โMother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.โ
-William Makepeace Thackeray, British novelist, author and illustrator.
Itโs that time of year again
One of the things I like to do when picking out things to fold and write about here is to find models that fit with a specific date, celebration or time of year. Unfortunately it doesnโt always work out. This time though โ Iโm on track โ just! This Sunday is Mothersโ Day in the United States, so hereโs a model to go with that theme.
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Actually Iโm not on time at all. I meant to do this post for Mothersโ Day in the UK but that was in March and I missed it. Still, nobody will notice if we donโt tell, and itโs in good time for this weekend. Happy Mothersโ Day!
About Mother Love
Iโm returning to one of my favourite themes and designers for this one โ celebrating old origami models that donโt get enough airtime, and the works of Neal Elias in particular. This is Mother Love โ one of his most popular designs. Dave Venables, Eliasโs friend who compiled the anthology of Eliasโs creations The Origami of Neal Elias says this is one of the models that he has been asked to teach most frequently.
Neal Elias created quite a few models with several subjects made out of a single sheet of paper, and this is one of them. Iโve folded a few others โ you might like to take a look at Llopioโs Moment of Truth, Andrew Segovia, Boy on a Rocking Horse, Siesta, and The Last Waltz as well.
The construction of Mother Love is very similar for all these multi-subject models Iโve made โ a rectangular sheet of paper, box pleated with an Elias Figure Base at one end. The clever bit is what happens at the other end with the other subject, and the bit in the middle where they join together without it looking like a mess thatโs just been smashed together.
In this case, the baby carriage isnโt actually Eliasโs design. It was created by Bun MacLean. Neal Elias appended a figure to it, which makes it a much more interesting model.
Folding Mother Love
This is an intermediate level model. As I said above, itโs basically an Elias Figure Base with some extra stuff tacked on, so if youโre familiar with box pleating, thereโs nothing here that should alarm you overly much.
This model is made from a rectangular sheet over paper with a ratio of 23:12. If that seems a bit weird, fold a 24ร12 grid and cut one strip off. Modern-day purists that want everything made from a square will be screaming at this point, but Iโm prepared to let this one off because itโs such a brilliant model.
The recommended paper size to start with (before you cut one strip off) is 44cm x 22cm (17.3in x 8.6in), and the finished model will be 10cm x 7cm (3.9in x 2.7in). I made this one out of 15cm x 30cm (6in x 12in), and the final result is 7cm x 5.5cm (2.7in x 2.1in). It took me about an hour to make it.
Any paper thatโs reasonably thin and coloured differently on both sides will do. I used shadow fold for this one, which I got from The Origami Shop here.ย The colour of the figure is a little weird, but I wanted a copper coloured carriage. Next time Iโll stick some white tissue paper to the back so it ends up white and copper.ย
Diagrams for Mother Love
You can find the instructions for this in the book The Origami of Neal Elias, which is available from the British Origami Society Amazon page here.ย It also includes his model of The Thinker, which I also featured on the blog.
Iโm not aware of a video showing how to make this. I might ask for permission to make one, but thatโs one for another time. Maybe Iโll do it for Mothersโ Day next year โ assuming I donโt miss it again.
Get Involved
Iโd love to hear your views on this Mothersโ Day origami model.ย Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below, or you find can me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Check out my Pinterest boards too!
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