Emperor Penguin

While in New York for the 2007 Origami USA Convention, one of my class choices was Marc Kirschenbaum's Penguin. My son, Seth, loved it - he has recently been into Webkinz, and his first virtual pet was a penguin, which he ironically named "Fireball". He asked me if I could fold him one that was black and white since the first one was folded from one of the pieces of foil paper provided at the convention which was not black. I later decided to design one of my own with a more realistic body shape, complete with three stubby toes on the short, flat feet. This is the first time I have used grafting in order to add features to a design - I decided that the feet and toes could come from the center of the paper since they should be thick and stubby anyway, so I just split the design down the diagonal axis and grafted in the toes. This design started out as an afterthought, but I am extremely satisfied with the end result.

Design date: July, 2008

Paper used: A single un-cut square of tissue foil.