show the end result, but this is a well known fold.  What if you
had some new fold that involved a 3-d move?

I'm not trying to convince us not to TRY this, it sure is a neat
problem.  I'm just thinking out loud.  Maybe "end result" type drawings
coupled with a longish written descriptions would work for folders to
share with fellow folders...

maybe I'll go and try to draw some folds and see how my brain does it,
and see if there's any kind of algorithm for it.  Or at least a nice
representation for a folded piece of paper.

other stuff:

I could get access to a Mac if I needed it.

Rutland VT is reasonable large, actually.  But VT postmasters are
notoriously lenient, so it would probably get there anyway.

On the subject of paper:  I am a paper freak.  American paper is
completely horrible compared to most Japanese paper.  Well...that's a
bit too far reaching a statement, sorry.  What I mean is, the regular
old "origami paper" that they sell in Japan is LOTS nicer than most
stuff I can find here that's sold as origami paper.  If you go into an
art store and buy nice art paper, you can get some wonderful effects,
but that's a different issue.

In general, I think, we do not have the same set of aesthetics as the
Japanese when it comes to paper.  So I scrounge around a lot for real
Japanese paper.  The stuff is thicker than regular paper, and is
somewhat fibrous, a lot like so-called "rice paper" (most of it is
really made with mulberry bark) you can get in art stores.  It takes a
crease very crisply, however, and it just....feels good to fold.
Besides, it comes in all sorts of wonderful printed patterns.

I've found a few stores in the Boston area that sell this paper, and
whenever anybody I know goes to Japan I beg them to bring me paper...

any comments on paper, anybody?

oops, this has gotten kinda long.  sorry, I'm avoiding doing any REAL
work today.  now my head is full of origami thoughts.  so much for work.

anne





From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Date: Fri Jun  3 18:19:07 1988
Subject: Re:  folds via Email, etc

On drawings of folds: I agree with Anne that the appearance of the
pictures is *very* important for non-standard angles (e.g. what angle
the legs of an animal should make with the body at some intermediate
stage).  Truly three dimensional folds are *very* difficult to portray
(and I can visualize in three dimensions fairly well).  One of the
folds that I had the hardest time learning was just that: a move from
a virtually flat piece to a cylindrical shaped piece.  Ultimately, I
wound up just following the creases that had been set up and looking
ahead about two drawings.  I'm still not sure how one of the
intermediate folds is really supposed to work.  What *is* helpful is
to have the creases fully shown.  Often, I have figured out folds just
by making the creases and forcing the paper down along them.

Two things that I have always thought would be helpful are multiple
views and cut-aways.  By multiple views, I don't necessarily mean
front-side-top like drawings (although these might be helpful at
times), but a couple of angles showing the interesting folds would
often be nice.  Cut-away views would be especially helpful for
interior folds.  I imagine it as a series of drawings, each
representing the appearance with one more layer of paper removed.

Unfortunately, just showing shapes is not enough.  One origamian
(this, again, is from the Complete Origami) describes the components
of a fold as being "shape and surplus."  A square (shape) can be
unfolded (no surplus), blintz folded (2 layers), halved and quartered
(4 solid layers), or diagonally folded with two inside reverse folds
(oops, here we go with the impossiible descriptions.  I mean the
standard square base that the crane starts with.  Anyway it has four
layers, the inside two of which are halved).  There are a couple of
other ways to have a square, too ("water bomb base"- 8 layers) as well as
combinations (a blintz fold, halved and quartered).  Perhaps thinking
about a language for describing the thickness and shape of the surplus
will help us as well.

More on Paper: I'm not much of a paper aficionado, but since I started
folding origami, I've noticed it a lot more (although I've never found
anything that I really like for origami).  The best thing about the
origami paper I've bought so far is that it is *square* with clean
edges.  I ususally tear notepad paper for origami (I'm a disaster area
with scissors), and the ragged edge drives me nuts.  I have a paper
cutter now, so I've got a stack of modified notebook paper on my
coffee table for amusing myself during the comercials -- what a
luxury.  I'll have to check some art stores for "rice paper."  Where
in Boston do you go?  I'll be up there soon (next week) and would like
to look around.  One thing I've seen down here that might be fun for
something is seamless backdrop paper from a photography store.  It may
be a little thick (not quite as thick as construction paper, and a lot
smoother), but you can make a square from it about 4.5 feet on a side.
Might be fun to try to make a life sized animal of some sort.  Anyway....

Happy folding ya'll,
brad

P.S.  I sent mail to Gene Spafford (spaf@cs.purdue.edu) to see about
including us in the usenet list of mailing lists.  He is out of town
until the 8th (due to a death in the family), and I'm leaving on
the 8th (til the 15th).  We'll see what the story is by the middle
of June and figure out what to do to make this a real mailing list.

BBB





From: shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu (Maverick)
Date: Fri, 10 Jun 88 15:34:31 EDT
Subject: Re:  Hello?

All right.  Anyone with new folds of their own?  I myself just tried making myown six-point base, but the final creation was stillborn.

                           Mav.





From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Date: Thu Jun 30 14:57:19 1988
Subject: and away we go....

OK, we're back.

Administrivia: We will be setting up a true mailing list (assuming we
don't die of ennui) sometime in August or so; this is when all of our
net/mail/whatever software gets updated.

Society memberships: I got responses from both the Friends of the
Amercian Origami Society and the West Coast Origami Guild in about a
week.  I sent in my memberships ($20 for the FAOS, $5 for the WCOG),
but I haven't heard back yet (been over two weeks now).  The FAOS has
a list of origami stuff for sale that is unreal.  It includes about
30+ different kinds of paper as well as every book on origami that I
have ever seen even mentioned (including those referenced in this list
and in *Complete Origami*).  A lot of the paper is *real* Japaneese
paper, imported and everything.  Many of the books are imports as
well, from Japan, Italy, Spain, etc.  Members (i.e. Friends) get a 10%
discount on all orders as well as the magazine The Origamian.  The
advantage of the WCOG is that they have a "journal" of their meetings
that comes out about 4 times a year.  This is a little 15-20 page
pamphlet actually, but it typically includes three unpublished folds.
The one they sent me just for asking about the Guild included a tiger
by David Brill, and a couple of others by names I recognized.  It
looks like a worthwhile deal to be a member of both orginazations.

While I was in Boston, I picked up some "rice" paper (mostly mulberry
bark actually) from some of the art stores.  This stuff is wonderful
to fold with.  I also picked up some foil fairly cheap (the problem
with packaged paper is that they only give you one or two sheets of
foil), on the order of $1/20x30 sheet.  I haven't messed with this
much, but I imagine I will use it more when Xmas rolls around for tree
ornaments gifts and such.

In addition, while I was in Boston, I got the chance to meet Anne
(hi!) and we had a nice two hours taking up space at Au Bon Pain and
folding away.  I picked up several good tricks from this and highly
recommend folding with others whenever possible, especially if they're
as good as she is.

On different bases: I was going to bring this up anyway, Mav, but it's
not completely germane to what you were asking.  In Montroll's book
*Origami Animals for the Enthusiast* (which I just couldn't resist),
he gives folds for a *five* sided preliminary base.  It's just like
the four sided preliminary base that you do the crane from (the square
one before you start folding edges inside) but it has five flaps
instead of four (five-sided is misleading, the shape is still a
square).  From this, you can do anything you could do with the regular
preliminary base, but you have an extra flap to work with.  I've done
a couple of standard flowers with an extra petal, and Montroll does
the regular crane, except it has two legs and a very abbreviated tail.
(Montroll also does a starfish, which is a *five* pointed star -- kind
of mind blowing the first time you see it).

I came up with a semi-interesting variation on crane base by sinking
the short point, and then flattening it out.  It has some interesting
properties, but I'm not sure what to do with it.  This may be a good
time to play "Consequences."  This is like the game where someone
begins a story and you proceed around the room with everyone adding to
it.  I'll send someone my base (and Mav, you send yours to someone)
and we'll see what it looks like after it's gone around all five of
us.  Any volunteers?

Take care,
brad





From: shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu (Maverick)
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 88 14:08:49 EDT
Subject: Re:  and away we go....

Not a bad idea.  The base I've been experimenting with is a sunken bird base,
with the tops mountain-folded flush to the inside, front and back.  You wind
up with the normal bird base flaps, but now you have two new flexible points
to work with.  (I know.  A preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with.:-))

                                   Perfoming Papyriflorogenesis,
                                        Mav.





From: shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu (Maverick)
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 88 17:20:08 EDT
Subject: Origami.

With the beginning of a new semester I have added 5 folds to my repetoir.  I do
believe that I have finally figured out the stretched-double-bird base.  Its
final preliminary fold was confusing, but after the sacrifice of many pieces o'
paper, I got it right.  That base is really nice.

I also found that a sunken bird base with the top-side points folded in, still
gives 8 workable points.  4 large, 4 small.  I tend to call it a dragon-base.

NAME:  Steven Shoopak  (Maverick)      VOICE:  (201)932-3465
UUCP:  rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!shoopak ARPA:  shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu
US MAIL:

          "The bird.  You know, the finger."

                              - Goose.





Date: Wed, 4 Jan 89 15:06:26 CST
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Subject: Once again, we're back....

Happy New Year Fellow Folders,

Well, we've been pretty quiet here for a while, partly my fault.  I've
been struggling with the sysgods for a *long* time now, trying to get
a real mailing list mechanism set up, and they finally came through.
I kept putting off posting because I figured we would have the real
list Real Soon Now, but anyway....

Announcing the New And Improved Origami Mailing List.  Just like a
real Internet mailing list -- anything you want broadcast to all
members of the list should be sent to origami@cs.utexas.edu.
Administrative stuff, like adding or dropping subscriptions should be
sent to origami-request@cs.utexas.edu.

Now that this is for real, I'm going to send out some messages to the
various netgods so that we are listed in the list of lists, and I will
also post notices to a few selected newsgroups on the USENET.
Recommendations for appropriate groups are welcome.

Once again, I would like to encourage all of those who aren't yet
members of the Friends of the Origami Center of America to join.  The
address is:

Friends of the Origami Center of America
15 West 77th Street
New York, NY  10024-5192
Phone: (212) 769-5635

The benefits of membership are manifold: There are a number of
workshops each year and a monthly folding meeting, in addition to a
yearly convention.  They have a large selection of paper and books
available, and members get a 10% discount.  One of the members
(Michael Shall) organized an origami Xmas tree this year (gee, I guess
I should've mentioned that before.  Sorry!) with folds from all over.
In addition to containing new folds, the quarterly newsletter is a
good way of finding out what's going on in the origami world
(according to my membership card, there are over 2300 members, so
there is a fair amount going on).  I put a notice in the newsletter
about our mailing list and we have a couple of new members as a
result: Fred and Ellen Aronson of Long Beach, NY, and the ACM.  For
$25 (or is it $20?), membership is a real bargin.

On books:  Some of my best new books are the conference proceedings
from the last four years of the Origami Center's annual conferences.
The folds range from very simple to extremely complex and include,
much to my delight, an armadillo (one of the hardest folds I've ever
come across, but well worth the trouble).  Some of the folds are
unremarkable, but there are a number of real gems in these books, and
maybe the best thing is that they are ring bound so they *stay flat*
while you're working from them.

Another book that I got from the Center was a limited edition of
Robert Harbin's Origami 4.  Unfortunately they only had about two
dozen and there are no more left, but this one included a grand piano
by Particia Neal which is phenomenal.

Did anyone else give origami gifts for Xmas this year?  Kasahara's
origami roses (from _Origmai for the Connoisseur_) went over very well
with my mother, and my niece seemed to enjoy her bird mobile (but who
can tell with a one-year-old :-).

I'll leave off here although there's still lots to talk about.  I'll
add one last thing beolow: our current list of members and addresses.

Happy New Year and Happy Folding.

Take care,
brad

brad@cs.utexas.edu
Brad Blumenthal
4601-A Avenue H
Austin, TX  78751

lavin@athena.mit.edu
Anne R. LaVin
MIT Aero & Astro
(617) 253-0911
(Anne, How about a SnailMail address? --BBB)

bkc@omnigate.clarkson.edu
Brad Clements
P.O. Box 631
Potsdam, NY 13676

Kevin.Knight@f.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Kevin Knight
3604 Pinnacle Road
Austin, TX, 78746
(This is Kevin's folks's place.  You got a Pitt. address, Kevin? --BBB)

shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu
Maverick (Steve Shoopak)
RD 175 Farm Rd.
Chester N.J. 07930

FREDA%ACMVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Fred (and Ellen) Aronson
604 E. Walnut Street
Long Beach, NY 11561
(212) 869-7440  Fred's office
(516) 431-9374  Home





Date:     Tue, 10 Jan 89 11:14 EDT
From: <RROOS%SMITH.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>

Distribution-File:
        origami@cs.utexas.edu

Just read the archive of the "origami" newsgroup.  I read about
it in the Newsletter of the Friends of the Origami Center of
America (FOCA).

Administrivia:

   Bob Roos
   rroos@smith.bitnet

   Dept. of Computer Science
   36 Stoddard Hall             (office)
   Smith College
   Northampton, MA  01063
   (413) 585-3878

   94 State St.
   Northampton, MA  01060       (home)
   (413) 584-4104

Other relevant facts:  I can print PostScript files on a QMS
something-or-other laser printer.  For any of you with Sun
Workstations, there is a public-domain program called "graphedit"
that consists of a mouse-based drawing tool capable of creating
PostScript files.  It's not great, but it's something.  I've
done several figures (not folding directions) using it, and it's
not bad if you are a very patient person.  It supports dashed and
dot-dash lines, which is nice.
Anyway, it seems that PostScript is a good way to exchange folding
directions for anyone who has access to such a drawing tool.

There are many people (myself NOT among them) who have experimented
extensively with computer-aided origami diagrams.  James Sakoda
(author of _Modern Origami_, out of print in English but still
available in some foreign translations) uses a Mac and has produced
very nice diagrams, some of which are shown in recent Conference
proceedings from FOCA.  I understand that John Montroll is producing
his next book using computer-generated diagrams (the book is about
two years overdue--I sent for it sometime in 1987).  I did make
one attempt, using MacDraw, to diagram an original model (a house
with chimney), but I no longer have access to a Mac.

Other stuff--I am a member of FOCA and the British Origami Society.
If you join FOCA, don't hold your breath waiting for the next issue
of _The Origamian_.  I haven't received one in several years.  But
they publish a very nice, juicy, informative newsletter that has
more or less taken the place of the _Origamian_.  In fact, I don't
even know if the _Origamian_ is mentioned in recent FOCA membership
literature.  The BOS publishes a bimonthly magazine called _British
Origami_ that is also very nice, but I think the FOCA newsletter is
more useful to folders in the US.

I also belong to an origami "amateur press alliance" called FOLD.
Every two months, members mail their contributions (min. 2 pages)
to an "editor", who collates, staples, and mails them to everyone.
We're currently over-subscribed, so there are no vacancies, but
there's no reason why somebody can't start another one.  Perhaps
we have the seeds of a new one in this newsgroup?

That's all for now--Bob





Date: Thu, 26 Jan 89 00:35:19 CST
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Subject: FOCA Folding Fund Fest -- 11 February

Fellow Folders,

I got this a couple of days ago from the Friends of the Origami Center
of America (postmarked 18 January).

There's going to be a Folding Fund Fest in New York on 11 February.
22 different sessions during two time slots -- morning and afternoon.
Everything from simple paper airplanes to some new John Montroll folds
taught by the creator himself.  Apparently this is a fund raiser, but
the cost of the sessions is pretty reasonable (~ $10 for members, $15
for non-members).  The address for registration is

Folding Fund Fest 1
The Friends ofthe Origami Center of America
15 West 77th Street
New York, NY  10024-5192
att: FFF Registrar

The sessions are:

Simple-Morning
--------------
Simple but Tricky Bob Neale Models -- Lillian Oppenheimer  $10 / $15
Airplanes Airplanes Airplanes  -- Bob Voelker    $10 / $15
Cooperative Origami -- Lin Balinsky  $10 / $15

Simple-Afternoon
----------------
Hearts and Flowers for Valentine's Day  -- Kathleen O'Regan  $10 / $15
Simple Traditional Japanese Origami for Children (4-10) -- Kyoko Kondo
                                                    $10 / $15
Simple Geometrics for Kids of All Ages -- Bob Voelker  $10 / $15

Intermediate-Morning
--------------------
Valentine -- Jean Baden-Gillete   $10 / $15
Snake -- Mark Kennedy  $12 / $17
Origami Earrings -- Alice Gray  $15 / $20
Rabbi, Torah Scroll & Simple Star of David -- Gay Merrill Gross $10 / $15
$$$ Fold Fold Fold  -- Jan Polish $10 / $15

Intermidiate-Afternoon
----------------------
Toshies Jewel (Modular) Multifaceted Ball  -- Don Sigal $10 / $15
Origami Earrings (Different from morning) -- Alice Gray $15 /$20
Traditional Umbrella (by Toshie Takahama) -- Jan Polish $10 / $15
More Money Money Money - Rose, Cat, & Dog -- Roz Joyce $10 / $15

Complex-Morning
---------------
Barracuda  -- John Montroll  $10 / $15
Lobster  -- Marc Kirschenbaum  $10 / $15
Baby Buggy -- Michael Shall  $10 / $15

Complex-Afternoon
-----------------
Peacock -- Mark Kennedy $12 / $17
Chess Set -- Doug Caine  $10 / $15
Two Ways to Fold Fred Rohm;s Star of David -- Tony Chen  $10 / $15
Sail Fish -- John Montroll $10 / $15

Is anyone going?  If so, I would dearly like to find out how I can get
the instructions for folding  Doug Caine's chess set.  The mailing
says that some of the instructions can't be published because of
copyright conflicts, but it doesn't say which can and which can't.  I
sent to the Friends mail order place for two different sets of
instructions for chess sets and they told me that one was no longer
available, and the other was backordered (this was last September -- I
still haven't heard.  There were really good about getting the rest of
the stuff to me though).

Happy Folding,
brad





Date: Thu, 26 Jan 89 10:30:23 EST
From: shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu (Maverick)
Subject: Re:  FOCA Folding Fund Fest -- 11 February

I would definately like to go.  I have always wanted to see a chess set, and
now I guess is the perfect opportunity.

I once tried to make pieces, but it was a total disaster.

                            fold
                            o  l
                            l  o
                            dlof

                                      ,  mav





Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 10:53:11 CST
From: Al Boehnlein (brad@cs.utexas.edu)

My name is Al Boehnlein, and I am an engineer at Michigan.  I have
just been reintroduced to origami via a share-ware basic program
by George Furiya, and would like to know a little more.  In the
past, I had tried, and failed at origami using a book.  I found
the origami program to be much better at illustrating the folds
than any book.  My wife and I made a few of the basic figures
and enjoyed it, so.... here I am.

Albert Boehnlein
9099 Ascot
Ypsilanti MI 48198

Work: 313-769-4112
Home: 313-483-3098

As far as archives, is there an ftp anonymous account?  If you
don't have the origami program, I could uuencode it and send it
to you.  It requires basic.

ajb





Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 11:07:28 CST
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Subject: First folds for beginners....

>I have just been reintroduced to origami via a share-ware basic
>program by George Furiya, and would like to know a little more.  In

I got this program from Fred Aronson, but I haven't had a chance to
run it yet (Big Blue makes computers? :-).  I did have a look at the
source, and it seems to be little more than some simple animation
using hardwired coordinates -- a nice little hack to show *how* to
fold instead of just what folds to do.

>the past, I had tried, and failed at origami using a book.  I found
>the origami program to be much better at illustrating the folds

This brings up an interesting point.  I tried using a book to start
out with and failed until I took one of Kevin's folds and reverse
engineered it.  Once I got a fold or two down, the books were no
problem.  Did anyone out there start solely with a book?  It seems
like this computer program is a good substitute for having someone
show you how to get started.

And while we're on this subject, what are some good first folds to
get people interested in origami?  I'm partial to the crane myself,
since it's so traditional.  Then a slight variation makes a flower
which is usually popular.  A friend of mine who was visiting liked my
kusudama (sp?) ball and wanted to make one of those, so I showed her
that.  That's kind of starting in the middle, but I'm sending her a
basic book to keep her going with it.  What do ya'll use when you want
to show someone "how easy it is."

>As far as archives, is there an ftp anonymous account?  If you

I'm sure there is an anonymous ftp directory aroun here somewhere.  In
general, if you want anything from the archives, send me mail and
we'll work it out (Al, you're on the stack already).

Take care,
brad





Date:     Tue, 31 Jan 89 13:20:19 EST
From: Brad Clements <bkc@omnigate.clarkson.edu>
Subject:  Re:  First folds for beginners....

I'd like to get ahold of this program you two have mentioned.

Can someone mail it to me?





Date:         Wed, 01 Feb 89 09:00:51 EST
From: "Fred Aronson (Manager of SIG Activities)" <FREDA%ACMVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject:      Origami Software

Brad,

I'd be glad to send you a copy of George Furiya's origami software.  I'll mail
you a floppy (IBM format) in the next day or so.  My wife Ellen and I are very
impressed with it although it runs too fast on our AT clone.  I'll send the
copy to:  P.O. Box 631, Potsdam, NY 13676.

Note to Origami list: While we're on the subject of sharing software, if anyone
else would like a copy, please let me know.  Also, if anyone has any other
origami software they would be able to share, please let me know.

Fred Aronson





Date: Wed, 1 Feb 89 12:09:25 CST
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Subject: List roster and archive info.....

>Date: Tue, 31 Jan 89 20:51:20 EST
>From: shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu (Maverick)
>Subject: List.

>Could you send me an updated list of the people on the orilist?

>As for my "first" fold,  I learned how to make the "cup" and "hat".

>But the complicated stuff, I got from the books; except the "dragon",

>that one someone showed me how to do in trade for "peacock" instructions.

>                                rick.

Alrighty folks, here is the current list of elctronic origamians,
including one that just joined this morning:

brad@cs.utexas.edu
Brad Blumenthal
4601-A Avenue H
Austin, TX  78751

lavin@athena.mit.edu
Anne R. LaVin
MIT Aero & Astro
(617) 253-0911
(Anne, How about a SnailMail address? --BBB)

bkc@omnigate.clarkson.edu
Brad Clements
P.O. Box 631
Potsdam, NY 13676

Kevin.Knight@f.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Kevin Knight
3604 Pinnacle Road
Austin, TX, 78746
(This is Kevin's folks's place.  You got a Pitt. address, Kevin? --BBB)

shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu
Maverick (Steve Shoopak)
RD 175 Farm Rd.
Chester N.J. 07930

RROOS%SMITH.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
comp. sci. faculty at Smith College
office address:
36 Stoddard Hall
Northampton, MA  01063
office phone:
413-585-3878
home address:
94 State St.
Northampton, MA  01060.

mdk%courant.Princeton.EDU@Princeton.EDU
Martin Kruskal

FREDA%ACMVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
Fred (and Ellen) Aronson
604 E. Walnut Street
Long Beach, NY 11561
(212) 869-7440  Fred's office
(516) 431-9374  Home

ajb@itivax.iti.org
Albert Boehnlein
9099 Ascot
Ypsilanti MI 48198
Work: 313-769-4112
Home: 313-483-3098

uunet!watmath!watcgl!electro!carlo
Carlo Sgro

It might be nice if we could get the missing Snail Mail addresses et
c.  I'd also like to see a little biogrphical stuff from some of the
newer people -- how did you get into origami, what are your favorite
figures, and so on.

On the archives:  The stuff that has been posted to the list (prior to
this message) is temporarily available in the file ~ftp/tmp/origami
available by anonymous ftp to cs.utexas.edu.

Take care,
brad





Date: Wed, 1 Feb 89 17:09:46 CST
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Subject: Passing along another one...

Send replies and submissions to origami@cs.utexas.edu

This from Kevin Knight:

Brad, how's it going?  I'm starting to miss Texas already.  I'm planning to
come back during the summer, and maybe for 3 months during the winter, if my
thesis project works out.  Here's that info you wanted for the mailing list:

	Kevin Knight
	911 S. Negley Ave.
	Pittsburgh  PA  15232
	knight@cs.cmu.edu

As for origami related biography, I started by watching my Dad fold cranes.
A habit of his from academic meetings.  Then a trip to the bookstore on my
own, and there you have it.

I haven't folded in maybe a month (too bad), but I did manage to work my way
through most of Montroll's stuff.  When I left MCC last summer, I left a
different fold in everybody's mailbox.  Tried to fit the personality to the
fold, which can be dangerous.  But.

I have forgotton how to fold the rose ... gad.  I tried it a month ago, and
failed ... I used to do it so easily!  It's one of those where you really
have to know the trick.

Anyway, more later,

	Kevin





Date: Thu, 2 Feb 89 22:37:24 CST
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Subject: new mail hack and origmai saga

Well, ok gang, in an effort to stay (always) at the bleeding edge of
technology, I have reworked the origami mailer.  From your end, there
should be no change.  Submissions still go to origami@cs.utexas.edu,
administrivia goes to origami-request@cs.utexas.edu.  The improvement
is that I've hacked the set-up so that using the standard reply
command (e.g. "r" in unix mail) should send mail back to the list
instead of to the sender.  I kept getting messages that I assume were
intended for the list.  The down side is that the headers are a little
extensive.  I have tried to filter out all the unimportant stuff and
will continue to try to do so.  Meanwhile, be careful about starting
lines in your message with stuff that's usually in a header like
"Received: ", "Posted-Date: ", "Message-Id: ", "<tab>id ", etc.  I
hope this doesn't crimp anyone's expression :-).

And, oh yes, the archive is still available for anonymous ftp on
cs.utexas.edu in the file ~ftp/tmp/origami.  It will probably
disappear soon, so send mail to origami-request@cs.utexas.edu if you
want it to stay on a little longer (also send me mail if you
successfully pick it up).

So, while I've got your attention, how about an origami story?  While
I was up at the AAAI conference last summer in St. Paul, one of the
computer companies had a party for conference folks at the natural
history and science museum in St. Paul.  Now, this is the place where
I got my first origami book, so I couldn't resist folding a little in
honor of my return.  The museum had a dinosaur exhibit, so I naturally
folded some dinosaurs.  One was John Montroll's Brontosaurus (I don't
care what scientists call it now, it'll always be a Bronto to me :-);
the other was a T. Rex that I created by modifying Peter Engel's
kangaroo (BTW, the Bronto is in Montroll's _Origami Animals for the
Enthusiast_, the Kangaroo is in Kasahara and Takahama's _Origami for
the Connoisseur_).

So anyway, a couple of women from the company really liked these
things and put them in their nametags and wandered around like that
for the rest of the evening.  One of them, and a friend of mine, and I
wandered over to another party, and I was sitting there enjoying the
beer and food when the woman came running up with a guy who introduced
himself as Jonathon Pierce.  He asked me where I'd learned to fold the
Bronto, and I told him.

Turns out that Pierce was (is?) Montroll's neighbor and got a kick out
of the fact that someone from Austin knew about Montroll (who lives in
Bethesda).  All he told me about Montroll was that he "did something
with Math" for a living, and you could barely walk across his
apartment for all the origami strewn about.  I believe it.

So, has anyone heard any rumors about Montroll's next book?  The FOCA
Folding Fund Fest flyer mentions one called _Origami Sea Life_ due in
1990, but there was supposed to be one out Real Soon Now (read: months
ago).  Are they one and the same?  Do I really have to wait for
another year before they fill my order from last September?

Take care,
brad





Date: Wed, 1 Feb 89 19:44:41 EST
From: shoopak@topaz.rutgers.edu (Maverick)
Subject: Re:  Passing along another one...

I sympathize.  I forgot how to make the type 2 beta panels for polyhedrons,

but when I put a square of paper in my hand, my fingers remembered.  However,

for the life of me, I could never describe how to do it or consciously remember.

                                 Steve.





Date:         Mon, 06 Feb 89 09:10:44 EST
From: "Fred Aronson (Manager of SIG Activities)" <FREDA%ACMVM.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Subject:      First Folds, ...

Message from Ellen Aronson:

Dear Fellow Folders,
   As an origami teacher, I find starting each class with easy folds on
interesting paper a good way to "hook" both adults and children.  I start
with the paper cup (fill with water to show it works) and then do the
traditional box made from magazine covers (travel brochures to the Orient
are incredibly effective).  The simple fox (by Okuda in Takahama's JOY
OF ORIGAMI), the easy blintzed picture frame done with foil and the index
card frog all make people feel successful and enthusiastic.  When people
make the box and jump the index card frog into the box, there is a
universal look of accomplishment and joy!

    My personal first folds took place at the foot of the Museum of
Natural History Christmas tree where they teach the heart, the swan, the
box and other folds that are part of the First Folds collection available
through the Friends.  From then on I was alone until a few magical visits
with that remarkable woman Lillian Oppenheimer, some good basic books,
Special Sessions at the Friends and the Convention.  I would have loved
the computer software--trial and error lead to a lot of crushigami.
I have taught in Adult Education, school classes and after school classes,
did a library display, and even did a workshop using Origami to
facillitate discussion in a United Cerebral Palsy Workshop for siblings of
handicapped children.  My adult folding friends and I seem to be most
excited by modules --has anyone done the 12-piece open cube by Lewis Simon
from the summer newsletter?  We love it!

P.S.  Does everyone know about ordering paper and books from the Friends
Supply Center?  The Italian Fantasia papers have unusual patterns and a
lovely feel to them.  I also want to recommend joining the West Coast
Origami Guild (c/o Louise Cooper, PO Box 4237, Redondo Beach, CA  90278).
They publish 4 times a year and when you join you get a great packet of
previously published Guild folds.
                                                   Ellen Aronson





Date: Tue, 21 Feb 89 15:27:45 CST
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu
Subject: Rats!  (bugs?)

I'm retrying this message since it didn't seem to go out the first time.
I think I've fixed the problem.  Forgive me if you receive this twice.

Bob Roos tells me that the origami mailer bounced his submission as
undeliverable.  The next message is his message.  If anyone else had/has
trouble with the mailer, please let me know (send headers and error
messages if possible).  Thanks and apologies.

Take care,
brad
