Can you draw this in ice?

Before I explain the title of this post I want to show another one of the charms from a Japanese artist, Mika Tajiri.  Mika is a Senior Metal Clay Instructor in Japan.  Her charm was so exquisite I just had to put it on a chain to wear as a necklace.

Mika's Charm

Mika's Card

My ancestry is Irish (among other things) so I'm obviously not going to do origami because it's not in my history.  But I did buy some square metal clay sheet at the conference so that I can give it a try.  For me, the most obvious origami to do is a "Junk Boat" as it was part of an assignment I gave to my students years ago.  

I can't take credit for coming up with this assignment.  (I would give credit if I could remember his name. )  This was one of those inspiring things I picked up at an art education conference.  (My students always dreaded when I went to a conference because they knew that meant more work for them when I got back.)

This was about a 1600 point assignment which took the entire six weeks grading period.  They first learned how to fold a junk boat.  Then they had to draw a schematic drawing of the process that would teach someone how to make one.  The rest of the assignment could be done in any order they wanted but they had to do five or six drawings of a junk boat as if it were made out of another material, such as ice.  (Hence the title.)   They also had to do five to six drawings of a junk boat as if a famous artist had drawn it.  (Let's say..... how would Van Gogh have drawn this?)  The choice of art material was their own.  Lastly, they had to design a working folder to keep all their work in.  The folder had to have a cover that made the viewer want to look inside.  It was an exhausting assignment that lead to a lot of complaining along the way but a sense of accomplishment when they were done.  (The students out did themselves on this assignment and I wish I had more pictures to share.)

Comic paper junk boat

It was also an assignment that lasted for years.  Even though the students complained, several of them kept the "Junk Boat" alive.  They continued to make them smaller and smaller, until they were smaller than a penny. (How they ever did that many folds with that small of paper is beyond me....... but I guess I will find out.  They were about the size of earrings.)  Then they went the opposite direction to see how big they could go.   One of my seniors even made one hundred of them (from McDonald's fliers) and hung them in a mobile.  

Small, smaller, smaller and smallest

Bigger

Biggest  (Probably could have handled 8 students in it...... if it hadn't been so flimsy!)

I guess that time does cycle around.  Now it's my turn to do my assignments.