TETRIgaSmix: an animated sequel...

So, after folding the twenty-eight ORiGAsMix lids, we took a couple of days to rest (understand: "work as slaves at the orchard and in front of the computer"). Then, we worked on the twenty-eight "bottoms": simple origami boxes made of semi-transparent vegetal paper.
Eventually, after completing the task, we just had this one last night before delivering the boxes to Futuna's sister... and played a little bit with them. Here's the result!

The credits say it all, but just in case, the song is Jockey full of bourbon written by Tom Waits and performed by Youn Sun Nah. And everything else is un(t)raveling!

ORiGAsMix!!! (a mild case of origami box fever)

Several designs are available for these origami boxes, depending on whether you want the lid and bottom to be the same and pretty simple, or a bit more complex with different possible folding patterns. You'll find them all easily on the internet, including neat videos and tutorials... You'll eventually need a little bit of maths at some point, in order to find the exact size of your paper sheets so a "plain" bottom perfectly matches a "complex" lid. It can be fun to get back to your old Pythagoras and try to sort things out! But enough talking: let's proceed...

Some family celebrations occasionally require special little boxes to be filled with special sweets...
Un(t)raveling proudly presents their unique set of twenty-eight origami box lids.

While the bottoms - not shown here - are made of one single folded square sheet of paper, the lids are made of four separate pieces fitting together in a series of different patterns... Do the maths: 28x4 are... 112 pieces to be cut, folded, then built together! And a very long shift for Wallis yesterday night, while Futuna was preparing the post just before this one. So, which one do you like most? We might have one or two left by the end of the month... and it's always possible to fold a new one for a very merry un-birthday! Also, one of these guys is not genuine. Futuna's horror vacui caused him to cheat: he photoshopped one single box in a different color combination and hide it among the others, so they all fill and fit the big picture. Wicked Futuna! If you find it, let us know: you'll win a unicum (no, dear Clara, not a unicorn...)!

* Note: there's now a sequel to the ORiGAsMix fever. Make sure you don't miss it...

un(t)ravelopes, zen...

...and the art of licking stamps.

If we have to confess one intimate thing on this blog: we love postcards! We love sending them almost as much as we love receiving them. We invent all sorts of pretexts to send people, friends and family postcards. When you are on the road, either on holidays or living a nomadic life, sending postcards from places you (un)travel to or through, is fun. And easier than receiving, of course. But since we have a temporary home, we've been desperately asking for postcards.

an old Michelin road atlas is all to need to build yourself a unique, genuine untraveler / analog nomad mailing identity.

Just to give an example of how much exactly we love postcards: we created this fake Facebook quiz we call the Friday Challenge (but seldom happens on actual Fridays) and we try hard to make up a story from a picture, so as to get people to compete and guess the answer of a relatively absurd or pointless question. Our goal is to eventually have a winner we can send a postcard to...

the un(t)ravelope: origami style!

Needless to say when somebody goes somewhere - which is a pretty common event, honestly - we ask for postcards. And sometimes, even though people were dead drunk and wrote our address in a very (very very) creative fashion, we get them. And get to know the mailman better, too. We even have this weird habit to send each other a postcard every now and then, especially when one of us is going somewhere while the other is going somewhere else (or just staying). It is a way for the team to send AND receive a postcard at the same time. Yeah! Except when our charming eighty years old visually challenged neighbour literally steals it even though our own name is written on it and she pretends it's for her and she's so moved and she cries and hugs us and we try to explain we actually send a postcard to ourselves, and she doesn't quite understand (who would do that???) and keeps crying and hugging us and we stare at each other and eventually give it up and our postcard is gone and the frustration is huge... Ha ha ha! Now think about the nurses and family who come visit her everyday and imagine they'll read all the weird stuff you wrote on that postcard which was intended for nobody but yourselves, and it's all getting a little bit awkward. True story.

Anyway, postcards are cheap, postcards are great, postcards are kitsch, postcards are colourful, postcards are a lovely surprise, postcard can be found anywhere, postcards can serve many purposes and postcards remind you of people you love and people who love you in a way Whatsapp and Facebook just can't  (or at least we believe so). Mainly because postcards are handwritten and until somebody develops a smartphone app to handwrite tiny messages on tactile screens and send them as e-postcards (an app which sure enough already exists, we're just lucky enough not to have a smartphone nor apps). And: postcard have stamps over them, which is a cool thing too. Especially for the people who collect them (I doubt there are still people who collect stamps since people do not send post mail anymore, but many times at the post office, the lady asks "Do you want just stamps, or do you want BEAUTIFUL stamps?". "Is it the same price?" "Of course!" "Well, give me those with that extra load of free beauty included, please!")

In two words: Postcards rule. Period.

the un(t)ravelot of stock, ready : origami style!

Now, sometimes you can't just send them raw. Because you want to say some stuff not everybody should read, because you want to increase the probability they'll actually get where you expect them to, because there's so much to say and the stamp and address blow too much space... In all these situations, using envelopes can be of great help.

Less ads, less apps: we want real mail!

Frome there, you have two options: you can either go to a store and buy some envelopes, or you can make them! (guess which one we've chosen...)

Before this post becomes as long as many others, let's get to the point: a while ago, we came across this old road atlas of Europe (an authentic vintage "guide Michelin" from the seventies - thanks to the book-crossing corner we built in front of the house. We decided it was the perfect source of our future corporate (ha ha!) mailing identity. Our recent experience with Origasmix somehow prepared us for creative paper-folding and we soon found this option to make a fast and easy adaptable envelope with just a little bit of glue or scotch (tape, not whisky).

So here's the thing: we have plenty of them and we need to use them. "Make a mailman happy, send a postcard today!" Send one to us, we'll send one to you. Email us your address, we'll send you one: from anywhere in particular, right to wherever you live... Give it a try!