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Flapping paper bats! [DIY video] (media.piefed.social)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social to c/animals@lemmy.world
21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

These might take 3-5min to construct for first-timers:
https://www.tiktok.com/@ricegrains_manual/video/7428573915364019486

I'm not a big fan of TikTok (surveillance issues), but I couldn't find this one posted anywhere else besides... the other place. I suppose it first popped up on Chinese social media sites like Douyin or Weibo before making it over to TT. Or something.

Now, origami animals aren't something I'd ordinarily post even here, but they totally had me at the flapping action! So cute, and reminded me of moving hand-held paper objects we used to make as kids. For example, I seem to recall a sort of 'right-angled-Pacman' paper choosing device we'd use on our fellow schoolmates. You'd use your fingers to make the Pacman gobble, revealing some inner regions in the device based on your choice of flaps, I guess it was. IIRC they were all the rage for me when I was 9yrs old or so, but I'm guessing they're obsolete now in the age of pocket digital devices.

Btw, I extracted the raw video link, if that helps anyone. You should be able to save it locally from that link.

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[-] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 week ago

Hi! Greetings from !origami@lemmy.dbzer0.com. Here, have some more links:

https://origamiok.com/origami-bat/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1POsRmsdLA

[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

I seem to recall a sort of ‘right-angled-Pacman’ paper choosing device we’d use on our fellow schoolmates. You’d use your fingers to make the Pacman gobble, revealing some inner regions in the device based on your choice of flaps

The cootie catcher?

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 3 points 1 week ago

Bing!

[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Hmm...making on of these for Owl of the Year would save me a ton of time... 🤔 😜

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

I vaguely recall some annual contest from the SuperbOwl sublemmy. Would that be the same..?

[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

"Some contest" he says!?!! My biggest, most grueling, time-consuming project of the year, and it's just "some contest he vaguely remembers," he says?!?! 🥺💔

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

Ah, sorry mate!
I'm afraid I got overwhelmed by the relentless onslaught of posts over at S-O, and sadly had to drop out after a bit. (altho I did tell you that at some point?)

Anyway, for the record, I did try to make some creative posts over at S-O, for example about the owl-parrot post "when is an owl not an owl?" and other funny images that looked like owls. And some other stuff. I forget, but it's been like 2-3yrs now. Unfortunately those posts didn't seem to get noticed much, and even when they did, were usually lost in a stream of other posts. Which is absolutely fine of course, but it did tend to incline me towards the opinion that 'this is one community that happily doesn't really need me.'

No disrespect intended, though. It's a superb-awesome community, and one of Lemmy's blazing stars IMO, thanks mostly to you, whether or not you ever admit that or not. 😉

[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I'm only teasing, since you have said a few times you worry about letting me down with /animals. 😜

Owl of the Year starts around the beginning of December and runs for about 2 weeks. Everyone votes and celebrates their fav owls. All that good stuff. Winner gets crowned. I donate to charity in the community's name. Yadda yadda. Big undertaking. It's a ton of fun, but then I get burnt out and am glad it's over for the next few months until I get excited to do it again.

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

In PieFed we can add an emoji to our reactions. On top of the upvote, I added a "love" reaction. Can you tell me please if that crossed the barrier..?

[-] anon6789@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

I do not see it when on my lemmy.world account (desktop or Summit), nor on my piefed.world (Summit), but I do on the desktop Piefed.

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

THANKS!
(yeah, figured it was like that, oh wellies)

We still got a long while to go to get all facets of the FV connected up...

[-] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

Cootie catcher?

[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Hmmm... this is going to be an interesting one to translate.

When kids are in that 8-10 year old range and think it's gross to touch the opposite sex, it is often joked they have mythical bugs called "cooties." They're supposed to be like lice (polls/piojos), but you catch them from touching someone of the same age but opposite gender. I guess the pinching of the paper fortune teller is supposed to remove them from your friends. 😄

We mainly used them as a fortune tellers, sometimes as little animals themselves if they were done with eyes and such. Doing some reading on the origin, it seems it first got tanslated to English to be used as a salt cellar. This Reddit post has people from a bunch of places saying what the origami thing is called where they're from. I thought "cocotte" in French was interesting. (olla de ferro colat) I can see the points looking like the little legs on the bottom of the pot if it were used upside down.

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

I thought “cocotte” in French was interesting. (olla de ferro colat)

Cocotte en fonte , or 'casserole dish made of cast iron,' literally.

[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I'm curious as to why they're Dutch ovens in (US) English. What makes them so "Dutch" that we call them that over just calling it a "cast iron pot" like everyone else seems to?

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

Dunno, are they exactly the same things?

I cook a lot as a (mostly) vegetarian, but cookery & crockery like that seem like they're primarily for meat-oriented dishes. But again, I'm not really sure...

[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

It gives me pics of the traditional Le Crueset/Staub pots when I search them.

They've got a COVID era resurgence from people using them to bake their artisanal breads, and the cooking shows always use them for stews/braises and sometimes frying so all that mass provides better temperature stability.

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

Is there something specific you're aiming to cook?

[-] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Oh, no. It was just one of the names that came up for the cootie catcher in the post I linked! People from diff parts of the world were saying what they called it, and the one French person said cocotte, and I liked that was different than the other things people saw it as.

[-] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

Search for origami fortune teller, you'll find it easily.

[-] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

I kinda just did, if you follow me. :D

Btw, thx for the helpful & excellent links! I'm subscribed to your sublemmy now.

this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2026
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