Month: November 2006

> The Japanese wrapping cloth known as the furoshiki is said to have been first used in the Muromachi Period(1392-1573), when people spread it out in place of a bath mat or wrapped one’s clothes with it. [1](http://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/060403.html)

Here’s a great idea for giving gifts this Christmas (or at any other time!) – wrap them in a traditional Japanese cloth. As a rough guess at the size, I’d say the one in the pictures is about 2 1/2 feet or 70cm square, you can buy them at various places on the web, but you could also buy some nicely patterned cloth and make your own.

If you want to see the Japanese style cloths, even though it’s not in English, [this page has some really nice pictures](http://furoshiki.homepage.jp/index.html).

[](http://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/attach/060403-5.html)

The Japanese governernment has reintroduced use of this interesting item as part of an environmental drive – they even recommend [several folding patterns](http://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/attach/060403-5.html) [PDF](http://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/attach/060403-5.pdf).

More information:

* [Furoshiki Folding Patterns (PDF)](http://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/attach/060403-5.pdf)
* [Furoshiki on Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furoshiki) – it’s a bit short on information unfortunately.

[Via Make:Blog](http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/11/how_to_use_furo.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890)

Just posted over at the always-great [Paper Forest](http://paperforest.blogspot.com/), here’s a list of [Paper Mechanics Resources](http://paperforest.blogspot.com/2006/11/paper-mechanics-resources.html).

I have been asked for some good resources on making your own paper automata, so I thought I’d post the books I know of that are out on the market. These are resources for strictly mechanical toys, and not pop-up books, origami books, or origami Architecture. There are plenty of pop-up instructional books out, many of which are very good, but it becomes harder to find books on automata.

Of the books listed, the only one I’ve seen before is Up-pops: Paper Engineering with Elastic Bands – I haven’t bought it yet, but having had a browse in the shops, it’s definitely worth reading. Looks like I’ll have to check out the rest too.