We made it!

For this last inquiry post, I want to briefly reflect on what I have learned over the past 12 weeks. I spent quite a bit of time learning to fold various origami patterns, and I found this process enjoyable, but admittedly a bit frustrating at times as I sometimes lack the attention to detail to perfectly fold each step.

Here are some of the “highlights”:

One of the main goals of this was to try a variety of methods to learn patterns and I tried to use as many resources as possible. The main categories were website step-by-step tutorials, videos with audio instruction, and videos with no sound. I appreciate how the website tutorials can be done as fast or slow as you want, but sometimes they lack specific instructions. Videos with audio can be good, but often they can be too fast paced and need to be muted if put on a slower playback speed. Silent videos were probably my favorite, as I could play them at slower speeds and they generally took enough time to properly show exactly what they were doing, but the drawback is that if you look away from the video you may get lost momentarily. Overall, this was a fun and useful way for me to frame this inquiry, and I feel that I learned more about myself as a learner as well as encouraging me to think more deeply about the modes I am using when teaching.

I also learned more about the history, cultural relevance, and modern applications of origami. Tracing this art form over several hundred years, going through many eras, and ultimately becoming a popular art form across the world as well as inspiring technological innovations, has been very interesting. The story of Sadako and the 1000 cranes in particular has stuck with me as one of the more prominent examples of origami in popular culture (see my post on this topic: https://scottgordonblog.opened.ca/2023/11/15/free-inquiry-post-week-7/).

Well, that’s all from me. I still have at least 150 sheets of origami paper and I can imagine myself folding origami during times of stress or when I just need something fun to focus my energy on. Thanks for reading this blog!

For decades, scientists have been utilizing concepts from origami in order to create more efficient ways to fold, store, and transport materials. This is especially relevant in the aerospace field, where most of the notable news stories involving origami and tech come from. The most notable recent example has been the StarShade, used to protect telescopes in space from damage (see article: https://eandt.theiet.org/2023/02/13/how-origami-inspires-world-changing-technology). Essentially, it is absurdly expensive and difficult to bring materials up into space, and everything needs to be as small as possible in order to fit into narrow and aerodynamic rockets. In this case, the design of the StarShade, like similar devices in the past, was heavily inspired by origami design. As stated in the article, “The ability to fold two-dimensional structures into complex, yet compact three-dimensional shapes is especially valuable to space sciences and missions,” and thus origami has been a frequent topic in this field.

The video below is a great introduction to the StarShade as well as showing how it unfolds once it has reached its destination.

Video: NASA. Retrieved from: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/flower-power-starshade-unfurls-in-space

In my week 6 reflection, I briefly discussed how origami designs are created and then narrowed in on a modern tech-based strategy for creating new designs. For this week, I decided to take a bit more time to research more traditional and tactile ways that new designs are created.

The best resource I found on this subject can be accessed at this link [ https://origami-resource-center.com/designing-origami/ ] and all of the following information is largely based on this article.

There are many ways to categorize origami design. To summarize, these are:

Creative Design/ “Doodling”: This refers to the process of creatively folding with no intention or target. Sometimes they may become abstract designs, though through trial-and-error they can also be altered to become more standard-looking designs.

Purposeful Design: People with a large base of knowledge and experience may be able to channel their ability towards creating a specific design they are intending to create. Often, these can be based on variations of pre-existing designs

Technical Design: This is a broad category, referring to a wide array of skills and techniques. Some examples listed in this article include Grafting (using more paper to expand upon a design) and Splitting (creating more intricate detail in a pre-existing design).

I found this research to be quite interesting, and I am curious about how origami enthusiasts feel about tech-based design compared to these more tactile or traditional ways of creating new designs. Is technology embraced or discouraged in this community? Are these tactile methods of creation through trial and error considered to be better or more respected? In some ways, this discussion reminds me of the conflict between musicians who compose on notation software vs using a keyboard – there is always conflict when new technologies streamline or fundamentally change the way art is created, but often the new technology or strategy will ultimately become accept or even prevail.

Throughout this inquiry project, I have been curious about how these origami designs are created. From my understanding, the origins of the original or traditional patterns are largely lost, but they laid the foundation for future designs; these patterns often stem from one of several “bases” that generally originate from an earlier design. Presumably, more modern designs are largely based on trail-and-error and experimentation starting from one of these bases. 

With that said, I stumbled upon a program called “TreeMaker” that was created by Robert J. Lang to design origami (see article here: https://langorigami.com/article/treemaker/). Using a variety of complex mathematical processes and graph theory, this program set out to help create new origami fold patterns based on user input. It has gone through 5 iterations, most recently being updated in 2015, but was initially started in the 90s. 

Ideally I would spend some time trying this software, but frankly based on the screenshots and videos I’ve seen it seems far outside of my capabilities at this time. Here is a quick demonstration video from the channel Carlson Choo on YouTube:

For this blog post, I took some time to research one of the more famous historical events involving origami, namely the story of Sadako Sasaki and the one thousand cranes. The following is a ChatGPT-generated summary of her story:

Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 when she was two years old. In 1955, Sadako developed leukemia, which was believed to be a result of the radiation exposure from the bomb. While in the hospital, Sadako heard an old Japanese legend that if a person folded 1,000 origami cranes, they would be granted a wish.

Despite her deteriorating health, Sadako embarked on a mission to fold 1,000 paper cranes, with her wish being for good health and peace. She believed that by completing the cranes, she could overcome her illness. Sadly, Sadako passed away before she could finish, but her classmates and friends completed the remaining cranes in her honor.

The story of Sadako and the 1,000 cranes has become a powerful symbol of peace, hope, and the devastating impact of nuclear war. It has inspired people around the world to create paper cranes as a gesture of solidarity and a plea for a world without nuclear weapons. The Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park stands in memory of Sadako and other child victims of the atomic bomb, and it is adorned with thousands of origami cranes sent from people worldwide. The legend of the 1,000 cranes continues to be a poignant reminder of the human cost of war and the importance of striving for peace.

For most westerners, the crane is by far the most famous origami figure, largely due to the story of Sadako. Many groups, schools, classes, and individuals continue to create cranes in her memory, often sending them to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial park (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial_Park).

Following this research, I took some time to reflect and fold my first origami crane, using a tutorial (https://origami.guide/origami-animals/origami-birds/traditional-origami-crane/) found online. I went through it quite quickly and made a few messy folds, but I figured it would be more authentic to post a picture of the first one I made rather than taking a few practice attempts first. Will I make 1000? No, probably not, but I have huge respect for those with the dedication to accomplish this feat, as well as those who fold cranes in memory of Sadako and the other victims of Hiroshima.

Overall, I have enjoyed learning more about the historical and cultural significance of origami throughout this inquiry project.

Photo: “No Crane No Gain”, Scott Gordon 2023