oa-d Digest Volume 00 : Issue 5
Today's Topics:
[OA] More EXCITING NEWS from Gallery [ KSelena@aol.com ]
[OA] Pattern copies [ "M.Toomey" ]
Re:[OA] More EXCITING NEWS from Gall [ "Theresa Steeper" ]
[OA] Few Old MC Books Avail. [ KSelena@aol.com ]
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 06:15:03 EST
From: KSelena@aol.com
To: oa@evermore.com
Subject: [OA] More EXCITING NEWS from Gallery 91
Message-ID: <57.30eb921.2600cab7@aol.com>
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This is a long e-mail with more information about the OA in the Paper Show.
If you want to know only about the EXCITING NEWS, please jump to the EXCITING
NEWS section towards the bottom.
Hi All,
I visited Gallery 91 again and was able to take photos of the Paper Show
before the show ended Saturday, March 11th. Ms. Ebihara kindly permitted me
to do this so that our online OA community can share in this experience
"virtually." Hopefully, I can get them scanned soon and posted to a
temporary webpage. Once it's available, I'll send the URL via the MailList.
If you are not on the OA MailList, I encourage you to join at http://evermore.com/oa. Also, If you're
not on the List and want me to continue to CC: you on these e-mails, please
tell me. Otherwise, I will only post to the List from now on without any
CC:'s.
I was able to take a close look at the cards and took some notes so here
are more details from the Paper Show .... There were actually MORE cards
than I thought, I counted 64 total. There were 33 by Prof. Chatani & his new
co-author Takaaki Kihara, 8 of these were designs from the new book. Among
them was the new 180º cutout version of one of my most favorite architectural
works in the world, the "Sydney Opera House." Kihara's design captures not
only the architectural structure of the building, but also its very essence
-- truly you feel as if the rooftops are straining against the wind just like
the windsails that inspired them.
The overall quality of the die-cut cards on display surprised and
impressed me. My experience with MC's ready-made cards in the past has been
that there are often problems with the die-cutting or folding in certain
spots. I was surprised to see that many of the display models had very thin
strip areas which were cut and folded well (e.g., "Lloyd's of London" and
"Jungle Gym").
Because it looked handmade, I paid particular attention to the cardstock
on the string globe card . I asked Ms. Ebihara and she said it WAS "Kento"
paper. Aha! I finally got to see Kent paper. To me, it felt very much like
the Classic Crest Smooth coverstock that I use, same texture and weight --
very smooth to touch and about 80 lb. Another interesting item about this
string ball card was that the central fold hinge was NOT made from washi, but
a crystal clear tape of some kind. I couldn't tell if the exposed center
line of tape was sticky or not, but the card did not have any problems
folding smoothly. Also, I am guessing this must be a special tape, because I
think regular clear Scotch tape would tear pretty quickly along the fold
line. I've already told to you about the almost hidden string gluing (see my
previous e-mail).
Another interesting point was the name of this card. It was called "Q
Card", but it looked identical to "Shonandai Culture Center" from "OA Goes
Modern Building Masterpieces". I've searched my database of OA titles from
my 24 books and I do not have any OA called "Q Card" in those books. So
either it's in one of the few books I do not have, or MC renamed it somewhere
along the line. Have any of you come across the "Q Card" name before?
There were 14 cards by Ms. Nakazawa, including 3 of her Buddha cards. As
I thought, most of her cards on display were from the "Tour of Nara" book, as
a matter of fact, on the back of the envelope for the Buddha I purchased it
says "Art of Nara ORIGAMI series." Many of the cards were no longer in
stock, but I was able to purchase 2: "Dragon" from "OA Cards for All Seasons"
and the "Todaiji Temple - Valrocana Buddha" (this is the Buddha with the
green background in the "Nara" book). I was interested to note that Ms.
Nakazawa's Buddha card had "Very Special Greetings" printed on the envelope
flap, like some Chatani cards, but KN's cards are manufactured by Kansai
Printing Col., Ltd with a phone number in Nara, MC's cards are made by A.G.
Industries, Ltd. Ms. Nakazawa's Buddha card also comes with a separate small
gift card. FYI, MC cards at Gallery 91 were $6, and KN's cards were $7.
You may be interested to know that the KN cards have a tiny blind
embossed "Keiko" whereas MC's cards are blind embossed with a tiny "Chatani."
Some of KN's cards did not have any markings to show who manufactured the
cards. And I found out an interesting bit of news about the "Statue of
Liberty" card. When they designed the OA originally, they only designed the
statue part. Ms. Ebihara saw it and said they must have the bottom, pedestal
part and she designed that part of the OA herself.
There were 17 signed cards in the display case from Prof. Chatani's
personal collection. I'm pretty sure that they were all from the new book,
although a couple, like "White House" and "Smithsonian Air & Space Museum,"
are also in previous books.
In regard to the new book, "OA Goes World-Famous Buildings." I talked to
the people at Gallery 91 and told them that several people were interested in
purchasing this book. The salesperson I talked to said that due to high
shipping costs from Japan, they were making only a small profit at the
current price of $28. Ms. Ebihara is carrying the books just to accommodate
her customers who are interested in making the OA for themselves (usually the
gallery does not carry any books at all). But it MAY be possible to purchase
this book from them at $24 ($22+$2 for their shipping costs from Japan).
Then there would be NYC sales tax of 8.25% and shipping costs from me to you.
So it would end up costing you around $28-29, which I guess is better than
$33-34. It MAY be possible for them to restock these books in April and for
us to get this price. In the meantime, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE SERIOUS
ABOUT GETTING THIS BOOK FROM GALLERY 91 so I can give Ms. Ebihara an accurate
count of how many books we'd need if you decide you want to order from her.
I have been to a Barnes & Noble superstore in NYC and they said that they
cannot even special order this book. It's been a week and I've not heard
back from Sasuga or Kinokuniya, so I don't know yet if they will be able to
special order this book from Japan at any better price.
Once again, I have saved the most EXCITING NEWS for last. Ms. Ebihara
and I chatted for a little while and I showed her OA that I had made and also
OA I have from professional designers such as Chris Hankinson of Hilltop
Studios (I think he's a member of this List). She saw that I am very
involved with OA and she said that she is thinking of trying to get grants to
fund OA WORKSHOPS IN NYC WITH PROF. CHATANI! This is just in the idea stage
and IF it takes place, it will take a year or two to develop and organize,
AND she has to check with Prof. Chatani to see if his schedule would permit
this.
May I have a show of hands please as to how many of you would want to
attend such a program and could SERIOUSLY manage to attend such an event in
NYC?
Ms. Ebihara said that funding will require coordination with several
organizations and she suggested that I should take on the job of coordinating
some OA events/workshops running all day or even two. She said she would
hire me and pay me to take on this task. I don't know how serious she is
about this, but I would work for FREE!
Ms. Ebihara also said something about me making a list of people and
their flight/hotel costs. Which leads me to believe she would also like to
coordinate some OA teachers/demo'ers, etc. I can think of several of you,
both "enthusiasts" and professionals who would definitely qualify, so I am
also asking if you are interested in participating in that way.
Please keep in mind that this is just a dream at this point. It is too
early to broadcast this info, and I am only floating it here to get an idea
from this "hard core" bunch as to the level of commitment/participation we
could expect from this group to such a project. Please do not post this
information on any of your websites or discuss outside of the OA MailList.
We don't want to spread any rumors and get people excited until this becomes
a definite possibility and not just a dream. Thank you.
One final bit of news to report, for those of you who have tried to
contact Prof. Chatani and have not had any response, Ms. Ebihara said that
not only is Prof. Chatani very busy, but he is also not very fluent with
English, so this is probably one main reason you have not heard back from him.
Best regards,
Selena
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 14:57:22 -0000
From: "M.Toomey"
To: "'oa@evermore.com'"
Subject: [OA] Pattern copies
Message-ID: <8EF26EA0E609D311B5C30090272C4B816AA628@mail.cadcentre.co.uk>
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Hi!
I have a problem, along with most others new to OA, which is that Chatani's
"Pattern Sheets of OA" vols. 1 & 2 are out of print, and I haven't been able
to track any copies down. Now I know that these are copyright etc, but I'd
have thought that since they're out of print, (and that they would be for my
own use), someone sending me copies would be like them lending me the book
and my making copies. We have to make copies of patterns anyway :)
Does anyone have copies of patterns from these books, perhaps in an
e-mailable format, that they would be prepared to send me? (Or that I could
download!?).
Anyone got any strong views on this?
Michael Toomey
mailto:m.toomey@cadcentre.co.uk
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 14:12:52 -0600
From: "Theresa Steeper"
To:
Subject: Re:[OA] More EXCITING NEWS from Gallery 91
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Selena-
I would be very pleased to purchase Chatani's book with a group. Just tell me
what the cost will be and I can send you a check. Thank you!
I would also potentially be interested in the NYC workshop, but it would be very
dependent on when it was held. Keep us posted. I do appreciate all your
interest and work.
Tracy Steeper
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 05:12:34 EST
From: KSelena@aol.com
To: oa@evermore.com
Subject: [OA] Few Old MC Books Avail.
Message-ID: <9e.23bfa54.26060212@aol.com>
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If you'd like to purchase any of the following books, please contact me
off-List:
1) Origamic Architecture of Masahiro Chatani, ©1983, M. Chatani, Shokokusha,
ISBN 439527-0115 (Japanese text only)
2) Pattern Sheets of Origamic Architecture, ©1984, M. Chatani, Shokokusha,
ISBN 439527-0123 (no dust jacket, small dent at top of cover)
3) Key to Origamic Architecture, ©1985, Masahiro Chatani, Ondorisha, ISBN
439527-014X (little bit of damage at top of cover)
4) Pattern Sheets of Origamic Architecture Vol. 2, ©1986, M. Chatani (& K.
Nakazawa?), Shokokusha, ISBN 439527-0166
5) Origamic Architecture Around the World, ©1987, M. Chatani, Shokokusha,
ISBN 439527-0174
6) Origamic Architecture Goes Modern Building Masterpieces, ©1990, M.
Chatani, Shokokusha, ISBN 439527-0409
I was at Gallery 91 today and was looking thru Ebihara-san's OA book
collection to see if she has the two that I'm trying to track down ("Heartful
Cards" -- which is out-of-print & "Super Origami 2"). Turns out, I have all
the books she has, but I noticed that she has some duplicates of the books
listed above. These are sometimes difficult to obtain, so I asked her if
she's willing to sell her duplicate copies. She said yes, so I am listing
them here in case any of you have been searching for them. I'm not sure yet
how much she will charge for them, but if you're interested, let me know and
I'll find out.
Also, Ebihara-san is going to Japan in April & May and I think she'll be
meeting with Prof. Chatani's daughter whom I've mentioned in previous post as
having gotten very involved in the business side of MC's OA's with the
ready-made cards and pattern books. If Ebihara-san has the time, she's
agreed to look into obtaining through Ms. Chatani other MC books which are
difficult to get. If there's a book or books you've had difficulty getting,
send the list to me and I will compile a list for Ms. Ebihara to check on
availability during her Japan trips and whether we can order through Gallery
91.
Selena
KSelena@aol.com