Gizmodo Australia » origami

Japanese ‘Origami Aeroplane’ Enthusiast Breaks World Record for Longest Paper Plane Flight

Dan Nosowitz — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Takuo Toda, head of the Japan Origami Aeroplane Association (classy!) set a new world record with his 27.9 second flight. His greatest ambition, however, is to launch a paper plane…from space.

Toda’s record-breaking paper plane was made from one uncut sheet of paper, because he’s a pro, and professional origami aeroplane modelers would never stoop so far as to use scissors. The Telegraph reports that the plane was 10cm long (about four inches), which seems tiny to us, but then, we’re not paper aviation experts.

Oddly, Toda wants to launch his specially-designed paper planes from space. Seriously.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced that it would fund a three-year, 90 million yen (£617,000) study into the feasibility of launching paper darts from the International Space Station.

Next up: Testing to see if ants can be trained to sort tiny screws in space. [The Telegraph]

Friday Easy Origami: Business Card Becomes iPod Earbud Winder

Wilson Rothman — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:30:00 +0000

Those designers at Core77 never stop. Today, one of them devised a super-simple but damn-if-it’s-not-worth-it business-card hack that finally gives you a way to stash those damn white earbuds. Share your attempts in comments. [Core77]

Dollar Origami iPhone App Instructs How to Properly Fold a Bill

Gizmodo US Edition — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:20:00 +0000

Ever wanted to create a dollar bill TIE Fighter? What about a shirt? Well Dollar Origami is here to help, but let me warn you it’s much harder than you think…

The $US1 iPhone app has 50 different dollar bill origamis to choose from and each has its own step-by-step instructions. The origamis range from animals, clothing, rings, structures, Yoda, and more. There’s a few extra features like a self timer for testing your speediness and a sequence builder for creating your own origamis. But I was unable to really utilise this app to its full potential for one simple reason, I’m horrible at making origamis.

I started off pretty ambitious and jumped right into the cool looking TIE Fighter. After 15 minutes and many sighs of frustration I gave up. Here’s what my Dollar Bill TIE Fighter looks like, yea I know it’s pretty pathetic.

Even though the TIE Fighter killed my dreams of becoming a professional Dollar Origamist I decided to try my luck at folding a T-shirt. Well the sleeves aren’t exactly perfect but I guess I did it?

[Dollar Origami]

How To: Origami Millennium Falcon

Brian Lam — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:00:55 +0000

Wired’s January issue contains this origami Millennium Falcon tutorial. Even better, the creator, Philip Schulz, has a website full of origami directions almost every ship in the imperial and rebel fleet. [HappyMagPie via Wired]

Space Origami Kit (Pew, Pew, Blast Off, Etc)

Mark Wilson — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:15:00 +0000

Paper cranes are alright, but they won’t match our bedsheets.

The $US10 Space Origami Kit features 120 pieces of square paper along with a 32-page instruction manual that will teach you how to build exciting space stuff like rockets, astronauts, lunar modules and super novas—all while disguising your childhood fantasies into an age-old, respectable art form. [The Spoon Sisters via bbGadgets]

Amazing Origami Star Trek, Star Wars Spaceships Make Good Use of Dollars

Kit Eaton — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Spaceships, famous sci-fi ones from Star Trek and Star Wars, made of cunningly folded dollar bills—the Millenium Falcon takes just three dollar bills—and possessing fantastic detail. Enough said. Well, that and the fact it seems a pretty good use for dollar notes nowadays. Check out the gallery below, and more of origamist (?) Won Park’s work at the DeviantArt link. [DeviantArt via Dvice]

Origami Space Shuttles Unveiled, Kids Around the World Hold Their Breath

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:00:00 +0000

This has to be the dream of every kid and adult on Earth: Make a paper plane and throw it from orbit. Well, there’s one lucky Japanese astronaut who is going to get nine of them, a paper space shuttle fleet which will go up to the International Space Station. Then, they will be dropped from orbit into a 400km, two-day flight to the ground. If you are thinking that these origami spacecrafts won’t be able to resist the re-entry, think again: They can sustain Mach 7 speeds (8,500kph) and 200-degree Celsius temperatures.

Of course, these are no ordinary paper planes. Each of the 35 x 22cm 28 gram space shuttles are made with a special paper, treated with chemical products to allow it to resist such temperatures. The shuttles were tested in a hypersonic wind tunnel at the beginning of the year and, if everything goes well, they will make the trip to Kibo, the Japanese ISS module, on board the Space Shuttle Discovery in February.

Once they reach their destination, astronaut Dr. Koichi Wakata will then throw them in their voyage either by hand or using Dextre, the gigantic robotic arm on the ISS.

If they are lucky, they will reach populated areas, where they can be picked and returned to Japan’s space agency. Hopefully for money, because if I got one of these from the ISS, I would keep it or sell it on eBay. [Asahi via Pink Tentacle]

Futuristic Origami Desk Cut and Folded from a Single Sheet of Steel

Sean Fallon — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:20:00 +0000

No doubt about it, this is one bad-ass-looking desk. But the 3Fold from Formtank is more than just a striking visual design—it is also impressive because it was cut and folded from a single sheet of steel using CAD/CAM technology. Formtank bills it as an excellent CEO desk, which is why it takes CEO money to buy one. Constructing your own version starts at around US$7,000. [Formtank via Core77 via Boing Boing]

Netflix Origami Folds Out the Trash

Mark Wilson — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Even with Netflix’s reusable mailers, the little torn-off panels begin to add up. Of course, you could just throw these away. Or if you’re a bit more pretentious about it, you could recycle them and tell the whole block what a fantastic recycler you are—after all, some people just throw these things away. Or, if you’re really great—and by “great” I mean freaky-obsessive compulsive—you’ll fold these scraps into origami. Full instructions await those who are finished tweezing microscopic shreds of red paper from their rug while patting their heads and singing The Wheels on the Bus. [NetFlix Origami]

WALL-E Made From ORIGAM-E

Mark Wilson — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:20:00 +0000

As if yesterday’s Iron Man origami wasn’t enough to seal artist Brian Chan into our hearts for ever and ever, he’s created an even more impressive paper robot masterpiece: an origami WALL-E. To quell rumours started in the comments yesterday, yes, this model is folded from one uncut piece of paper.

And if you don’t believe that, here’s the pattern for you to try for yourself (before failing and just taking everyone’s word for it):

Origami WALL-E vs. origami Iron Man, who wins? [Brian Chan via Geekologie]