




Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 11:45:38 -0400 (AST)
From: Rjlang@aol.com
Subject: Re: Shared and Artistic Origami (LONG!)

Joseph Wu, in response to Steven Casey, wrote:

> ....No, no, no, no, no, and no! While the point about landmarks and
> no landmarks is a part of the distinction between "shared folding"
> and "artistic folding", it is not the main distinction. It is much
> more subtle than that, and, I will probably get in trouble with a
> lot of people as I try to explain....

Well, you sure got in trouble with _me_. Skipping over Michael LaFosse's and
Paul Jackson's versions of "artistic," Joseph sums it up as

> So what it all boils down to is attitude. Are you an artist or are
> you not? What is your motivation? Are you trying to created the
> next technical wonder, the next most complex model? Are you happy
> folding other people's designs, and always in search of the next
> harder challenge to tackle? Do you want to trade ideas and models
> with each other? Fine and good. But that is not artistic folding.

Oh puh-lease! I always thought you should judge art by the quality of the
product, not by the attitudes and motivations of the artist. How are you
going to know that anyhow? Get the artist to fill out a questionnaire with
every model?

> An artistic folder must fold. The paper speaks to him, urging him
> to explore its potential. And yet, that is only because it is his
> chosen medium.

I don't know about you, but when the paper "speaks" to me, it's not urging me
fact, most of the time, it's more like, "Oh please, don't do that, I'll be
good...no, no, NO, NOT THE CLOSED UNSINK!!! ARRGGHHH! I'M GONNA RIP!! NO!!
AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Joseph continues:

> There is something more, something deeper, inside
> that compells him to create, to express the unexpressible. First
> and foremost, he is an artist, and he has something to say.

In response, I would say that the true artist engages a dialog with the
paper, drawing it into a dialectical materialism that transcends the utter
inhomegeneity of the worldly experience: his art speaks to the viewer,
saying, "yes, I am", in defiance of conceptual genres, while refuting the
banal conventions of modern society. It evokes loquacity, perturbs
flourescence; it grabs the viewer by the collar and makes snorting sounds in
its nose. Etc., etc., etc.

This whole riff got started because someone wanted to make a distinction
between completely landmarked designs and those that required judgement
folds. Things got confused when the concept of "artistry" -- which is an
independent quality -- got dragged into the discussion. You're _never_ going
to get agreement on what constitutes
"artistic" -- so I think it best to avoid the term altogether.

Robert J. Lang
rjlang@aol.com

--------------------------------------------------------

When you have come to the end of all the
light that you know and need to step into the
darkness of the unknown, Faith is knowing that
one of two things will happen: either there will
be something solid to stand on or you will be
taught how to fly.                --Anonymous

Reality is plummeting to your death on the sharp
rocks below.                --Anonymous's widow





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 11:55:22 -0400 (AST)
From: kkinney@med.unc.edu (Kevin Kinney)
Subject: Re: Joseph Wu's comments

Bravo to Joseph Wu for his comments on artistic and shared origami.  He
managed to articulate what I had been turning over in my head.

Personally, I've never considered myself an artistic folder, and doubt
that I will.  I've too many other things pulling at me to develop it, but
more, it's a question of attitude.

I was very interested to see that Mr. Yoshizawa had a careful storage
system for the tops he was good enough to show off at SEOF.  I mean, think
about it:  he has created a zillion models in his career, and I believe
has admitted that the tops he's done are not quite right to him (this is
hearsay, I don't remember from whom).  Yet he's got them tucked away
carefully, and by extension, he must have hordes of compartmented boxes,
alll acting as an immense artistic archive.

Now, at the other end of the spectrum, there's me.  Yes, I have some boxes
of completed models at home, but if there were a fire that destroyed them
all, I wouldn't bat an eye.  I have the patterns for them (in books by
others; my list of creations is, to date, 2.5), so I can re-create them
(hopefully) at will.

Mr. Yoshizawa, Eric Joisel, Michael Lafosse, and the others Joseph
mentioned have a regard for their finished work that I do not.  I do, at
times, envy that, but it is, I think, a fundamental philosophical
difference.  I enjoy more the process of folding than the result.  To me
the *pattern* is the glorious part, not my finished model (which is rarely
glorious).

Anyway, I'm glad there's room for both types

(Ya know, I'm reminded of one of the first things that attracted me to
origami.  I was thinking that it is the only art form where, if you follow
a relatively simple set of directions, you end up with an aesthetically
pleasing result.  The parallel I had was paint by numbers, which held an
inferior place for me.  Hmm)

Kevin Kinney
kkinney@med.unc.edu

(Oh, and Joseph, let me know the details on the cranes project you
mentioned.  I'm not bad at producting quantities of them at need)





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 12:14:55 -0400 (AST)
From: james white <jwhite@osha.igs.net>
Subject: Re: Etiquette  ( Re: francais, aussi )

| From: Jean Villemaire <boyer@videotron.ca>

| I second this motion.  When we all used conventional mail, we had these
| manners.
|
| Jean, Montreal, Quebec

My two cents worth.
Jim, Oshawa Ontario, Canada
jwhite@osha.igs.net





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 13:47:18 -0400 (AST)
From: Eric Andersen <Eric_Andersen@brown.edu>
Subject: origami video (false advertising?) and origami.com

Hi everyone!

        I need some advice...I got an email today from someone encouraging
me to advertise a new set of origami videos for children (the "Explainer
Origami" video series). According to the web site, these videos use origami
It seemed strange that the person who contacted me emailed from a different
name at the University of New Mexico but claimed to be an elementary school
teacher...also, he didn't mention anything about how much he enjoyed origami
or how much the kids liked it, just about how enjoyable and useful the video
has been. The web site is http://www.rt66.com/~explain/.

        These days there are more and more false advertisements via email or
Usenet, in the form of "I recommend you use company X! I used their service,
and it was really great! This is a wonderful company, and they've even won
lots of awards in the field!" As it turns out, this message is emailed or
posted by an employee of the company. This is *false advertising*, and I
don't like it one bit.

        What do you think? Was this false advertising? I hesitate to reply
to the email since the return address is different from that of the name
signed at the bottom of the email.

        On another note, has anyone taken a look at www.origami.com? It
annoys me that the domain is now owned by Teleport Internet Services, whose
site has *absolutely* nothing to do with origami. In fact, if you search the
entire site for the keyword "origami", only two obscure references turn up!
It's frustrating that the word "origami" is being used to promote someone's
business when instead Joseph Wu's site or another comprehensive origami site
should be located there.

-Eric :-P
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
      A                   A
     /|\            \    /|\
    / | \            \\ / | \ /7\            /-\.
   /__|__\            \/__|__\/            a miniature
   \  |  /             \_/ \_/               Kawahata
    \ | /             Flapping                stegosaurus
     \|/                bird
      V                       Eric Andersen   origami@brown.edu
  Bird Base             http://www.netspace.org/~ema/origami.html





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 13:51:05 -0400 (AST)
From: Howard Portugal <howardp@fast.net>
Subject: Re: Shared and Artistic Origami (LONG!)

> Rjlang@aol.com wrote in response to Joseph Wu:
> I don't know about you, but when the paper "speaks" to me, it's not urging me
> to "explore its potential" ("Hi Robert, I'm Wyndstone... explore me!"). In
> fact, most of the time, it's more like, "Oh please, don't do that, I'll be
> good...no, no, NO, NOT THE CLOSED UNSINK!!! ARRGGHHH! I'M GONNA RIP!! NO!!
> AAAAAAAAHHHH!"
>

Hear, Hear!!!
--
Howard Portugal
West Chester, PA
howardp@fast.net





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 14:09:37 -0400 (AST)
From: Doug Philips <dwp+@transarc.com>
Subject: Re: Shared and Artistic Origami (LONG!)

Robert Lang, in response to Joseph Wu, wrote:
+Joseph Wu, in response to Steven Casey, wrote:
+> So what it all boils down to is attitude. Are you an artist or are
+> you not?

+Oh puh-lease! I always thought you should judge art by the quality of the
+product, not by the attitudes and motivations of the artist. How are you
+going to know that anyhow? Get the artist to fill out a questionnaire with
+every model?

Thanks for putting it so succinctly.  I think perhaps there is a
confusion between "Art" with "the 'output' of Artists".

+I don't know about you, but when the paper "speaks" to me, it's not urging me
+to "explore its potential" ("Hi Robert, I'm Wyndstone... explore me!"). In
+fact, most of the time, it's more like, "Oh please, don't do that, I'll be
+good...no, no, NO, NOT THE CLOSED UNSINK!!! ARRGGHHH! I'M GONNA RIP!! NO!!
+AAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Or, in my case, the paper sez:  "Watch it Bubbuhla or I'll tear, you're no
Robert Lang!"

+flourescence; it grabs the viewer by the collar and makes snorting sounds in
+its nose. Etc., etc., etc.

..at night, the crease weasels approach...

+independent quality -- got dragged into the discussion. You're _never_ going
+to get agreement on what constitutes
+"artistic" -- so I think it best to avoid the term altogether.

Art and Artistry and such things are tough to define, but I don't agree that
we should avoid trying!

Thanks again Robert for a funny and yet serious reply with which I can both
chuckle and mostly agree.

-Doug

P.S.  If Art is "too serious to joke about" for you, then it isn't in the
realm of what I would distinguish with that term.





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 15:09:10 -0400 (AST)
From: Brett Askinazi <askinazi@i1.net>
Subject: Re: Etiquette  ( Re: francais, aussi )

Brett
askinazi@i1.net St. Louis, MO





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 15:13:12 -0400 (AST)
From: Greg Cymbalist <ae565@freenet.toronto.on.ca>
Subject: Re: *Harder* fold sequences

> Could someone recommend a book (or web page) that describes some of the
> harder folds such as a closed sink, an unsink, etc.
> Just what *is* the difference between an open sink and a closed sink? 8)

Personally, I found these procedures were extremely well described in the
book "Origami Zoo" by Robert J. Lang and another author whose name seems
to be eluding me. :(

|    Greg Cymbalist                                              |
| ae565@freenet.toronto.on.ca                                             |





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 15:35:39 -0400 (AST)
From: bryan@sgl.ists.ca (Bryan Feir)
Subject: Re: *Harder* fold sequences

> Personally, I found these procedures were extremely well described in the
> book "Origami Zoo" by Robert J. Lang and another author whose name seems
> to be eluding me. :(

   Stephen Weiss.

   As for the 'where are we' question, I'm on the City of York, which
is part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

---------------------------+---------------------------------------------------
Bryan Feir           VA3GBF|"I am a great believer in luck, and I find that the
bryan@sgl.ists.ca          | harder I work, the more I have of it."
jenora@istar.ca            |                          -- Stephen Leacock





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 15:39:38 -0400 (AST)
From: TrekDBob@aol.com
Subject: Re: marbling

In a message dated 96-10-27 19:17:54 EST, you write:

> You could use
>  egg roll pastry instead of paper and have the
>  unsuccessful designs for lunch...
>
or use them for the folded lunch bags that someone was looking for awhile
ago!





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 15:40:35 -0400 (AST)
From: Yusri Johan <gs01yyj@panther.Gsu.EDU>
Subject: Web page removal

Hi all,
        As of today, October 29, 1996, the web page that I maintained is
no longer in service.  Any of you who puts a pointer to my web page,
please remove it from your page.

Thank you,
Yusri





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 17:29:49 -0400 (AST)
From: Vincent & Veronique <osele@worldnet.fr>
Subject: Re: francais, aussi

Bonjour plieurs et plieuses...

En fait, il y a beaucoup de personnes parlant Origami en francais sur la liste
et en dehors de la liste.
Pour eviter de gener ceux qui ne lise pas le francais, il serait bien
de pouvoir creer une liste de diffusion en Fr en parallele (et non
pas concurente) avec Origami-l.
Personnelement, je m'incrirais au deux listes si cela existait.
Qui a cree Origami-l et qui maintient la liste?
Peux-t-on creer une liste Pliage-l a cote de Origami-L ?

Hello,

There is lot of people who talk about Origami in French on this list
and outside this list.
To avoid ennoying all of you who don't understand french (or don't
want to read anymore my poor english :-)), it will be better to
create a new list in french. The two lists must not be separate but
coexist together, people from one are welcome on the other list.
Sure that I will subscribe to the two lists.
BUT how can one create a list ?
Who has created this list ? and who maintain it ?
Is it possible to create a similar list (like Pliage-l) near
Origami-l.
I insist in that I don't want to create to separate world with the
good ones, and bad ones, or something else. I thing it's easier to
speak in own native language.

Vincent...
 _______                                                     _____
|       | Osele Vincent                   Membre du MFPP    /|    |
|       | osele@worldnet.fr                                /_|    |
|       | http://www.worldnet.fr/~osele/origami.htm       |       |
|_______| -----------------> ORIGAMI -------------------> |_______|





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 18:21:59 -0400 (AST)
From: DLister891@aol.com
Subject: Gershon Legman (Very Long)

Mark Casida asked on 28th October 1996 who is or was Gershon Legman. To my
great regret, I do not know whether he is still alive. My last letter which I
sent to him in February 1991 was not answered and although I have asked
people who might have known, I have received no further news. If any one can
give me any information, I shall be most pleased. I corresponded with him
somewhat sporadically between 1968 and 1980 and through him I learnt much
about the history of paperfolding. I hope to write at lengthabout Gershon
Legman and his contribution to paperfolding in some other place, but in the
meantime, here are a few jottings of the cuff. (more or less!).

                                     GERSHON  LEGMAN

Gershon Legman was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on 2nd November, 1917. His
parents were Jewish and originating from Central or Eastern Europe. At one
time Legman said he was a Hungarian, but we cannot be sure about this. At
school he became acquainted with another boy, Cyril Enfield (known as  "Cy"),
who was three years older. Cy was a keen amateur magician, whereas magic held
no attraction for Legman. Nevertheless, Enfield came across a paperfold of a
bow tie in a book of magic and he showed it to Legman. The fold was a
modification of the fold known as the Lover's Knot or Lotus. Its unfolding
action is fascinating and it certainly fascinated  Legman.

After leaving school Enfield and Legman kept in touch, meeting occasionally.
Enfield later became a film producer, while Legman  became a free-lance
researcher and writer. Among his occupations, Legman was a bibliographic
researcher for the Kinsey Institute. Later he concentrated on his own
research into erotic aspects of folklore and popular culture, something for
which he was much misunderstood. There is no doubt about his skills as a
researcher and encyclopaedist, He collected vast amounts of information on
his chosen subjects and was able to put his researches into good order and
interpret them. His works are learned and scholarly and have contributed to
an understanding of hidden and forbidden aspects of human psychology.

It is unfortunate that Legman often adopted an aggressive personal manner. He
could be blunt with people, to the extent of unpleasantness, although he saw
it merely as peeling off the hypocrisy to reveal the unvarnished truth. It is
little wonder that he often became unpopular, particularly among people who
could not understand or would not go along with his manner, or who
disapproved of the subject matter of his researches. He laid himself open to
personal attacks which undermined what he was setting out to achieve.

In 1945, Legman injured his ankle and being laid up, he happened to turn to
folding and refolding the lover's knot, to pass the time. He discovered how
to make a double version of it and It awakened in him a compulsive interest
in paperfolding. Cy Enfield had said that he had found the lover's knot in a
book of magic tricks and Legman decided that come what may, he must find that
book. His work had made him familiar with the techniques of bibliographic
research and he persued his new enthusiasm in the New York Public Library and
in the Library of Congress. Research into paperfolding had never been done
before and he was tilling virgin land. As one clue led to another, he rapidly
built up a knowledge of paperfolding greater that had ever been achieved
before.

A significant moment came when Legman discovered a forgotten article in an
issue of the United States magazine "Japan" dating from 1922. The article had
the title "The Art of Paper-folding in Japan" and was by Professor Frederick
Starr of the University of Chicago, who had stumbled across paperfolding
during a recent visit to Japan. The article referred in part to children's
folding in Japan, but went on to describe volume 233 of a Japanese manuscript
encyclopaedia dating from about 1850  which belonged to the Asahi newspaper
of Osaka. The encyclopaedia seemed to be a private compilation of all kinds
of knowledge and was apparently called "Kan no mado", although it now seems
the correct name should be "Kayaragusa". Volume 233 was devoted to a
remarkable kind of adult paperfolding, quite unlike the children's folding.
Starr's article was illustrated with a magnificent dragonfly from the Kan no
mado, but with only partial instructions, which made it virtually impossible
to fold the model. From the moment he saw the illustration of the dragonfly,
Legman made it his new lifetime's ambition to re-discover the encyclopaedia.
Unknown to Legman at the time, Starr had had a facsimile copy made of the
paperfolding section of the Kan no mado and on his death it was deposited
with his other papers in the Library of Congress where it was forgotten, and
lay waiting to be rediscovered. But Legman never did find Cy Endfield's book.

In 1952. Legman privately published the results of his researches in his
"Bibliography of Paperfolding", which summarised, in bibliographic outline,
 almost the whole of paperfolding up to that year. It listed with brief notes
books in English and other European languages together with such Japanese
books as had happened to be deposited in the libraries, or to which Legman
had come across references. The Bibliography is far from complete, but it was
a magnificent start. Legman would follow the slightest of clues and in this
way, by several extraordinary chances of good luck, he was able to get into
contact with other enthusiasts round the world who were working in isolation
on this very esoteric subject. A tear-off sheet in a book he came across led
to Dr. Solorzano Sagredo pf Argentina. Correspondence with a professor in
Argentina about a book by another folder brought him a contact with Ligia
Montoya. Both Solorzano and Montoya were following in the tradition of the
Spanish philosopher and paperfolding enthusiast Miguel Unamuno and had
carried paperfolding to much greater heights than in Northern Europe or North
America. Legman's enthusiasm sometimes stimulated others to take up folding,
such as George Rhoads and Neal Elias but he also sought out other
paperfolding enthusiasts in the West including Jack Skillman and Martin
Gardner and tried to encourage them to develop their talents by making
suggestions for the development of new techniques. The idea for blinzed bases
came from Legman and the first bases devised on this principle were by George
Rhoads about 1954. In 1952, while making enquiries about a somewhat ordinary
Japanese book, Legman was told by a Japanese correspondent about an unknown
folder in Japan called Akira Yoshizawa, whose work had only recently come to
light in a series of folds of the Signs of the Zodiac which had been
commissioned from him for the January 1952 issue of the Asahi Graph picture
magazine. Until then he had earned a meagre living by hawking food-delicacies
from door to door. Legman wrote at once to Yoshizawa, but it was only by
persisting with numerous letters that he was eventually rewarded with a reply
in the following year.

In the meantime, Legman was not finding life in the United States very
comfortable. It was the period of the McCarthy witchhunts and the nature of
his academic interests aroused the suspicions of the authorities. The Post
Offoce began to refuse to deliver his mail. Then, by chance, Legman inherited
an old farmhouse in the south of France and he decided to move there to live.
He would be able to pursue his researches in the library of the Bibliotheque
Nationale in Paris and in the library of the British Museum in London. He
States in the summer of 1953. Soon after he arrived in France, however, he
paperfolds. Yoshizawa had folded them for an exhibition which he had held in
Tokyo. These folds were an astonishing revelation for Legman, who had never
seen anything like the magic of Yoshizawa's creations. He at once abandoned
his own plans to write a book about paperfolding and instead made it his
vocation to bring Yoshizawa's astonishing work to the notice of the West.

After a small exhibition in a garden in the south of France, Legman was
fortunate to be able to arrange a full-scale exhibition at the Stedelijk
 Museum in Amsterdam in the summer of 1955. So Yoshizawa was discovered for
the West little more than four years after his discovery in Japan. Legman
planned to take the exhibition to Paris and London, but he was never able to
achieve this. Fortune had other things in mind.

About a year earlier than Legman, Cy Enfield had also left the United States,
though for somewhat different reasons .He hoped to pick up the threads of his
career as a film producer in Britain. One of his first films was called "The
Limping Man" and it had a  minor part for a magician. The South African stage
magician, Robert Harbin, who had made his career in Britain was yet another
person who had stumbled across paperfolding in 1953, and he too had started
his own enthusiastic research into the subject. By an amazing chance, Robert
Harbin was suggested to Enfield as a suitable person to play the part of the
magician in his film. So Harbin came to be engaged in the film being produced
by Legman's old school friend. Enfield came across Harbin  practising
paperfolding during the long waits on the set and in return, he showed him
how to fold a fine peacock from a pound note, which he had learnt not long
before. It was inevitable that Enfield should put Harbin in touch with
Legman.  How fortunate chance can sometimes be!

The contact between the two students of paperfolding was the source of a
great cross-fertilisation and was crucial for the future development of
Western paperfolding. Legman was able to provide new historical and
bibliographic information for Harbin's book, "Paper Magic", which was already
nearing publication. In turn, when the book was published the following year,
1956, it gave a wider publicity to Legman's researches than he had ever had
before. It even reproduced the Kan no mado dragonfly, so bringing it to the
notice of far more people than had ever been possible by Legman's own private
efforts. By yet another unexpected turn of events, a copy of "Paper Magic"
very quickly came into the hands  of Lillian Oppenheimer in New York, where,
in about 1953, she, too, had started collecting every scrap of information
that she could find about paperfolding. She visited London in 1957 to meet
Harbin and through the contact came to learn about Legman, Solorzano,
Montoya, Yoshizawa and all the other paperfolders Legman and Harbin had
discovered. The new richness of paperfolding on a world scale was something
that Lillian Oppenheimer had never expected. It  boosted even her enthusiasm
and she went on to found the Origami Center of New York in October 1958.

>From then on, the story of paperfolding is much better known. The Origami
Center became a focus for paperfolders not only in The United States, but
throughout the western world and a new age of creative paperfolding suddenly
came into being. In March,1959 Lillian Oppenhimer travelled to Japan to meet
Akira Yoshizawa and later in the year she helped to organise "Plane Geometry
and Fancy Figures", an exhibition of artistic and geometrical paperfolding at
the Cooper Union Museum at New York. Legman sent his collection to New York
and Yoshizawa's creations were once more displayed to an enthusiastic public
in one of the great cities of the Western world. Moreover, Robert Harbin had
mentioned a new word "Origami" in his book "Paper Magic". Lillian Oppenheimer
adopted it as name for the art at the Origami Center and it is now the word
we commonly use for the art in the West as well as in Japan.

So fate brought Gershon Legman, Robert Harbin and Lillian Oppenheimer
together and the modern Origami movement was born Without any one of them,
the evolution of paperfolding in the West would have taken much longer. It
may never have taken place at all, for the parts which came together were
widely scattered and no one person had all of the pieces in his own hands. If
Westerners had not started a paperfolding movement themselves the impetus
would probably have come from Japan, for in the 1950s, Japanese books on
paperfolding had already begun to circulate in western countries. Even so,
the movement would probably have been of a very different kind,. Yoshizawa
had certainly revolutionised Japanese paperfolding both in technique and in
artistry this was something quite different from the advanced bases and
techniques which were discovered in the West. Had the development of Western
paperfolding come from Japan, then it is likely that it would have lacked the
dynamism which characterised it very soon after the formation of the Origami
Center.

In March 1960 Gershon Legman experienced a vicarious triumph when the Library
of Congress announced to Julia and Martin Brossman, who had requested that a
search be made, that Frederick Starr's copy of the Kan no mado had been found
among his papers. The discovery threw a floodlight on earlier Japanese
paperfolding practices. A year or two later, Yoshizawa persuaded the Asahi
newspaper of Osaka to search for the original manuscript of the Kan no mado
and it was eventually found. It also showed how uncannily accurate was the
hand-drawn copy prepared for Professor Starr.

After 1958, Gershon Legman's contribution to paperfolding was not so dynamic
as he relaxed into the position of an elder statesman. By making his home in
the South of France, he had unwittingly put himself on the margin of the
paperfolding world. When he had moved there, it was not for him to know that
New York of all places would become the centre of Western paperfolding. Never
a great creative folder himself, he could only rarely meet the new
paperfolders of the modern movement and many of the new generation of folders
were unacquainted with him.

Gershon Legman made rare visits to the United States, and in November 1963,
he visited the Origami Center in New York. He was the guest of honour at a
special dinner party that Lillian Oppenheimer arranged. She invited some of
the other pioneers of paperfolding to meet him. The next year, from 1964 to
1965, Legman was appointed Writer in Residence at the University of
California, San Diego, but that was in connection with his profession as a
writer and not with his paperfolding. On the way back to France in the summer
of 1965, he had to wait for his ship and spent a few weeks at the Origami
Center listing he books in the library there for a supplement to his
Bibliography of Paperfolding which, however, was never published.  He also
kept in touch with his old correspondents, but the fire had gone out of his
research.  Legman was no longer the only Western student of paperfolding and
there were many other new workers in the field. However, the work of
Dokuohtei Nakano, contained in his remarkable Correspondence Courses of
Origami, one in Japanese and the other in English came to Legman's notice.
Nakano had adopted Western techniques of folding, but had carried the
creation of composite bases beyond anything achieved so far in the West.
Legman publicised Nakano's achievements in a long article in the Origamian in
1971. In return, Nakano printed a series of articles about "bilitzing" in his
short-lived magazine, "The Origami Companion". It was Legman who had given
the name "blintz" to the "blintz base". He had taken  the name from the
Yiddish word for a folded, filled pancake, but he may have got the wrong
word, because, as his mother told him, a blintz is rolled over and over and
does not have the corners turned to the centre. There is still however, some
uncertainty about this and despite everything, Legman could have been right,
for it seems that usage over the vast area of eastern Europe may have varied
from place to place.

In particular, Legman greatly admired the folding of the Argentinian, Adolfo
Cerceda and kept in touch with him until he died in Madrid on 25th July 1979.
He contributed his own collection of Cerceda's folds when Vicente Palacos
 announced his decision to compile a long-awaited publication of Cerceda's
 folds in "Fascinente Papiroflexia", published in Spanish 1984.

 Akira Yoshizawa paid Gershon Legman the honour of a visit to his home in the
south of France. Robert Harbin also visited Legman in the summer of 1974 and
with Legman's permission began to take a short cine film of Legman and his
chilren, until for what seemed an inexplicable reason Legman rold him not to
film any more. Now remarried, with three young children, Legman rarely left
his home. His health, too was not good. In particular, he suffered recurrent
troubles with his eyes, and at times had to limit the amount of time he spent
reading and writing. Apart from paperfolding, his great passion was the music
of Mozart.

One of Legman's last appearances among paperfolders was his visit to the
magnificent Festival International des Plieurs de Papier organised by MFPP,
the French paperfolding society, at Grenoble in France in November 1983,
where he was able to meet a gathering of the younger generation of folders
from many countries. He gave, in French, a lecture on the history of
paperfolding. My own correspondence with him continued until 1980 and I was
able to send him specimens of the animal folds of Max Hulme, Martin Wall and
David Brill, which he commented on favourably. He was kind enough to tell me
his story and give me many valuable insights in to the history of
paperfolding. He told me that he would not be writing the history of
paperfolding as he had hoped and expressed a hope that it would be written by
me. It is a challenging trust, but there is still much to learn.

This is only a brief outline of a fascinating story which has more than its
fair share of extraordinary coincidences and unlikely happenings. Gershon
Legman was the first Westerner to be fired with a serious enthusiasm for the
humble pastime of paperfolding and to him goes a large share of the honour of
laying the foundations of Origami as we know it today.

(c) David  Lister 1996.





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 19:06:34 -0400 (AST)
From: casida@ere.umontreal.ca (Casida Mark)
Subject: Re: francais, aussi

Donc la question est : Est-ce que l'Origami-l est une liste
d'origami anglophone [ou (horreur) americaine] ou est-ce une
liste internationnelle ou la langue de communication est choisi
selon l'audience anticipee pour le continu du message?  Moi,
j'ai toujours pense que l'Origami-l est une liste internationnelle
et si la plus part des messages sont ecrits en anglais c'est
simplement la solution actuelle du probleme de communication entre
japonais, russe, francais, etc.  A propos, ca sera une bonne
idee si on essaie toujours d'utiliser un anglais internationnelle
en evitant trop d'argot et de jargon.

So the question is: Is the Origami-l an anglophone [or (horror)
American] list or is it an international list where the language
of communication is chosen according to the anticipated audience
for the message in question?  I've always enjoyed the international
character of the Origami-l and would not like to see it change.
Indeed if most of the messages are written in English, it is
simply the current solution to the problem of communication between
Japonese, Russians, French, etc. all on the same list.  A propos,
it might be nice if we all try to us international English by
avoiding unnecessary slang and jargon.

                     Voila mes deux sous!
                     There you have my $0.02!

                         ciao (un mot presque internationel)
                         ciao (a word understood used in many many countries)
                             ... Mark

                     a Montreal, Quebec
                     in Montreal, Quebec
--
*-------------------------------------------------------*
|          Mark E. Casida                               |
|          e-mail: casida@chimcn.umontreal.ca           |





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 19:13:01 -0400 (AST)
From: Valerie Vann <75070.304@compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: origami video (false advertising?) and origami.com

This does sound rather odd. Something that's happened to
me a couple of times in the past year on my America On Line
accounts is similarly strange. I've had mail from people
claiming to be children, interested in origami, and wanting
approaches of any kind, by the way; I always attempt to
elict more info without giving much away.) Anyway, these
"kids" didn't sound a lot like kids, and didn't seem that
interested in origami, and when I asked questions like
"is it OK with your parents if you write to me" and such,
they disappeared.

Now the odd thing is that some of this email was on a couple
of my AOL accounts that I never use for email, just to park
parts of my web pages, and I never got any junk mail on these
addresses. Since this funny mail from "children" I now get
tons of junk mail to those addresses.

So I'm wondering if some sleaze-balls are trying to identify
characterictics of address for mailing lists, and maybe even
are particularly interested in address of children, or of
people "interested" in children...

--valerie
Valerie Vann
75070.304@compuserve.com





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 19:37:31 -0400 (AST)
From: Jennifer Andre <JAndre@cfipro.com>
Subject: Origami Sighting in the Movies!

     In "The Associate" (a recent release in the US), actress Whoopi
     Goldberg wears a pin that looks like two fans glued together in an
     attractive manner.  The pin appears in only one or two scenes (I
     think), so you must be quick if you want to see it!

     - Jennifer (Portland, Oregon, USA)
     JAndre@cfipro.com

     Fold it, ergo sum.





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 20:14:09 -0400 (AST)
From: "gerard (g.) blais" <gblais@nortel.ca>
Subject: re:ORIGAMI-L digest 515

Jean Villemaire wrote:

>Cathy Palmer-Lister wrote:
>> BTW, bonjour aussi a Gerard qui est un lurker sur la liste origami.
>> Je l' ai rencontre au Papier japonais sur la rue Fairmont.
>
>Allo, Gerard ?  Es-tu la ?

Yes, I'm here, but shhhhhhh... I'm trying to keep a low profile.. :-)

Well, I've been "lurking" the list for quite some time now as Cathy
mentionned, and I just want to tell you that I enjoy it very much
(even though I don't participate much).  It's a great source of
origami knowledge and it's certainly great to see that there are
others who enjoy the "ART" like I do.

I've been thinking about an origami club in montreal for a while,
especially since I started getting some of my co-workers interested in
origami (all the penguins, cats, dogs, eagle, frogs, roses, butterfly,
etc. on my terminal caught the eye of a few people..).  When I met
Cathy at the Japanese store, I couldn't miss the opportunity!  And
with Cathy's enthusiasm, I think anything is possible! :-)

Here's a little origami-l story for you:  When I went to the Papier
Japonais store on Fairmont two weekends ago and saw this person bying
a lot of paper and a couple origami books, I immediately thought of
Cathy because she had mentionned that she shops there for paper.  I
didn't say anything at the time.  I bought my paper, left a rose
(kawasaki's) for the owner and left.  As I left, I saw an add in the
window for some courses, so I came back in to pick up the information
pamphlet.  The person then asked me if I folded and I said yes.  She
then went on to say that she was on an origami list on the internet.
So I asked her name.  She said "Cathy".  I said "Lister-Palmer?".
You should have seen the smile on her face!  I don't think Cathy knew
she was this famously well-known!  :-)

Well, enough bandwidth taken!  Let's get this club on roll shall we?

Gerard
--
G?rard Blais                     |      ^^         *    | gblais@nortel.ca
NAV Base and System Architecture |   ^^     __o         | tel: (514) 765-7868
Nortel Technology - 6V40         |       _ -\<,_        | FAX: (514) 761-8710
Montr?al, Qu?bec, Canada         |______(_)|/-(_)_______| ESN: 6-852-7868





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 20:20:57 -0400 (AST)
From: Steven Casey <scasey@enternet.com.au>
Subject: Re: Shared and Artistic Origami

John Smith wrote:

>At the recent BOS convention (September 1996) I organised an attempt to
>encourage those attending to think about superb folding as well as the
seeking >out of the newest and most complex models. To this end I asked some
volunteers >to fold as well as they could Fujimoto's marvellous cube and the
classic Crane. >The results were displayed but the folders were not
identified as this was not >a competition but a chance to open up discussion
about elegant and beautiful >folding.

>Paul is as fascinated as I am by the sequence of folds required either in a
>model or in the more open framework of sequence folding. Here the focus is
on >the elegance and beauty of the movements in making the folds. I gather
that his >discussions touched on the idea of separating out shared folding
from the >artistic.  The characteristics of shared folding is that it can be
taught more >or less exactly; artistic folding is unique to the folder and
must involve
>aesthetic judgements.

>I would be glad to hear if anyone else is interested and can contribute to the
>development of these ideas.
>

When I first folded the classic crane, the sequence  I used came from Robert
Harbin's "More Origami" . It involved forming the preliminary fold by
folding a square diagonally to form a triangle. Then followed  two squash
folds on either side to form the preliminary fold. Next came the pre
creasing needed to do a petal fold on either side to form the bird base. And
from there the standard sequence for folding the crane. Later I was to
discover other ways of forming the preliminary fold which I found more
enjoyable and were more accurate and elegant.

 One Method involved folding a square in half to form a 2 x 1 rectangle with
the raw edges closest to you. Then the right edge was folded in front onto
the bottom edge and the left edge was folded behind onto the bottom edge
forming a triangle which looks like hat. Then Holding the hat with the open
edge facing you, the model is open out and flattened to form the preliminary
fold. I found this method could be adapted to form the waterbomb base as
well. And was easier for beginners to grasp. This method came from Isao
Honda's "World of Origami".

As my collection of origami books increased I came across other methods. One
which involved pre creasing and forming a bud which was of course the
preliminary fold. And another was simply to invert the waterbomb base. Then
John Smith introduced the idea of pureland folding, which involved using
only mountain and valley folds to produce the preliminary and the bird base
as well as other folds.

I have found one of the best ways to form the bird base is simply to pre
crease and press it into shape.

Each time I encountered a new way of doing something familiar I discovered
more about how bases were interconnected. And I got more enjoyment by
discovering new twists on old ideas. Eventually I learned about fudge
factors. Where an edge is not folded exactly to the centre of a point to
allow for the fact that there is some extra movement of the edge when the
point is folded in half. A good model to illustrate this point is the magic
tipper. If folded too precisely the spine of the model tears due to the bulk
of the layers.

I think when you create something its interesting to explore other ways of
doing it. You may find an easier way, or discover some new technique that
solves another problem. And if you don't create, do the same thing, you may
discover something the creator of the model hasn't, and come up with
something new.

Particular moves I,ve enjoyed in origami have been the final step in the
sampan where the model is turned inside out. The opening out of the crane.
Inflating the frog. The way Phillip Shens dishes lock together. Splitting
the point as in models by John Montroll and Robert Lang. Sinking the point
and then stretch sinking  to form to points as in models by Max Hulme (see
his owl and lizard models). Max Hulme's way of forming wheels for transport
models were a breath of fresh air and opened up new ideas. And I like the
way Dave Brill's models come together, they have very clean folding
sequences and almost fold them selves.

When I fold someone  else's  models I try not to rush. I prefer to sit
quietly and enjoy the folding sequence. Often you reach a point where
something is not clear and you have start again. Perhaps because  certain
fudge factors have not be accounted for or the diagrams are confusing. Maybe
there should be more allowances in diagrams and designs for fudge factors
than there are currently. Little notes of caution at certain stages.

Joseph Wu responded:

>Eric's work is truly exceptional. As promised, I will have photos of his
>work up on the Origami Page in the next few days along with some summaries
>of the Charlotte festival and the discussions Paul had with Michael (and
>me!).

Would it be possible to give a verbal description of the work of Eric
Joisel's. Something along the lines of the subject matter and background,
the type of paper used, comments from the creator, how the works were
displayed etc.

All the Best,

Steven Casey,     Melbourne, Australia

scasey@enternet.com.au





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 20:41:20 -0400 (AST)
From: jdharris@post.cis.smu.edu (Jerry D. Harris)
Subject: Typing in French

Hi All! -

        As much fun as I'm having trying to dredge all my scholastic years
of French class from the bowels of my head reading all your messages, I
think I probably ought to point out that, unfortunately, the Internet isn't
pleasantly compatible with the French language.  Specifically, the plethora
of accents found in French doesn't always survive transmission from
computer to computer.  I know that most computers are perfectly able to
generate these characters, and occasionally, they come through unscathed,
but most of the time they don't.  Thus, for example, whenever an "e with an
accent grave" is supposed to appear on the screen, I see a "question mark"
instead.  I also see boxes (null characters), double crosses, paragraph
marks, and little Apples (since I'm on a Mac, which clearly interprets
Internet font character numbers differently that other machines do) etc.,
which makes the message look funny!  I wonder how many others suffer the
same problem?  Generally, they're not so prevalent that I can't deduce what
was supposed to be in the place of the foreign character (no pun intended),
but I just thought that everyone should be aware that it happens.

        C'est tout.  Continuez, si'l vous plait...  8-)

Jerry D. Harris                       (214) 768-2750
Dept. of Geological Sciences          FAX:  (214) 768-2701
Southern Methodist University         jdharris@post.smu.edu
Box 750395                            (CompuServe:  73132,3372)
Dallas  TX  75275-0395

"Robert got into dinosaurs when he was about 3...It's a power thing:
children like the idea of creatures that were much, much bigger and
stronger than mommies and daddies are.  If a little boy is doing something
bad, such as deliberately pouring apple juice onto the television
remote-control device, a mommy or daddy can simply snatch the little boy up
and carry him, helpless, to his room.  But they would not dare try this
with _Tyrannosaurus rex_.  No sir.  _Tyrannosaurus rex_ would glance down
at Mommy or Daddy from a height of 40 feet and casually flick his tail
sideways, and Mommy or Daddy would sail directly through the wall, leaving
comical cartoon-style Mommy-or-Daddy-shaped holes and the _Tyrannosaurus
rex_ would calmly go back to pouring apple juice on the remote-control
device."
                                            .           -- Dave Barry
                                           //
                                          / /
                                         / /
                                 ____   / /
                                (    \ /O /
                                 \    V@ /
                                  \_   _/
                     ,,,           / _/         ,,,
                _____\\\     ___  / /  ___     ///_____
            ___/_____)^^^-_-/   \ ! ! /   \-_-^^^(_____\___
        ___/___/,,,,,,,`-._,----\ \! !/ /--._,---'     \___\___
      _/___/,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\     /,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\___\_
    _/_/,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,/     \ ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\_\_
   /_/,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(       ) ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\_\
  //,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, \     / ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\\
 //,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,----    \  !     !  /    ----,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,\\
/________-----/                \ !     ! /              \-----________\
'                               \! ! ! !/                              '
                                 ! ) ( !
                                 // V \\





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 20:44:36 -0400 (AST)
From: Michael & Janet Hamilton <mikeinnj@concentric.net>
Subject: Re: Gershon Legman (Very Long)

DLister891@aol.com wrote:
> Japanese book, Legman was told by a Japanese correspondent about an unknown
> folder in Japan called Akira Yoshizawa, whose work had only recently come to
> light in a series of folds of the Signs of the Zodiac which had been
> commissioned from him for the January 1952 issue of the Asahi Graph picture
> magazine. Until then he had earned a meagre living by hawking food-delicacies
> from door to door. Legman wrote at once to Yoshizawa, but it was only by
> persisting with numerous letters that he was eventually rewarded with a reply
> in the following year.

What a fascinating story about Gershon Legman!  I just had a question in
     regards to the statement above about
Akira Yoshizawa.  I had though he was an engineer, and started paperfolding in
     order to make 3-D paper models
to help clarify his drawings.  Is my information incorrect?

Janet Hamilton

--
mailto:Mikeinnj@concentric.net
http://www.concentric.net/~Mikeinnj/





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 21:00:21 -0400 (AST)
From: Michael & Janet Hamilton <mikeinnj@concentric.net>
Subject: Re: Etiquette  ( Re: francais, aussi )

Janet Hamilton
Piscataway, New Jersey

I understand Piscataway is a Native American (Lene Lenape Indian) word that
     means something like 'land of
perpetual twilight'.  Apparently, this large suburb in what is now the most
     densely populated state in the USA
used to be so heavliy forested that little light reached the ground.

--
mailto:Mikeinnj@concentric.net
http://www.concentric.net/~Mikeinnj/





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 21:31:55 -0400 (AST)
From: Virginia Sauer <72607.3335@compuserve.com>
Subject: origami video (false advertising?)

I agree that this sounds rather fishy.

I have also become very wary of internet recommendations,
which all too often turn out to be from the producer of the
video.  (One jerk had posted to a newsgroup as well as on
online services, raving about a video and gushing that
purchasing it was the best money he had ever spent ...  when,
it developed, it was he who had produced the video he was
recommending.  And this situation has become all too
common.)

With respect to junk EMail, I have never had any problems
with my AOL account ... but, suddenly, my CompuServe
account is flooded with it.  Since CI$ can/will do nothing
about it, I'm ready to cancel my membership.  I mention
this because someone asked why a member would conceal his
or her membership:  after the junk EMail began, I set all
my mailing lists to "conceal" for this very reason.





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 21:46:52 -0400 (AST)
From: Kim Best <Kim.Best@m.cc.utah.edu>
Subject: Re: Shared and Artistic Origami (LONG!)

After reading Joseph Wu's and Robert Langs remarks on "Artistic Origami" it
seems to me that a lot depends on how you read the term.  You can't read
it as two words "Artistic" and "Origami", but rather as one term,
"Artistic Origami".  In other words, we are not talking about a label
that covers all forms of Origami which is Artistic.  But rather a school
of thought which some folders have followed in order to make thier
Origami more Artistic.

I can appreciate the desire to free onself of the constraints of
diagramability.  But to say that just because a piece of origami is
diagramable and therefore shareable, makes it not artistic is very
misleading.  I believe much, (maybe even most) of the art in origami is
in the folding process.  And diagrams aid in making this art avialable to
others.  True you can't create a paint by numbers "Mona Lisa".  But
you can create sheet music for "The Ode to Joy".

Maybe the distinction should be between "Shared Origami" and "Free Origami".

Kim Best                            *******************************
                                    *          Origamist:         *
Rocky Mountain Cancer Data System   * Some one who thinks paper   *
420 Chipeta Way #120                * thin, means thick and bulky *
Salt Lake City, Utah  84108         *******************************





Return-path: <origami-l@nstn.ca>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 22:24:40 -0400 (AST)
From: Kim Best <Kim.Best@m.cc.utah.edu>
Subject: Aid to paper rippers

I can sympathize will all the wailing  over the finger numbing, paper
shredding, seam splitting, closed sinks, closed unsinks and unwraps some
sadistic paperfolders are imposing on us.

But I have found some paper that offers me an amount of relief for the
more complex models.  It's called Ryomen Zome Monocolored, and it's
available from "Fascinating Folds".  It is extremely thin but very strong.
It has the feel of very strong tissue paper.  And I have been able to fold
some of the most complex models, with great results.  For example, when I
finally succeeded in folding Lang's new Praying Mantis with kami paper,
there was a white seam down the back of his neck, where the paper was
fraying.  But when I folded it with Ryomen Zome, the neck was perfect,
without even a suggestion of fraying.  I was able to fold a fantastic
Circada, even the mouth and mandibles came out looking good.

It's not for all models though.  Because it is extremely thin, the legs
on some models give way and your animal may end up spread eagle on your
table top.  Also it is the same color on both sides so your "Inside-Out"
origami won't come out right.  But you might want to try it for some of
those complex models you find impossible to do.

Despite the ad like tone of the above, I have no connection with
"Fascinating Folds", I just love this stuff!!

Kim Best                            *******************************
                                    *          Origamist:         *
Rocky Mountain Cancer Data System   * Some one who thinks paper   *
420 Chipeta Way #120                * thin, means thick and bulky *
Salt Lake City, Utah  84108         *******************************
