Tessellated leather

After the confetti sample, I decided I needed to make a more controlled model. I followed the example in the origami book again, cutting the shapes exactly this time. I had some some leather samples gleaned from NSW leather - these are foiled/perforated leathers - really lovely.

The leather samples divide almost perfectly into 8 squares, with only a small strip of waste down the side. The pieces for the model are right angled isosceles triangles, so I cut the squares in half diagonally.

I decided to use glue (foss - contact adhesive used for leather), as I can get a crisp finish and fix the pieces all the way to the edges without messy/crafty looking stitching. I glued them onto scrap lycra in the origami configuration.



The result is very beautiful and as you can see fun to play with! It interacts with your own movement - and this articulation is created by the spaces. It is an interesting contrast to the paper version which holds it's own weight, and also the direction of the articulations is controlled, which is what holds the form. This is an example of the material fitting the use - this leather is very firm and cardboard like, which lends itself well to this. The waste leather I have been using is a garment weight leather which is more malleable and organic in feel - which are usable properties in it's own right, but not suited to this. So, this exercise has shown that clean and crisp is more visually successful, something difficult for me to achieve with my regular waste. Also, there is something in the articulation and the gaps....what?....there is room for more work here.
Another thing....videoing myself was very intriguing. Viewing myself afterwards doing something gives a different perspective, and I think this could be a valuable way of capturing and understanding what I'm doing, and even changing how I feel about what I've done.

p.s. I just watched the video again and it has triggered further thoughts....
- there is something in watching my hands "doing"
- the collapsing of the model and the way it folds on itself is in itself "uncontrolled", especially in contrast to the paper model. This started out as being very controlled in the material and make, but the outcome has much less stagnancy and a life that none of the other experiments have so far....so????