OrigamiUSA Convention 2021
The 2021 Origami USA Convention was once again held online due to Covid-19, but this meant that I was able to attend it easily from home instead of travelling to the East Coast. I got to attend a lot more classes than I would in person, and I even taught how to make the Ornamental Omega 5 by Meenakshi Mukerji! Below I write about my experience teaching the class, and the models I folded in the classes I attended.
Teaching a Class:
In this convention, I taught how to make the Ornamental Omega 5 model. This was my first experience teaching live online, and it was a great start! Around 30 people attended my class, and I had lots of fun explaining how to make the units and put them together. This class was two hours long, and I nearly finished my model and had extra time to put units together at the end.
Through this experience, I learned a lot about teaching origami online. I learned about tech setup, like having two cameras and making sure your lighting is good. I also learned about paper and surface color choice, and also about marking my creases with a pen and focusing the camera. A big takeaway for me from this experience, though, was that it was actually easier in a lot of ways to teach online. Everyone could see my paper nice and clear, and all I had to do was explain my folds. A lot of things stayed the same as well. I still got to teach others, and I had the same feeling of satisfaction at the end of the session!
Here are some pictures and a link to the class schedule:
Classes I Attended:
These first two classes were held on Friday, the first day of the convention, and everyone attended them. They were both a great start to this year’s convention!
Stella
The first class of the convention was Stella, created and taught by Evan Zodl. It’s an 8-piece modular star. I really liked the simplicity of each piece and how sturdy it felt when it was finished. I also love how both the front and back look detailed and beautiful. I used different types of harmony paper for each one as an experiment, and they both turned out great in their own ways! I was really impressed by this model and the variations also taught in the class (not pictured above). I’m definitely going to experiment with this model and see if I can come up with any variations!
Baby Hat and Socks
The second class on Friday, Baby Hat and Socks, was created and taught by Whitepaper. I really loved how cute these two models turned out! These have inspired me to experiment more in the area of origami clothes. I love the color change in the hat and sock!
The next classes are the ones I took on Saturday, the second day of the convention.
Rose of Roses
This model, created and taught by Jordi Adell Capdevila, is a variation of Kawasaki’s Rose, which I have folded before. I really liked how this rose turned out! I folded it with two different types of paper. The pink one is folded from tant and the red one is folded from kami. The kami one had smoother and more realistic curls, while the tant one was sturdy and had a nice texture. This model rekindled my interest in origami flowers, and I’m probably going to be folding a lot more of those soon!
Louise’s Star:
The next class I attended on Saturday was Louise’s Star, created by José Meeusen and taught by Deb Pun. This model ended up being even more amazing than I thought! There were 3 variations taught in the class, and each picture above has a different one. My favorite was the third variation (the picture on the right). For the second variation, I had folded a previous step a bit in correctly so here was an extra flap of white when I did the white color change, but I somehow actually like that better than the original! This model will probably also look really good with foil, harmony, and patterned paper.
Popping Christmas Star
The next class I attended taught how to make the Popping Christmas Star, created and taught by Grace Matthews. I made this model out of 6-inch tant paper, and I loved the satisfying result! The model, as pictured above, could turn into 3 different shapes with a fun popping mechanism, and it looked great!
Suspension Bridge
The final class I attended on Saturday was the Suspension Bridge, created and taught by Goran Konjevod. When I first went to this class, I thought it would be too complicated, but I ended up finishing the model! I really love the little details like the folds resembling suspension cords. I made this model out of foil, and I was super happy with the result!
The next two models are from Sunday, the third day of the convention.
Snowflake Star
The Snowflake Star, created and taught by Bob Miller, was a model made from a really versatile unit! This star can be created with 5 or 6 units, and if you want you can use endless units to create a spiral. It looks the same on the front and back, which makes it great for hanging up, and it’s really sturdy in the end. I really like how it turned out with my choice of paper!
High-Heeled Shoe
This model, created and taught by Mark Bolitho, was really fun to make! It was simple and the result was super fun. I really like that it’s 3D and can stand up on it’s own! I love how mine turned out.
