Ten lords a-leaping

stufarq · 03 Oct 2016, 18:46

I'm looking for ideas, if anyone's got any.

Where my parents and sister all now live, in Cheshire, they have a very active community, with lots of events, festivals etc. A couple of years ago, in the run up to Christmas, one of the local churches did a nativity festival, with lots of different nativities made in different ways eg my mum knitted one, there was a floral one etc. Last year they did Christmas trees, and my mum asked me to do an origami one. Lots of individuals in the church itself contribute, but so do the local schools and businesses - for instance, last year the hairdresser did a tree decorated with rollers and scissors, and a playgroup made a tree out of the kids' handprints. Lots of inventive and entertaining stuff.

This year it's Christmas songs, and I've spent the whole year working on an elaborate origami Twelve Days of Christmas. But I've finally got to the one I've been dreading all year: ten lords a-leaping. What exactly does a lord look like? What makes it recognisably a lord?

I've been trying to come up with an idea of how to do this one. I considered ignoring the lord bit and just going for leaping, with acrobats or gymnasts, but then people would just wonder why they weren't lords, and might not even realise they're leaping.

Two other ideas that came from a friend are Lord of the Rings characters, or various figures known as "lord" (eg Jesus, Nelson, Vader), but I'm still not sure. People coming in off the street have to spot the lord connection pretty much immediately. And bear in mind origami models are usually fairly stylised - they have to be identifiable from shape rather than the sorts of details you can add with a drawing. Would they connect LOTR to lords? If I do ten individual lords, that has to be ten different figures who everyone thinks of as "lord", and who can be recognisably depicted in a fairly stylised way.

As for leaping, I think I'm going to have to resort to putting them on a trampoline. (It's not always a simple case of posing the model so it looks like it's leaping. For instance, something that people would recognise as Jesus probably wouldn't have visible legs, and would be more like the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio.)

If I don't come up with something better in the next day or two, I'm going to have to commit to one of these, but I thought I'd ask the intelligentsia first. And you lot while I'm at it. Anyone got any useful suggestions?

03 Oct 2016, 18:55

Can you do origami Vaders posed on wire stands?

stufarq · 03 Oct 2016, 19:29

You mean just ten Darth Vaders? Again, I'm not sure if people would make the connection that he's a lord. If he's among lots of other lords, they might - if they're ones everyone immediately thinks of as lords. Do you think ten Vaders would make more sense to the average punter?

As for wire stands, yes, there are various ways of making them airborne. There'll be a sky backdrop, and I might just stick them to that. Although something like a trampoline might get the point across more (otherwise they could just be a-floating). I think the leaping part is the least difficult, although I'm certainly open to other ideas on it.

03 Oct 2016, 19:56

I think the kids might connect Vader to Lord Vader. Maybe even some of the adults

You need 10 different lords?

paint it black · 03 Oct 2016, 20:01

do little crowns or for day wear, big floppy hats

Being645 · 03 Oct 2016, 20:08

long white wavy hair wigs?

stufarq · 03 Oct 2016, 21:44

Pista wrote:I think the kids might connect Vader to Lord Vader. Maybe even some of the adults
You need 10 different lords?

No, I just thought it might be easier to make the connection. People won't spend time puzzling it out. If they don't see it straight away, they'll just be confused and move on.

Being645 wrote:long white wavy hair wigs?

I think most people would think they were judges or barristers. That's the problem: it needs to be something people would immediately associate with lords and not possibly with something else, leaving them scratching their heads as to why I've been so obscure.

paint it black wrote:do little crowns or for day wear, big floppy hats

Again, I think people would think kings or, er, the Funky Phantom.

But please keep 'em coming. Something might stick.

Microcosmia · 03 Oct 2016, 22:26

I'd say go for a selection of the 10 most recognisable ones a mix of LOTR, Vader, and some religious ones and maybe a banner from heaven over them all with "I am your Father" just so no-one can justifiably take offence.

paint it black · 03 Oct 2016, 23:02

Make ten the same. Most people can count to ten

stufarq · 03 Oct 2016, 23:45

Microcosmia wrote:I'd say go for a selection of the 10 most recognisable ones a mix of LOTR, Vader, and some religious ones and maybe a banner from heaven over them all with "I am your Father" just so no-one can justifiably take offence.

That's probably still favourite at the moment (although obviously I'm prepared to be swayed by a stronger idea), as a variety gives people more clues they're all lords. But I then have to come up with ten lords. Not just recognisable figures whom also happen to be lords, but ones most people will look at and immediately think "oh yeah, they're all lords". So far I've only got four or five I think would definitely work: Jesus, Buddha, a TARDIS (Time Lord), someone from LOTR (it would probably need to be Gollum actually holding the ring), and maybe Darth Vader. (I'm still not sure everyone would associate him with lord, but if they get the idea from the rest, they'll accept one or two they maybe didn't know were lords.) Might be able to knock up a recognisable Dick Whittington (Lord Mayor of London). Any suggestions for others? I can think of a couple of others, but I'm not sure if most people think of them as lords, so I won't mention them and see if anyone suggests them. There are also some obvious ones (eg Nelson) I don't think I can do in origami.

paint it black wrote:Make ten the same. Most people can count to ten

What do you reckon are the advantages of doing ten the same rather than ten different?

paint it black · 04 Oct 2016, 00:14

Thinking different, make something akin to a cricket ground = 10 at Lord's a leaping

stufarq · 04 Oct 2016, 01:59

I did think of cricket, but again, I'm not sure people would automatically make the leap to lords (cos it's where they play, not what they are). It has to be obvious straight away.

Having aid that, I thought of including a cricketer among the others. Didn't think of an entire cricket match. Worth mulling over.

Being645 · 04 Oct 2016, 12:17

http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2012/12/ ... a-leaping/

That looks doable (techically) ...

...

stufarq · 04 Oct 2016, 13:22

Those are pretty good. And I think, in the context of all the others (swans, geese, pipers etc), they probably would get across lords a-leaping fairly well. But they kind of illustrate one of the difficulties I mentioned in my first post: they have detail you can't always get in origami, which relies mainly on recognisable shapes. Having said that, the top hats might sell it, and I can definitely do tailcoats. This one's definitely worth considering. Thanks.

04 Oct 2016, 13:30

The closest thing to a Lord that I can think of (that I've folded anyway) is Satoshi Kamiya's Wizard design.

It's a big job getting ten of those folded by Christmas though! Good luck

stufarq · 04 Oct 2016, 15:03

markfiend wrote:The closest thing to a Lord that I can think of (that I've folded anyway) is Satoshi Kamiya's Wizard design.

It's a big job getting ten of those folded by Christmas though! Good luck

I've seen pictures of that model. I may even have the instructions or a video tutorial somewhere in my huge "to do" folder. Again, though, I'm not sure most people would see it as a lord.

Being off work just now, time isn't too much of an issue, but I still have eleven pipers and twelve drummers to do, and I'm thinking of attempting Eric Joisel's dwarf band for that, which you'll know may be overambitious! We'll see.

Meanwhile, here's a rough attempt at something based on those cookies Being645 posted. I had to cheat and colour the hat and boots to make it look right. What does everyone think?

04 Oct 2016, 15:19

Ooh blimey I've never attempted anything by Eric Joisel. There might be something in his work that could do as a Lord?

One of John Montroll's books has an origami twelve days of Christmas but the models are little better than generic birds and people really.

stufarq · 04 Oct 2016, 15:44

markfiend wrote:Ooh blimey I've never attempted anything by Eric Joisel. There might be something in his work that could do as a Lord?

One of John Montroll's books has an origami twelve days of Christmas but the models are little better than generic birds and people really.

Neither have I, and your reaction doesn't fill me with confidence! But I found a tutorial on YouTube, so I'll at least give it a try.

John Montroll's book was my starting point, but I think I've only used two of his models in the end - his partridge (which I had to modify, cos it's really a cardinal), and his maids a-milking, cos funnily enough there aren't many origami milkmaids around. Oh, I might have used his hen too. From the beginning my idea was, where possible, rather than having three identical hens, six identical geese etc, they'd all be different. In the end, my doves, calling birds and milkmaids all had to be the same, with minor variations, but I've got six different geese, seven different hens, nine dancing ladies and so on. (Well, seven dancing ladies, cos I've got three the same in formation, which I quite like.) It's meant finding lots of new models, attempting some more advanced than I've done before, and learning some new techniques (I learned Vincent Floderer's crumpling, then worked out how to turn his mushroom into fairly realistic trees).

Apologies to everyone else for being all technical there, but it's nice sometimes to talk origami with someone else who does it. Although, for the record, I've seen fiendy's models, and he's far more advanced than me.

stufarq · 04 Oct 2016, 15:47

stufarq wrote:Meanwhile, here's a rough attempt at something based on those cookies Being645 posted. I had to cheat and colour the hat and boots to make it look right. What does everyone think?

Might help if I actually posted the link!

04 Oct 2016, 17:00

I think that works pretty well as a Lord.

I've never tried any of Eric Joisel's models, but a quick look at his old site is pretty daunting!

stufarq · 04 Oct 2016, 17:14

I know. I'll probably fail miserably, but nothing ventured. I might at least get something usable. And if not, the figure I've used to make the lord is quite variable (it's already appeared as three of my dancers), so that's a fallback.

As far as lords are concerned, I think we may have a winner. Thanks everyone for the suggestions, and especially Being645 for finding the cookies. Once the whole thing's complete and assembled (first weekend of December) I'll post some photos for anyone who's interested.

SmileySister · 04 Oct 2016, 21:46

I initially thought of The House of Lords but I like the cookie Lords best

Microcosmia · 04 Oct 2016, 23:48

SmileySister wrote:I initially thought of The House of Lords but I like the cookie Lords best

Would that be ten cookie lords dressed in frock coats, hats, sunglasses, leather trousers and holding cigarettes by any chance?

SmileySister · 05 Oct 2016, 00:04

Microcosmia wrote:
SmileySister wrote:I initially thought of The House of Lords but I like the cookie Lords best
Would that be ten cookie lords dressed in frock coats, hats, sunglasses, leather trousers and holding cigarettes by any chance?

Busted

Being645 · 05 Oct 2016, 11:34

SmileySister wrote:
Microcosmia wrote:
SmileySister wrote:I initially thought of The House of Lords but I like the cookie Lords best
Would that be ten cookie lords dressed in frock coats, hats, sunglasses, leather trousers and holding cigarettes by any chance?
Busted

stufarq wrote:Once the whole thing's complete and assembled (first weekend of December) I'll post some photos for anyone who's interested.

Nice ...

... I'm looking forward to seeing them ...