The Origami Forum

In a couple months I'm planning to go to DragonCon and I had the idea that I might dress up as a pirate. Not wanting to be a normal pirate like anyone else, I want to come up with as many pirate accessories and accouterments made out of paper as I can. To that end, I have been tracking down and trying out different diagrams and models.

In this endeavor, I could use some help from you guys. I'm looking for suggestions of good pirate accessory models and where I can find the diagrams for them.

Things I've considered so far:

Sword/Saber/Dagger - I'm currently leaning toward a model in Origami Unusual 1

Parrot - I haven't picked out a model for this yet.

Crossbow - I have a good model for this.

Hat - I'd really like a tricorner hat, but I haven't been able to find a good one yet. My current plan is to make a traditional, newspaper-style hat and maybe add some paper crossbones to it. I have a decent bone model, although I don't have a skull model I'm happy with.

Flintlock Pistol - I'm kind of stuck on this one. The only model that I know of is in BOS Magazine 71 August 1978 and I don't know if the model is worth the trouble of tracking down a copy because I haven't seen it. If anyone has this diagram, a picture or description of the model would be handy.

Collapsing Telescope - I have a decent diagram for this, too.

Any suggestions for good diagrams of these models, as well as any other pirate-y things I haven't listed would be appreciated.

For the parrot I would recommend you Gerwin´s model here. If you make it large enough, it shouldn´t be a problem to attach it to your shoulder and it is nicely 3D.

Other accessories that come to my mind are in the first place a patch and maybe some kind of bandage either around your leg or arm.

Was there a skull model in the related monthly folding challenge that would please you? If so, maybe it would be possible to offer some instructions.

I will have a look if I can find diagrams for a tricorner hat somewhere, maybe an upside down triangular bowl could be used.

Just thought up a very very easy tricorner hat, hope you like it.

very interesting!

Clever hat idea Anna!

For a parrot I would recommend robert langs in his very early
book 'Complete book of origami'. It has some realism to it and
is quick to fold. Plus the legs look like they could attach easily to
a shoulder. Hope that helps!

Oruhito

i know that cupcake has a sword you could fold in his blog: http://wrappedfolds.blogspot.com/2007/0 ... ointy.html

and there is a crossbow at mark leonards site

origami_8, that's one of the parrots I am considering, since it has a nice, clean parrot look to it.

I thought about an eye patch at one point, but since I wear glasses all the time, I was concerned it might took too goofy.

As far as skulls from the monthly challenge, the most useful one for this would probably be fishgoth's, although I could probably freehand something similar. It reminds me of a jack-o-lantern model I have diagrams for.

I did experiment with that kind of tricorner hat from a square, but I wasn't happy with the way the top comes out. I'd really like something more realistic and formed.

Oruhito, I'll take a look at that parrot, thanks.

dogs rock012, I hadn't seen that sword. I'll try one, although the end result is very similar, and I think the diagrams I have yield a longer sword for the same size paper.

Mark Leonard's crossbow is the one I'm folding.

As for more accessories...
A monkey, a compass, and a bandanna might be neat...although I have no idea how you would make an origami bandana (probably just use a square ). Good luck with the costume!

Hey, here's one that seems to have slipped everyone's minds. An eyepatch! I doodled one up last year for a party, it turned out amazing.



It actually looked better than any of the plastic ones there!

If you read the previous conversation carefully, you will see, that a patch was already suggested, but rejected because of the fact that he´s wearing glasses and it would probably look a little bit weird.

But good work

The following things were made out of paper. The parrot, bandoleer, crossbow, bolts, sword, knife, treasure chest, treasure (not visible), hat, flintlock pistol, and telescope. I had to make up my own designs for the hat and flintlock pistol because I couldn't find anything suitable. I think things worked out well, but the costume itself was a bit too subtle for the audience at DragonCon, and most people didn't really "get" it.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions.

i think that hat is awesome! Well done!

How clever! Don't worry about those other people who don't get it. (non-origamists) Perhaps we should make a name for someone who doesn't fold like 'muggles' in Harry Potter. Anyway great job on the costume. I totally get it.

Oruhito wrote:Perhaps we should make a name for someone who doesn't fold like 'muggles' in Harry Potter.

Please no. We already had an inane discussion of this on the O-List. We are origamists/folders/origami artists (if you're good enough). Everyone else is a person. Non-folder if you want to get technical. No origgles, please.

I can only second what origamimasterjared said, this was one of the dullest discussions on the O-List as long as I read it.