Just come to the end of my seventh week on Slimming World, which has been quite a long one since I didn’t go to my meeting on Monday. I was busy challenging my stamina to its limit at my first proper rock concert. Unfortunately I only managed as far as 20 minutes in to VR’s set, but I went, I saw, I sweated and I squee’d.

I’m definitely settling into Food Optimising as a habit now as far as catering for myself goes, but it’s still difficult to get my head around when it comes to eating out. But I’m getting there. I’m not being as strict as I was about syns, allowing myself to have a few every day to make sure I still get my treats. I wasn’t expecting much at the scales this week because of last week’s big loss, but when I went to group this morning, I was pleasantly surprised. I had lost 5 ½ lbs, which takes my total loss to two and a half stone otherwise known as 35lbs or 15.87kg, and I won Slimmer of the Week again!

I think I lost most of those 5 ½ lbs in sweat at the concert, so I guess I have Slash to thank for that! I could cope with regular rocking out with VR as a weight loss method. Would be more fun than the gym – as long as Scott leaves his megaphone behind and stops banging on about how going to a rock and roll show makes you feel alive. In the words of beings far superior to myself, “Sha-aaap!”

Aaanyway, I’m now just 9lb away from my first target, so I’m raring to go for more fun and games with the free foods, the speed foods, the superfree foods and a bit of body magic. The journey continues…

Latest Update: Just updating the URL for the 3D dragon from Grand Illusions.

Projects

General Sites

Most of these sites have a selection of models to make, often with PDF files to download and print…

• Paper University – site aimed at kids full of fun papercraft projects.
• Currell Graphics – lots of models, mainly of flying things and related stuff. Nice stuff, found via Make:.
• The Fitful Flog – a folder’s blog, with a whole lot of cool and different designs.
• Origami.com’s list of Diagrams – shedloads of them. Really. And it would have to be a big shed.
• Yamaha Paper Crafts – rare animals, seasons, and motorbikes. No idea what the obsession is with Japanese companies providing papercraft stuff online, but it’s good stuff, so we won’t complain. (Via Make:.)
• 3DPapermodel – site is based in Taiwan, so I don’t understand much of the text – looks pretty good from the pictures, though, and there’s lots of models, with PDFs to download.
• Canon’s Origami Projects and Papers – a nice selection of projects to print, and patterns for making your own stuff.
• Printable Patterned Paper for origami, from thekhans. (Thanks to Make:.)
• Homespun Magixx – lots of models to make, including SpongeBob Squarepants, Powerpuff Girls, Star Trek, The Tick, and 3D puzzles.
• Paper Forest – papercraft blog – lots of projects to try.
• Sarah’s Origami – instructions for origami models, written by Seraphim from Megatokyo.

Papercraft Projects

A whole lot more specific projects to have a go at…

• Into tinkering with electronics? How about making your own 555 timer chip from paper? OK, so it won’t work, but it looks the part – well, maybe a bit on the big side. (Via Make:.)
• Take a trip back to the schoolyard with the Origami Fortune Teller.
• Turn those old fashion mags into funky jewellery with Recycled Paper Beads.
• When you’ve had really good service at a restaurant, make sure you’re remembered by leaving a fun folded tip in the shape of a shirt, rosette or (not so sure about this one) a spider. Found on ReadyMade Blog.
• How about models of music synthesizers? The templates aren’t free, but they do look very cute.
• Make a custom tuckbox – enter your desired dimensions and this nifty little thing will produce a template. Found on ReadyMade Blog
• Make Your Own Envelopes – a colourful way of storing momentos, among other things. Via Lifehacker
• Origami Mini Jotter – What a fantastic way of storing bits of paper, index cards etc. Could this be the next Hipster PDA?
• Tiny, tiny planes at Paper Forest. Assembled with tweezers, and you need to use a single human hair as a glue brush. Sounds a bit tricky for me.
• The Wicked Wench from Pirates of the Caribbean. You’re supposed to search for the model, hidden on the site. Paper Forest give you some clues, and there’s more in the comments. Looks like a complicated one – it’s 16 pages of instructions, and 26 pages of parts. Wow.
• Models of Old Japan – again, I’ll link to Paper Forest’s page – they explain how to get the models. It’s not that they’re hidden, it’s just that the page is in Japanese.
• Origami Water Balloon on Instructables. Someone suggests in the comments that the same design can be filled with washing up liquid, and chucked in a fountain for bubbliciousness.
• Quake and Half-Life models – paper models of characters in computer games. Not pretty, but could look very cool next to your computer if you play the games concerned. (Via Boing Boing.)
• Paper Science from Paper Forest, including a microsope, a DNA model, and working slide rules. Great stuff. Not all of the models mentioned are free, but most are.
• LighthouseInATree have made an updated version of the classic Dirkon papercraft camera.
• Motorola DynaTAC Mobile Phone – I know someone right next to me now who’ll love this – a big old mobile phone – ‘brick’ style. Mmmmm, chunky.
• Paper Plants – cactii and more. Just don’t over-water them.
• Kaleidoscope Flowers – another one from PaperForest. Maybe you should just go there instead of here. Sorry, no, don’t do that. We’d miss you.
• Papercraft FTO – looks a bit too tricky for me. Impressive, though.
• CD Holder – an antidote to the FTO above – a nice easy one. Just a bit of paper folded around a CD.
• Flying Pig – they sell designs, including some pretty impressive animated models. There’s a few freebies too, including a really cool nodding sheep. Baa.
• Star Wars R2-D2 ‘Droidel’ – Happy Hannukah, Star Wars Fans (via Boing Boing).
• Shin Tanaka Custom Papercraft – Downloadable blank templates for you to decorate, build and photograph for display on the site. Via Make:
• Paper Pets – (Via Paper Forest.)
• Sushi – Japanese text, so you’ll have to work from the pictures unless you can read Japanese.
• Paper Steam Engine – with working flywheel, piston and valve. (Thanks to Boing Boing.)
• Grand Illusions – 3D Dragon – Dragon Optical Illusion. Print out the PDF from this page, and get cutting and folding – it’s worth it. The result is a 3-D origami dragon that seems to move it’s head to follow you as you move around it. It’s quite amazing. There’s a video on the site so you can get the idea, and it really does work.
• Readymech – an assortment of little boxes, that I can’t quite figure out the purpose of. Looks like they might be intended to sit on the walls of a cubicle – papercraft for the Dilberted. Nice designs.
• Assorted Cars – including more Citroens than you can shake a stick at. Well, actually, I just tried with a pencil, and successfully shook it at all of them, but there’s quite a few.
• Batmobile from 1966
• iPod Stand
• MoneyWallet – make a wallet out of money. Twenty notes.
• Panasonic Papercraft Appliances – in Japanese, but there’s pictures, and the links to the actual PDF files you need are labelled ‘PDF’. Looks like it’s one PDF file for the pattern, and another for the instructions.
• Build a Zoetrope – a mechanical cinema, or if you prefer, a mechanical animated GIF. Via Make:
• Paper Garden – build your own paper garden complete with flowers, insects and microbes! Via ReadyMade Blog
• April Fool Trickery – for those who can’t resist being a prankster, but like to keep their ‘A’ material for April 1st, this hi-larious project will have you in stitches for weeks. Both kinds.
• Origami PC – An incredibly detailed origami laptop. Via Make:
• Trout made from Japanese Betting Slips – looks impressively real.
• Cardboard Helicopter by Shannon Goff – this is fantastic – it’s almost 10 metres long. (Thanks to Boing Boing.)
• Disney Haunted Mansion – (Via Boing Boing.)
• Mini Papercraft Moog Synth – maybe your kids have been watching MTV Cribs too much if their doll’s house has a studio, but if it does, now you can make a moog for it. (Thanks to Make:.)
• V8 Engine – a year of work, containing 5756 pieces of paper. There’s no instructions for building your own, but it’s worth checking out the pictures. (Thanks to Boing Boing.)
• Post-it Mosaic – Elvis in Post-it notes? Uh-huh. This one’s worth checking out pictures of, at least – it takes up a whole wall of the company’s meeting room.

Recycling

Papercraft with stuff you’d otherwise be throwing out:

• Magazine Bowls – a stylish way of using old copies of Cosmo Bride, perhaps? Via Make:
• iPod Book an iPod case made out of a paperback. See also flickr set here. Via Make:.

Inspiration

• Cut-out Wall Art – a beautiful way of recycling unwanted paper and card. See a similar piece by the same artist here.
• Simon Elvins’ paper record player – uses a paper cone, and he says it “amplifies the sound enough to make it audible”. (Via Boing Boing.)
• Richard Sweeney makes wonderful geometric shapes, just by folding and scoring the paper. There’s more pics in his Flickr set than on his site. Also see a nice little post about him on Paper Forest.
• Joel Cooper – amazing origami that looks like woodcarvings. (Via Make:.)
• Chris Natrop – works of art from paper, some framed like paintings, some taking up most of a room.
• Peter Callesen – makes fantastic sculptures out of single A4 sheets and glue.

Related

• See also – Scrapbooking.
• See also – Paper Planes.
• Wikipedia on Origami – what it is, and what it isn’t.

…Gary Grainger – known around these parts as featcovers, occasional poster and owner of the finest moustache in the North East, has been working on a live album with his band, Black River Blues. Haven’t had a chance to catch the band play live, but I have heard Gary play, and he is a phenomenal guitarist.

Keep an eye on Gary’s blog for more information.

Last night I went to my weigh-in for my sixth week at Slimming World. My week had been very rough due to picking up a flu bug and an excruciating sore throat which made eating very, very difficult. I had to make quick alterations to my eating plans, and therefore didn’t know what to expect when standing before the mighty scales.

I stepped on the scales, and Frankie (Slimming World Consultant and Guardian Angel) looked at the display, looked at my book, looked at me… looked again at the scales. No, we could both see fairly clearly, and after the numbers were crunched and re-crunched we reached my weight loss figure for the week…

I lost ten and a half pounds. That takes my total weight loss from 19lb to 2 stone 1 pound or 29 pounds or 13.154kg. I won Slimmer of the Month and Slimmer of the Week for the fourth time!

This coming week is going to have to be done with great care to make sure this isn’t just ‘fluke weight’ from my illness threatening to come back on as soon as I start eating properly again, but I believe my appetite has changed now, and I don’t need as much as I used to, so if I’m careful this 10lb should stay away, and a few more should go with it.

I’m not going to my Slimming World meeting next week. Instead I’m going to the Manchester Apollo to scream like a woman demented at a certain top-hatted guitar player. Should be good for a few Body Magic points!

Live footage of Jake and Elwood rocking the house. God, I love YouTube.