POP News

On March 25, 2001, POP was launched in fine folding form by Joel Stern, Bennett Arnstein, Joyce Sandler, Neil Eisman, Michael Sanders, three-week folder Steve and Dorothy Engleman. We celebrated the beginning of POP with a joyful pop by folding Rachel Katz's Noisemaker X2.

Our teaching format was a relaxed mix of group and individual teaching. Joel taught the Flapping Bird and a decorative Swan that he learned in 1972 at Lillian Oppenheimer's folding salon.

Bennett taught Fred Rohm's Water Wheel and Bennett's own Whistling, Spinning Toy, adapted from the traditional Ninja Star and inspired by Yami Yamauchi.

Neil dazzled us with his exhibition of Arai's Top; Brill's Dragon; Fuse's "Frog on a Lily pad"; Hojyo's "Buddha on a Lotus Blossom"; Joisel's Rat; Kamiya's Bahamut, Reindeer, Kirin, and "Swan Rising From a Lake"; Kawahata's Moose 99, Yoda, and Dragon Head, Kawasaki's "Rose with Sepals" and "Mountain Laurel Blossom"; Komatsu's Clown Mask and Kingfisher; Maekawa's New Complex Peacock and Yoshino's Samurai Helmet. Neil helped Michael with Montroll's Elephant and Stegosaurus and Brill's Dragon and taught the group Teruo Tsuji's Munching Frog.

Dorothy taught Kasahara's Pureland Mouse to the group as well as to three young visitors, and also showed them the Traditional Magazine Cover Box. While waiting for the library to open, Dorothy designed a Stand for our POP sign.

Ichiro joined us for a while and folded the traditional Chinese Junk. Bennett showed Ichiro how to stretch the bottom of the Junk so that it will stand upright.

Our meeting ended with a mini tutorial by Neil and Bennett on the best way to fold accurate diagonals. Neil demonstrated his method: accurately align the top points, then pull down to the center edge and pinch and pull from the center to each side. Bennett suggested that when the paper is not perfectly square, it is more important to bisect the corners accurately than to perfectly align the top points.

Teruo Tsuji's adorable animated Munching Frog and Bennett's amazing Whistling, Spinning Toy were definitely the "ori-stars" of our first meeting.