My work in its real scale
I’ve decided to go back to everything tiny origami I did and show a scale reference with a ruler. This will be updated overtime as I add new works; hence I put it in the writing section as opposed to the journal. The photos with rulers have been added to the descriptions of these works.
My work in its real scale belongs to the following groups:
Japanfluence“Life is a Journey” was the first of my miniature origami which I presented with a ruler, which may have given some viewers the impression that this was my smallest creation (which it isn’t). I don’t know if they were only refering to that particular kind of sailboat; in which case it is my smallest because it is the only small sailboat of its kind I made so far.
I would’ve thought that the origami presented together with my hand or fingers would have given a good idea already, but then again, my hands are really small. After the responses I got on “Life is a journey” I decided to go back to every tiny origami I did and take pictures of them with rulers too:
Here is Born from the Hand, Born from Fingers and Born from the Pinky with their measurements. I don’t remember how big the paper was for “Born from the hand” though the wing was about 7mm long. The smaller crane was folded from a 6×6mm paper resulting in a crane with each wing about 2.5mm long
Bloomed from Fingers was folded from a 15×15mm piece of pair and was harder to fold than the 6×6mm crane.
Sailing Along the Lifeline was folded from a 6×10mm piece of paper.
Little White Peacock in a Field of Color has a body made of a 6×6mm paper and a tail faned out of a circle about 1cm in diameter which I cut a slit through.
The biggest challenge came in the smallest size. Thumbelina’s flower was folded out of a 3×3mm piece of trace paper.
I was bored at work one day. Life is a Journey was folded from a piece of paper about 7.5×7.5mm.
Born From the Cell was an attempt to fold from a 3×3mm of trace paper. It is not perfect yet but better than my first attemp ~
Then I attempted another :
and this is my studio :
More to come…
July 3 2008: Surprise! was folded from a 15×15mm piece of paper. I purposely didn’t go too small here because it would have been harder to present like this.
then I folded it a partner in the same size:
Love Birds
July 15 2008: Every Little Peace
Each crane was folded from a 5×5mm piece of paper.
August 3 2008: 3cm Family Swim
The scale reference is already in the art. Each duck was folded from trace paper. I can’t remember how big the paper was for mother duck; I believe 13×13mm. The two little ducklings in the centre were folded from 6×6mm pieces of trace paper while the little one at the back was folded from a 5×5mm piece of trace paper.
butchart
incredible talent… thank you for sharing part of the process….. is it calming to do? somewhat like meditiation? or is there pressure involved…. to get the perfect fold?
Mui-Ling Teh replied
It really depends on what I am making and at what size. At a normal size it is calming, but sometimes when it gets really small; like with thumbelina’s flower; there is pressure. Things made from 6×6mm paper can be calming for basic stuff like cranes and boats, but for complex flowers with many folds there is more pressure. I have given up on a few things before; I have attempted “Bloomed from Fingers” using 6×6mm and “Sailing Along the Lifeline” with 4×6mm, which I wasn’t successful with, but I may go back and go smaller again with new techniques.
BLYTHART
Do you use tweezers?
Mui-Ling Teh replied
For “Born from the Hand” I used tweezers for the last folds, and everything else I have used tweezers, needles and/or sometimes pins all the way.
butchart
wow… go for it…....b
webbie
soooo incredible talented ..Beautiful work Mui:)
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thanks webbie! I just added a new one here.
blamo
these must be so hard to do and you can only fold paper 8 times if i am correct Amazing patience and craft
Mui-Ling Teh replied
you can only fold paper eight times… I never heard of that; and most origami have more than eight steps; unless you meant layers? Maybe true in that case; 8 layers is like a paper folded over 3 times…
Karin Taylor
I say that it’s just amazing, unbelievable, incredible!!
Your creations have a way of speaking for themselves – what you do is very special and skilled
my husband Scott just said that must take an enormous amount of skill involved and patience
my son Ben (11) just said that must be the hardest thing in the word to do
my daughter Sarah (15) just said you must have been very patient, that’s amazing!!
xo xo xo Hugz Karin
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Awwwwww, Thank you so much Karin! Hehehe hardest thing in the world to do XD… For me school is harder than this lol! Okay my difficulty with school may have more to do with lack of equipment and material availability while these tiny things require very little. Thanks for sharing it with your family! This has really made my day :) Hugs
Karin Taylor
sorry for the spelling mistakes Mui-Ling ‘word’ should read ‘world’
and the grammatical error – remove ‘involved’....oops
Paul Scarsella
you are amazing!!!
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Than you Paul :D !!!
Tania Rose
For the gifted, their art often seems such an at-ease thing to do. Never take for granted the inspiration you manage to share with those of us in the BIG world.
Smiles to you, Tania
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Thank you Tania; it sure is a big world out there~
frozenfa
whoah!! nice one Mui-Ling!! love this entry.. one can see how amazing you are!! =D
love it, love it!! you’re so patient and delicate and oooO.. can this go into guiness world record or something? for smallest origami?? =D
Mui-Ling Teh replied
You’re not the first to mention guiness world record fa! I’m gonna take a look into it; I wish I could’ve folded “Born from the Cell” more nicely though. The first time Guiness was brought up I wanted to fold the 3×3mm crane first because I wanted to fold as small as I possibly could before considering to enter it into the records. Now I realize a crane at that size cannot be perfect; but I’m still pretty happy with what I have. I can present the 3×3mm crane; and if they don’t accept that due to craft, I have my 6×6mm as backup! (So long as no one folded smaller)
paul boast
gosh , just to create so small with detail , you must have tremendous paitience , the world could learn alot from souls like you , great art does not always have to be big !!
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Yes you are right! The world doesn’t seem to give enough credit to tiny art! Many thanks Paul :D
Dawnsky2
this is fantastic!!, you can really see the scale, you are sooo clever Mui-Ling, with such patients,,Thumbalinas Flower has to be the smallest,, well done indeed :))
Mui-Ling Teh replied
Well, Thumbelina’s Flower plus Born from the Cell. Both were folded from 3×3mm. Thanks Dawn!
Paul Suryawinata
Wooow… I have completely missed this!
How are you going with packaging your artwork, MLT? any thought of combining it with japanese printed art paper (if you know what i mean)?... those delicate rice papers can provide interesting packaging and even backgroun to your art
Mui-Ling Teh replied
I have made a case once; if you saw the journal I linked to my reply to your other comment you would have seen this:
I made these cases during the time I was trying to get them into a certain exhibition that was calling for entries; there were probably better ways to encase them like the rice paper you suggest, but I didn’t have a lot of materials on me at the time and the deadline was VERY soon. The possibilities are endless, and I really wish I had more time on my hands to spend on my art ~~
serendip 8 days ago
Your work is quite amazing – thank you so much for sharing it, and for such an in depth and detailed presentation. I can’t wait to show it to my 12 year old son who is always coming home from school with new (normal size) origami that he has made – ” . . .when I get bored” as he says! This could be a real challenge for him – so we’ll see what happens.
Mui-Ling Teh replied 7 days ago
I haven’t updated this in a long time :o)
But I’m glad you enjoyed. I’d be interested to know whether your son has taken on the challenge :o)