Origami or Kirigami….you decide!

Today's piece of traditional Japanese paper folding, #19, a horse, required cutting *shocked face*. I was slightly perturbed by this, to the point where I nearly scrapped the horse idea. That was until I found out, thanks to Twitter, that origami with cutting is actually called Kirigami. So I thought, what the eck, let's give it a go….

The result was a rather funky looking horse….

 

Dragon Running

Today….#18 in the origami challenge….and one of my favourites of the month so far. A rather 'difficult' but impressive looking dragon…

This came after another very muddy run round the woods on a lovely bright, if somewhat, cold and frosty morning.

And it was very muddy….

Also, a visit to Lincoln this afternoon means I have some new socks, as I think these ones have just about had it….

 

Origami #17 and some general wonderings….

Over halfway through November's Challenge and it feels like I have been creating paper stuff for months. I'm also very aware that a blog post about a piece of paper folded up a ridiculous amount of times to create something that may or may not look like what it is supposed to look like may be beginning to get slightly tedious. So today's blog is being expanded into, to quote the blog's tagline, 'general wonderings'.

Firstly, let me get the whole origami thing out the way. Been creating a lot of animals lately so how about another box…..only 23 steps, but classed as 'difficult'….a starbox….#17….

The day started off with a run around Bourne Woods with the dog, left at about 9am, it felt pretty mild out for a November morning. I was ready for a lovely muddy run on the trails – and that was exactly what I got. At one point it was so muddy that the dog had to stop to check I was going to follow him. Came back caked in mud, trainers are on radiator to dry out, me thinks same again in the morning.

After a shower I had a walk into town to visit the Post Office to send a parcel. That was an experience. What is it with people that go to the Post Office? The people behind the counter are slow enough, but the people going up to the counter are worse. They go to the window with what seems like a letter to post and end up filling in a form, asking endless questions, counting money, paying by card, and then you hear them say “just one more thing my love”…..argh! I needed a visit to Costa just to relax…..

This evening I donned my wellies for a short stroll around Elsea Woods before it got to dark. I was greeted with a lovely early evening sky…..

For the rest of the evening I will be avoiding 'Strictly Come Dancing' and eating beef!

 

An amazing thing happened today….

Due to 'Speech Evening' at school yesterday evening I hadn't actually managed to fit in November's Challenge to create a daily piece of origami, so I sat down tonight, did some stretching exercises, and created two (it would indeed seem that I am turning into an origami master).

First up a vase (#15). A 'medium' difficulty piece with 29 steps…..

Looks good! AND very practical, can be used to sort various items: fluff, toenail clippings, marbles, fag butts, and other small pieces of crap.

After this first piece, confidence was sky high. So next came a dove (#16), another 'medium' difficulty piece with 32 steps…..

Again no issues, clearly pointing to the fact I AM an origami master. And then the amazing thing happened….the dove magically flew into the air and perched on the vase!!! I can hear the cries of disbelief, so it was lucky I managed to get photographic evidence…..

 

Every day’s a school day…..

They say that ‘every day’s a school day’ and today was exactly that. Forgetting that I am a teacher, and that every day IS in fact a school day, I have done TWO things I have never done before.

Scary

Earlier on tonight I ran around the woods in the dark for the first time ever. And let me just say now, despite being a machotough man, it was scary.

During the winter with the dark and cold nights, the walking of the dog becomes more and more of a chore. So a week or so ago I purchased a head torch with the idea that when I go running of an evening I would go round the woods and that way the dog can join me.

And so to tonight’s run……

It was really, really dark and really, really scary.

With the head torch on I could at least see where I was going, but the thing was it made the whole experience 100 times more scary. The shadows it casts freak you out, the trees become strange moving figures, the sounds in the woods zombies tracking you, the constant feeling of being watched and the whole ‘what is round the next corner’ makes for a rather strange experience. But having said all that, I actually quite enjoyed it! I even made a short video of the experience….

Origami Ghost

Another first for today is today’s origami attempt. To keep with the whole scary theme we’ve got going tonight, I have created a ghost….