Origami Chess Set

Of all the dumb things to do on a boring summer’s day. The kids are spending whole days at Baachan’s. My student Yoriko brought a Science magazine with an article about intelligence and chess. She had never played chess before, so I said I would teach her. It was the day of her class, and we were going to continue the article, so I wanted a chess set. I didn’t have one, so I figured that I could make one out of paper, that there must be directions for making origami chess somewhere on the internet. We had origami paper to burn – I bought tons of it at the 100 yen shop for Amy and Lena to make thing during their summer holidays. I found origami chess set instructions on the internet – and gave up after step three. Turns out those instructions are for committed amateurs, full-time hobbyists. Really, REALLY hard. So I made up my own, based on a simple box for the pawns, and the same box plus either a modified box or a modified crane stuck on top of the box for the main pieces. I sat and watched DVDs and folded all day and did not finish in time for my lesson. Never mind – she didn’t come. So why did I continue and finish the set the next day? Never mind, I did it. By the time she came the following week, I had found my magnetic chess set, and now my cacky drippy folded box chess set (I also wove paper like a Maori kete for the chessboard) sits gathering dust in a box and for what? Cos these are the things you do on a boring summer’ s day.

…
?