Paper Boats

After yesterday’s post about the wonders of a stick… it somehow felt natural today to write a post about a piece of paper – not just any piece of paper though, but one carefully folded into a paper boat.

In the dim and distant past, whilst at art college, I became quite fixated about folding these delicate Origami designs and folded and photographed loads of them. It was a cheap way of getting afloat in the years when actually owning a boat seemed an impossibly expensive fantasy. I still find those folded paper boats every now and then, when I take a book off the shelves and one, perhaps once used as a bookmark, falls out…

CHALLENGE: if you’ve never attempted one take a look at the instructions further on in the post and have a go, it’s seductive, and frustrating, and then very satisfying when you actually get one that’s balanced well enough to float without toppling over. And if you do get one to float, release it, perhaps with a message, or (if you’re feeling daring) with a tea light. As it floats why not take a photo of it, and send it to me at nickholt@live.com and I’ll publish your efforts here on the blog.

Here are a few images of paper boats to whet your appetite… Come on, why not have a go?

ps. if you don’t like working from drawings, there are other instructions HERE.

A group of autumnally-coloured paper boats setting out on a gentle breeze…

Onto an Autumnal lake…

A gorgeous flotilla of paper boats, illuminating the darkness with tea-lights…

Nursery-aged children have decorated these boats and they’re about to set sail as part of their ‘water play’ activities…

Artist Sebastian Rivera Ruiz created this land-locked installation of paper boats…

I’d imagine that one sudden breeze would’ve caused havoc!?!

Children LOVE paper boats…

I quite like the idea of using a map of a journey we’ve taken and ‘freeing it’ to continue a journey on it’s own – as a paper boat… I like the idea of photographing that journey…

To boldly go…

I doesn’t have to be a picturesque setting for sailing a paper boat either, any water, still or flowing, from bath tub to mountain stream can be the start of a journey.

if you click on this image it should enlarge enough for you to follow the instructions…

Another version of the sail-less design…

Or what about chilling out on the minimalist, foldable, DIY, ‘origami’ boat??? Website HERE.

Or how about literally sailing down the River Thames in a paper boat, like Art Rockstar attempted?

Happy Sailing!