Lang’s “Bald Eagle” (WOD 2016 #18)

20161110-lang-eagle
Trolling through my bookshelves looking for things to fold this year, I realized I hadn’t looked through this book in a while and thought it would be fun. (I can’t even figure out how long I’ve had the book – as near as I can tell, it is a first-edition copy, dated 1988, with the cover art shown here. A printout from the O-list inserted inside (with notes from the author on how to do a particularly tricky step of the Scorpion) is dated 1994; and Robert kindly signed the book for me in 2008. But from the state of wear on the book, and markings in it implying that I used it in IAP classes at MIT, from way back when I worked in the Aero Department, I suspect it might actually be from the late 80’s. Wow.) It appears to still be in print (yay, Dover!) and is available at Amazon with a different cover than my old copy.0486258378

Anyway, this “Bald Eagle” caught my eye. In mid-dive (technically called a “stoop”) the bird has its talons outstretched and a great 3D wing shape, not to mention perfectly-placed color changes to represent the adult eagle coloration. It definitely has some tricky bits – I’d rate this high-intermediate in difficulty, at least, if not complex, due to some closed sinks and such – and I’d recommend using something larger than typical 25 cm (10 inch) paper. That’s what I used for this one – just regular old commercial origami paper – and it made for extremely fiddly moments in the head and feet. (I should note that I did not do the feet the way the instructions directed, the paper was just too small for me to want to do what I was supposed to with the legs. My bird just has unusually fluffy leg feathers. Yep.) Obligatory purist alert: the piece is folded from a 2×1 rectangle, rather than a square.

This is my 18th fold for World Origami Days 2016. What are you folding?

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