Gifted Unit on Origami and Sadako & the Thousand Paper Cranes Novel Study
Jo Nakashima
Artist Jo Nakashima creates kinetic origami sculptures.
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Partially inspired by Erik Åberg’s interlocking kinetic cube system Ghostcubes, Brasil-based origami artist Jo Nakashima created a method for building a similar object using a system of 40 paper cubes.
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If you’re not familiar with Nakashima, he runs the most popular instructional origami channel on YouTube, with some of his videos, racking up over 13 million views.
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Jo Nakashima began his origami tutorials on YouTube. It all began in 2007, when he uploaded his first videos. He began working seriously on his channel in 2009. Since then he has improved his channel and origami skills a lot, and started creating his own models in 2010. One of the area's in origami he likes to work in is called Action Models. The main feature of these models is that they are interactive, like the Ghost Cubes. Other action models produce optical illusions such as the Spiral and Fechner disk.
How Do We See Light?
Without light, there would be no sight. The visual ability of humans and other animals is the result of the complex interaction of light, eyes and brain. We are able to see because light from an object can move through space and reach our eyes. Once light reaches our eyes, signals are sent to our brain, and our brain deciphers the information in order to detect the appearance, location and movement of the objects we are looking at.
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If you were to turn off the room lights for a moment and then cover all the windows with black construction paper to prevent any entry of light into the room, then you would notice that nothing in the room would be visible. There would be objects present that were capable of being seen. There would be eyes present that would be capable of detecting light from those objects. There would be a brain present that would be capable of deciphering the information sent to it. But there would be no light! The room and everything in it would look black. The appearance of black is merely a sign of the absence of light. When a room full of objects (or a table, a shirt or a sky) looks black, then the objects are not generating nor reflecting light to your eyes. Remember, without light, there would be no sight.
What Are Fechner Colors?
In 1826 the French Monk Pre'vost recorded that if he moved a piece of paper across a bright sunbeam in a darkened room, he perceived hints of the colors purple and yellow. Twelve years later, the German philosopher, physicist and psychologist Gustav Fechner published a paper on what he called "subjective colors," which were visible when a black and white disk was rotated.
While others would advance his work, this paper was so important that almost 200 years later his name remains associated with the phenomenon. In 1895, Charles Benham popularized this effect by selling spinning tops with a black-and-white pattern on them that produced colors when spun. The toy became extremely successful and in so doing introduced millions of people to Fechner's phenomenon.
The order in which the colors appear depends on the direction the disk spins. The brightness and depth of color is affected by the brightness and quality of the light illuminating the disk. Fluorescent lights intensifies blues, incandescent lights strengthen reds. Bright light make brighter colors but if too bright, such as direct sunlight, can wash them out. The black-and-white patterns also affect color production. Some produce bright colors in a broad range. Others produce none at all.
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Some people are more receptive to seeing Fechner colors, others less so. However, this may be affected by the pattern on the disk and viewing conditions. Someone who usually doesn't see patterns on one disk may do so if a different disk is used.
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The colors are always very subdued and take some experience to spot!