Michael LaFosse’s Origami Butterflies: Elegant Designs from a Master Folder

117 Pages·2013·186.555 MB·English

by  Michael G. LaFosse, Richard L. Alexander

Michael LaFosse’s
Origami
Butterf lies
Elegant Designs from a Master Folder
By Michael G. LaFosse and Richard L. Alexander
TUTTLE Publishing
Tokyo Rutland, Vermont Singapore
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2DedicatMioinchael LaFosse’s Origami Butterfl ies
Origami, or paper folding, has been a decorative craft for hun-
dreds of years, but only recently has it been recognized as a crea-
tive, expressive art. In only the last few decades, a vibrant inter-
national community of origami artists has fl ourished, thanks to
the help from selfl ess artists, authors, and origami ambassadors.
Michael LaFosse has designed and named origami butterfl ies to
honor their pioneering work. While some are still active, others
have sadly passed from our embrace—but not from our hearts.
Th is book is lovingly dedicated as a memorial to the contribu-
tions of the late: Akira Yoshizawa, Lillian Oppenheimer, Alice
Gray, Michael Shall, Eric Joisel, Emiko Kruckner, Killian Mans-
fi eld, Florence Temko, Joyce Rockmore, and V’Ann Cornelius.
The Mudarri Luna Moth and a Guy Kawasaki Swallowtail.
Acknowledgments
We thank Tuttle Publishing for the
opportunity to revisit our ori-
gami butterfl y designs with both
diagrams and video instructions to
make these projects more acces-
Tony Cheng
sible and enjoyable. We are grateful
(page 38)
to our editor, Jon Steever, for his
expert guidance and careful edit-
ing, and to the rest of the talented
Jane Winchell
Tuttle team. We gratefully acknowl-
(page 40)
edge the graphics design work of
Alice Gray
Greg Mudarri, who helped us with
(page 34)
our fi rst book of origami butterfl y
Makoto Yamaguchi designs at Origamido Studio, and
(page 48) we thank him for his past contribu-
tions and continued friendship.
Finally, these designs could not
have been developed without the
Kyoko Kondo inspirational works of Akira Yoshi-
(page 62) zawa, who also infl uenced Russell
Lillian Oppenheimer
Cashdollar. Th eir prior origami
(page 76)
butterfl y designs provided both
Vanessa Gould
seed and fertilizer for this Field of
(page 52)
Discovery!
Sok Song
(page 72)
Jan Polish
Killian Mansfi eld (page 44)
(page 66)
LEFT and RIGHT The tessellated
Eric Joisel fabric background is “Dodecagon
(page 68) Whirl Spools,” folded silk, from
Robert Lang Emiko Kruckner Shadowfolds by Chris K. Palmer.
(page 54) (page 58)
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Th e Alice 3
Contents
Th e Metamorphosis of an Origami Artist 4
Th e Exciting World of Origami Butterfl ies 8
Origami Butterfl ies Have So Many Uses! 12
Using Fine Quality Art Materials 16
Getting Started 18
Before being spent, a piece of paper currency
Origami Symbols Key 20 rests briefl y in the form of an origami butterfl y.
Th e Base Architecture 22
Th e Turning Point 27
Wing Styles and Variations 30
For Alice Gray 34
For Tony Cheng 38
For Jane Winchell 40
For Jan Polish 44
The Origamido Butterfl y
The Question Mark
For Makoto Yamaguchi 48 (page 82)
Guy Kawasaki (page 87)
(page 78)
For Vanessa Gould 52
For Robert Lang 54
For Emiko Kruckner 58
For Kyoko Kondo 62 Diana Wolf
V’Ann Cornelius
(page 90)
For Killian Mansfi eld 66 (page 92)
For Eric Joisel 68
Doris Asano
(page 88)
For Sok Song 72
For Lillian Oppenheimer 76
For Guy Kawasaki 78
Th e Origamido Butterfl y 82
Th e Boston Butterfl y 86 June Sakamoto
(page 94)
Th e Question Mark 87
For Doris Asano 88
Anne LaVin
For Diana Wolf 90 (page 98)
The Boston Butterfl y
For V’Ann Cornelius 92
(page 86)
For June Sakamoto 94
For Anne LaVin 98 The Mudarri Luna Moth
(page 106)
For Kyoto 100
For Russell Cashdollar 103
Th e Mudarri Luna Moth 106 Le Papillon de Nuit
(page 109)
Le Papillon de Nuit 109 Russell Cashdollar Kyoto
(page 103) (page 100)
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44 MMiicchhaaeell LLaaFFoossssee’’ss OOrriiggaammii BBuutttteerrflfl iieess
The Metamorphosis of an Origami Artist
by Richard Alexander, Origamido Studio Cofounder
Decorative paper folding has been around for at least a few hun- couch, and met Michael Shall, who taught him how to fold
dred years in Japan, but this early repertoire seems to include Akira Yoshizawa’s butterfl y (from a waterbomb base). During
only a few dozen models. In 1937, Akira Yoshizawa embraced this visit he also met Alice Gray, who worked in the entomol-
origami as his occupation. By 1952, a commission by Asahi ogy section at the American Museum of Natural History. She
Graf for a new set of zodiac origami brought him fame. Th e admired his complex praying mantis, and she invited him
response encouraged him to continue to design new origami to see the insects at the museum. As they rode the subway
in his own style of expressive paper folding. Yoshizawa is now uptown to the museum, Michael folded his fi rst origami
considered by many to be the father of expressive art origami. butterfl y from a pink, 8½” x 11” piece of scrap paper. Alice
Michael G. LaFosse grew up in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. admired it, but lamented it was not from a square. Th e bus
Even as a young child he was particularly good at making trip back home to Fitchburg gave him hours for exploration,
things of paper, and he worked his way through the craft and and he settled on three variations of the Butterfl y for Alice
origami books at the local library. He was a teenager when he Gray, each folded from a square.
saw color photos of works by origami master Akira Yoshizawa At the time, Michael’s complex models were dismissed by
in a 1970 article in Reader’s Digest. Th is was the fi rst time he some in New York as “paper sculpture,” and “not really ori-
realized it was possible to design your own origami. It was gami” the way they saw it, so he did not return to New York for
also the fi rst origami he considered as expressive art, and he many years. Even so, he was still actively creating and folding
read that article over and over again. Th e powerful photos origami art during that period. Most of his signature works
alone gave him the aspiration to become an origami artist! He were developed in that time. He even published and sold draw-
realized that Yoshizawa’s paper was much diff erent than any he ings for his origami F-14 Tomcat Fighter Jet (one of 28 original
had seen—much heavier than any he had folded. Yoshizawa’s paper airplane designs that now appear in the hardcover book
paper allowed soft er folds and expressive, curved lines. and DVD set, Planes for Brains, (Tuttle Publishing).
Fortunately for him, Fitchburg was a paper-making town, We met in 1988, when Michael was working as a chef, and
so Michael was able to learn about paper-making processes folding in the wee hours of the morning aft er the restaurant
and materials from his friends’ parents who worked in the had closed. His apartment had piles of crumpled paper, and I
mills. Eventually he found a way to make whatever type of pa- was overwhelmed by the beauty and complexity of his origa-
per he needed for his folded art, and he soon learned to locate mi masterworks the fi rst time I saw them. I found his work so
quality materials in the Boston area. spectacular, I off ered to help him exhibit it, and soon we were
Th e origami books Michael had borrowed had mentioned mounting and framing it, videotaping his folding sequences,
Lillian Oppenheimer and her Origami Center of America in and making special papers in the garage. We set up exhibits
New York City. In 1977, Michael found himself in New York, at craft fairs and museums. Buoyed by the public’s response,
and he paid an initial visit to Lillian. A short time later, he Michael called Lillian in 1991, and the timing could not have
returned with his origami creations, and showed her his real- been more perfect. She invited him to a master class by Akira
istic bat, cattleya orchid, horseshoe crab, and several lifelike Yoshizawa in Ossining, New York, which is where he fi nally
birds. Lillian invited several friends to see his works and to met Yoshizawa (as well as Emiko Kruckner, Jonathan Baxter,
fold with Michael. He spent a week there, sleeping on Lillian’s and other advanced folders from all over the country).
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5
A Butterfl y for Emiko
Kruckner visits Michael’s
origami Munich Orchids.
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6 Michael LaFosse’s Origami Butterfl ies
Russell Cashdollar designed and folded this display of colorful origami butterfl ies, which inspired LaFosse to revisit and expand his own folded butterfl y repertoire.
We met more serious origami artists at our fi rst origami con- ble collection of such designs in his book, Origami Inside-Out
vention of the Friends of the Origami Center, held in 1992 at a (Antroll, 1993). Aft er some extensive searching, Russell not
public school in New York City. One of the more memorable and only found his original models, he took a look at Michael’s
colorful displays was a collection of brightly patterned origami butterfl y designs and went back to explore more variations of
butterfl ies, designed and beautifully folded by Russell Cashdollar, his own! He had originally started with a Yoshizawa butterfl y
a folder from the Washington, D.C. area. design, and more recently has developed several new designs
Inspired by Russell’s work, Michael recalled his Butterfl y from frog and lily bases.
for Alice Gray that he’d designed and folded in 1978, and he Lasell College invited Michael to set up a two-fl oor show
began to revisit the potential for his butterfl y base. of original origami art at their Yamawaki Art & Cultural
We recently called Russell to ask if he had a photo of those Center in Newton, Massachusetts in 1994. Th e show included
original butterfl ies from 1992 that we might add to this book. several butterfl ies folded from his handmade papers. We
We began to reminisce with him about how his display had also released a self-published video folding tutorial, Origami
inspired Michael to revisit earlier works. Russell recalled that Butterfl ies & Moths that provided close-up shots of Michael
his butterfl ies had also prompted the noted origami creator masterfully working the details—shaping, curling, and tweak-
and author, John Montroll, to explore a variety of models that ing the models. He became a popular origami instructor at
displayed both sides of the paper. John published a remarka- schools, libraries, and quite frequently at Th e Butterfl y Place
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Th e Buff erfl y Project—at the Holocaust Museum, Houston 7
in Westford, Massachusetts, an amaz- The Butterfl y Project—at the
ing attraction developed and run by
Holocaust Museum, Houston
entomologist, George Leslie, and his
family.
We also constructed large versions
of Michael’s origami butterfl ies for re- Several million people were imprisoned and put to death in the Nazi concentra-
tail store window displays at Saks Fift h tion camps. Only a few survivors were left to be liberated at the end of World
Avenue in New York City in 1993, and War II, and it is important that their stories about the dangers of intolerance
more recently for Hermes of Paris on resonate with the next generation. Th ere is now a special memorial in Texas at
Madison Avenue. In 1996, we opened the Morgan Family Center’s Holocaust Museum in Houston. Paper butterfl ies
the Origamido Studio, where we taught sent to the memorial represent the souls of 1,500,000 innocent children who
classes, made handmade paper, and perished in the Holocaust. For information about this memorial, visit hmh.org.
framed art (including dozens of but-
terfl ies suitable for weddings, anniver-
saries, or birthdays). Even the scraps of
our handmade papers became origami
butterfl y earrings and pins that we and
our students enjoyed folding.
It’s amazing to think that just a
few photos of Yoshizawa’s remarkable
works from Reader’s Digest in 1970
were enough to trigger an artistic
metamorphosis! Michael’s origami but-
terfl y design system has evolved a great
deal since he folded his fi rst original
model for Alice Gray in 1978. Decades
More than two thousand butterfl ies to be added to the hundreds of thousands already collected
later, this book distills Michael’s life- by the Holocaust Museum for the Butterfl y Project. The museum’s goal is to collect 1.5 million
time of inventive, elegant, and pleasing handmade butterfl ies to commemorate the children who perished in the Holocaust.
origami butterfl y designs. Th eir overall
shape and presence, balance, and the
interrelationship of line, form, and
color must all be just right before Mi-
chael considers a design complete. He
oft en thinks of the impact Yoshizawa’s
art had upon him, and wonders what
young minds must be thinking when
their eyes catch their fi rst glimpse of a
beautiful origami butterfl y.
A collection of paper butterfl ies created for the Holocaust Museum’s Butterfl y Project by a
tenth grade English class at Henrico High School in Henrico, VA.
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