Folded Paper Skeleton

Donny Mitchem created this folded paper skeleton. Glad he included some flat photos of it, so we could get an idea of how it's made. The head reminds me of Noah's 72. Papercraft Skull, in that it uses a similar folding concept. I wish there was a template available for this skeleton, so other people could make their own folded paper skeleton.

"San Calaca" Skull

This painted shelf unit is from Enrique Camacho so I'll let him tell you more...

"This is a painting I created for Houston's Lawndale Art Center silent auction, their biggest fundraiser every year. I wanted to combine skeletons and origami which I like very much. So I created a traditionally composed painting of a saint "San Calaca", or "Saint Calaca". The halo is painted as 'papel picado' (punched paper) which is used often in Mexican celebrations such as weddings and Day of the Dead. The skeleton is holding a paper crane, the most recognizable origami animal I could think of. In the complete art project, I created shelves to hold 6 origami animal figures, with skeletons painted on them. I wanted to bring the subject matter of the main painting into a more tangible setting, so that the painted scene and our own world would seem more connected."



This is a wonderful painting for a good cause, but I'm just as excited about this being used as a functional piece for displaying the origami skeleton art. Those little bony critters are complimentary to the skeleton saint. Almost like a blessing for the animals who have past. This is impressive work, Enrique. Thanks for sharing it.

CSI Skull

I recently got a phone call from Catherine Ortiz and Layla Rushing at Feeling Frameous, a custom picture framing shop in Studio City, California. They had been asked by the production people at the television show CSI to create an original folded dollar bill skull for an episode of the program. And for reference they gave them...my own Skullar Bill image! So Catherine and Layla tracked me down to ask if they could have permission to just fold their own version of my design and if I could give them a pattern. I was happy to give them permission, but sad to tell them that no pattern existed! We discussed how I believe it had been made and they said they'd give it a try, but in the end they decided to create their own unique skull dollar...

I love the end result and I'm glad a new skull design was created in the process. And even though my work won't end up in an episode of CSI it was fun getting to have a random conversation with some interesting folks I would have probably never met otherwise.

The episode of CSI, with their skull bill is scheduled to air on May 26th, so keep an eye out!

[UPDATE] Since a few people asked, I got Catherine to describe how they made it and here's what she said: "We took a piece of paper the size & shape of $ and mashed it around a champagne cork.  The jaw line sticks out a little more than the top of the head.  Stuff the skull with crumbled up paper.  take a strip of paper about 1/2 " wide and accordian fold the teeth.  Take another 2 strips of paper and roll them around a pencil to make the eyes.  Glue them together and cram them into the skull.  The crumpled up paper in the skull give the other stuff something to stick to.  That's it roughly.  As the day went on we resorted to my new favorite folding term  "pushing & mashing".  There is no pattern. Good luck."

Origami Skulls

Anita walked us through her amazing origami creations: “ Here are two pix of my origami skulls: Uncle Skullsy, designed in 1999, was my first effort at an origami skull; I think my favorite is basic skull #3 -- I like the shape.”

Picture one (blue background), in the corners clockwise from top left -- easy skull, basic skull #1, Uncle Skullsy, Mrs. Skullsy; center -- Jester skull.
Picture two (maroon background) clockwise from left -- skull phantom, winged skull, skull gift tag, skull-in-the-box (with basic skull #3), skull '07.

Bone Folder C says:

This is truly an incredible collection of origami skulls. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I am in awe of the amount of skill and diversity you exhibit in the collection, and I find it interesting to see something universal like the eye sockets handled so differently in each one. Happy Folding!