OrigamiUSA Unconvention 2020
OrigamiUSA’s first Unconvention was an amazing experience! The Unconvention took place in a completely online format, where people from all over the world were able to join a Zoom call and come together to enjoy online origami. I had a lot of fun with this experience and was very happy to be able to attend the convention despite the Covid-19 pandemic! Over the course of two days, we were able to enjoy all the usual convention experiences in an unconventional way. There were 4 main aspects of the Unconvention. The folding sessions, the Q&A’s, the annual meeting, and the awards ceremony. All of them were carried out perfectly in the online format!
The annual meeting was where we went over facts about OrigamiUSA, and we heard about all the staff members and staffing changes, all the new online experiences and old experiences continuing in an online format, what people were contributing to OrigamiUSA, and much more! It was great to still have an annual meeting in this format.
The Q&A sessions were where people got to ask questions about origami to the special guests who would be teaching models. These involved questions like what the person is currently doing (such as what origami they’re creating, any books they’re writing, etc.) how they began their origami journey, any tips about creating, designing, folding and many more related questions! This was done to make up for the lack of being able to talk with the special guests in person. It was great to still be able to ask them questions!
The awards ceremony the next day was very fun! People were given awards for contributing to the community with origami, for being a great origami teacher, etc. The scholarship awards for students were also delivered online! Everyone that got an award was able to turn on their camera and say a few words about how they were involved in this field.
The teaching sessions were very interesting. Many origami experts taught classes about how to make their origami designs, and I learned many interesting aspects. I also came away with many amazing models! One thing that was better about the online teaching sessions than the in-person sessions was that it was much easier to understand what someone was doing when there was a camera focusing on their hands, than when they were teaching a model from across a room. Overall, it was super cool to be able to fold all those models!
The Unconvention was an unforgettable experience. The two days were jam-packed with fun and folding! I think it was a great success!
Classes I attended
Star Flower Modular, Opus 817
The Star Flower Modular, taught by Robert Lang, opened up a whole new world of modular origami for me. Each piece in the model was super intricate, and the locks for the modular pieces were rotational locks, which I had never done before. There was also a beautiful color-change in the center of each “flower” in the model. The pieces had the rotational lock to secure them, and another interlocking part as well. The end result was a sturdy but intricate model that was amazing to behold. I felt very accomplished when I finished this model!
An Orchid for Susie
An Orchid for Susie by Michael LaFosse was another beautiful origami piece. The origami orchid captured the beautiful natural flow of an actual orchid, and included all of the parts of the real flower! I had a lot of fun making this model, and enjoyed working my way through all the steps of making this orchid.
“Two-Tone” the Origamido Elephant
“Two-Tone” the Origamido Elephant taught by Richard Alexander was a very fun piece to create. It was simple, but the result was adorable! This piece actually exceeded my expectations because it could stand! I made 2 elephants and thought they looked so cute standing on my desk. I especially loved the color change in the trunk of the elephant. I thought it added a bit of style and character to the model. Overall, I really enjoyed making this fun origami elephant!
Box Dogwood, Opus 803
The Box Dogwood by Robert Lang was another flower model. I particularly enjoyed this one because of the double sink in the middle of the flower that was used to represent the bud. This was my first ever double sink in origami, and I found it really satisfying to collapse the paper on the pre-creases! The petals were also folded really well, and the finished model definitely resembled a box dogwood flower.
Oscillation Fidget Spinner Pig
The Fidget Spinner Pig by Jeremy Shafer was a fun model to make and to use. The little fidget spinner looked like a pig, and it was very fun to spin. I loved the unique idea of the fidget spinner, and that the fidget spinner idea can be applied to other origami models, too. In this class, we also learned how to make 2 bonus models: the Fidget Spinner Box and the Google Drive Flicker. The pictures of these bonus models are below:
All three of these models were super cute and super fun to play with!
Koala
The origami Koala by Beth Johnson was an intricate model with an adorable result! Being 3-dimensional, the koala can stand by itself. The color change in the snout and the delicate shaping of the koala add a nice touch to the model. This model can be wet-folded, but I folded it dry and it still looked great. Because I folded it dry, to make the model stay together a bit better, I chose to add a drop of glue between the arms. The finished result was definitely worth the effort. Overall, the koala was a very fun model to fold!
Little Circus
The Little Circus by Miyuki Kawamura was a six-piece modular cube. I have not made many modular cubes, so it was fun to explore this type of origami more. I liked the fun pattern on the final model, and how sturdy the model was. I also loved how intricate the finished model looked, and the effect of the stripes of white and color. Overall, I really enjoyed making this model.
House
The origami House by Miyuki Kawamura was the last model of the convention. It was very fun to make this two-piece house, which ended up being very cute! I learned about how to make boxes of different shapes, because technically the roof and building are both boxes. Normally I don’t make much two-piece origami, so it was fun to explore this type of origami in this class! This model was a great one to end the unconvention with, and I really enjoyed the entire process of making this model.
