faustus: (Default)
faustus ([personal profile] faustus) wrote2006-11-30 08:50 pm

Query

What are those folded paper things called - four little connected pyramids which you move with the tips of your fingers, and having counted out answers to questions you open a flap to reveal the consequences?

[identity profile] fjm.livejournal.com 2006-11-30 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
We called them fortune tellers. This seems to be the stock name in the UK but see here: http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~as0bgr/coot/about.htm Apparently they have a completely different name in the US.

[identity profile] drasecretcampus.livejournal.com 2006-12-01 12:20 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, that's it. Funnily enough I just did the right kind of Google search to find a design to make one. I've also seen the model called a salt cellar, but it's the fortune telling element I wanted.

Actually that design (http://origami.kvi.nl/models/toys/fortune/index.htm) doesn't quite function as I remember, that's the name. Tried it as I remembered it (fold corners to central point, turn over and do the same, stick fingers in pockets and fiddle) is closer.

Still, it was the name I was after.