The Eco-bat. Because sometimes I fold things other than laundry.

Meet the Eco -bat.  He's the second iteration of an origami pattern I found in this fabulous book:  Advanced Origami by Michael LaFosse.   His forms are so charming--it's inspiring.  Of course, my bat didn't come out as well as his, but after only a year of folding paper, I'm not all that advanced...

I love to play around with papers and fabrics--it's a texture thing, I guess.  For this little bat, I was going to use some luscious Japanese washi paper, but the color and feel of a brown paper bag struck me as an interesting compromise.   He's recycled, technically, so he's an eco-bat.

I have a ton of ideas for folding different animals.  I'm a long way from making my own patterns, but with each model I attempt, I know I am getting better at approximating the folds.   What is so exciting to me is the step-by-step nature of origami.  If you follow each step with precision, you can end up with something entirely different from the simple piece of paper you started with.  It feels like a kind of controlled magic.  

Eco-bat started as a piece of 8x8 paper from a grocery bag.  I steamed, starched, ironed, and re-flattened it, and then I followed the 49 steps to get his form.   I wish I could say I could do something like this in one sitting--but he served as a bookmark in the origami book in between several stages.   When I finally put the eyes in yesterday, I was pretty happy with the end result.  The first bat didn't take the folds as well.  If I had the patience, I would do a third and fourth, and each would probably be a bit better.

But my origami bat needed to be completed soon--he's a gift for my dad, who is a bat aficionado.   I'm sending Eco-bat off this weekend to his new home.  

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