Origami meets knitting?

The so-called chinese 3d-modules seems to be able to take almost any shape with any pattern. The models are made out of many hundreds of small modules which then have to be assembled according to a pattern, that much reminds of knitting or embroidery, rather than of papercrafts. This technique almost completely negates the three-dimensionality of the paper modules: each unit acts more like a pixel. Interesting paradox...
Blue's Chinese 3d modular origami

Flickr Groups

Before I go on holiday for ten days I'm posting a good flickr group, here we go:

I have been posting far to much on origami (almost only), so to restore the balance, please visit the Fabric Manipulation Flickr Group. It has lots of fotos that deal with a very similar issue as this blog: how to make a 2d-material a 3d-surface, and what this means to the material. It shows countless techniques, be it dyeing, stitching, felting, pleating...

CraftROBO

The model workshop at my university has a laser cutter, so until now, I thought that this was the only way to cut an intricate pattern into paper without having it to do yourself with scissors or a knife.
But laser cutters are very expensive for private persons - and if you really just want to cut paper, they are far too advanced, since they can also cut perspex, wood, metal... anything, really.
I have not tried it, but this craftRobo-thing seems cool, it works like a printer with a blade I think. The cheapest one (cuts A4-Size) costs around 300 Euro, larger ones up to 3000.

Paper artist Jeffrey Rutzky from NYC has a nice flickr-Stream on his craftROBO-Kirigami work.

Golic's channel on metacafe.com

This is a very nice video-channel on papercrafts and papertricks with some amazing little gadgets to play with. Golic works very unconventional, with sticky tape and stapler, which I like.
Golic's Video Channel

The Making of Mens et Manus, by Brian Chan

The Making of Mens et Manus, by Brian Chan

Watch Brian Chan's Video... he doesn't tell you much about origami (except that he's really good at it and you're probably not), but it's still funny.

Learn how to read crease patterns!

I already wrote earlier about crease patterns in origami - I think they are fascinating, because they show the essence of what makes things (paper in this case) go from planar to plastic.
There are actually a lot of tutorials on basic crease pattern reading on the net! I am collecting some links here, but I have not yet found the time to test them. Still, merely by looking at a few simpler crease patterns, you already get the feel of how your brain should start working, and you start identifying little fingers or other elements, that just seem to jump out of the page/screen.
It was expecially on origami artist Eric Joisel's page, that this happened to me, even though the models are rather complex and I wouldn't be able to fold them. He doesn't teach a tutorial, but just explains a little about his creation process.
creasepattern.com has a nice tutorial.
There is also Eileen's Beginner's Guide to CP, which is looking good...

The whole crease pattern idea seems to have a lot to do with scripting origami patterns on a computer... I'll research more on that as soon as I can.

Lothar's Stickprogramm

The adorable website of German software engeneer Lothar Teichert features (amongst other little free programs and games) a very useful little program, that pixelates any bitmap picture so it can be used as a pattern for needlepoint-embroidery, or really any craft, that creates pattern with small units: filet crocheting, knitting, mosaics...
The resolution can be adjusted, of course. The user can also create his/her own colour palette, or reduce the pallette.
The application basic yet easy (very) to use and free!
but... sadly only for pc.