Fellow Tildes origami enthusiasts. What are you folding? What are you proud of at this moment?
Hello, everyone!
I've been back into it for a little over a year. I started at an art camp when I was roughly 12 or so. I had someone I saw doing it show me a couple things and I still to this day remember every model he taught me. Unfortunately it didn't advance much further than that for another 16 years or so, but here we are.
There are so many communities out there for it, but I never seem to find one that's terribly active that isn't Reddit. I've found a discord that has some interesting challenges and prompts to stir up some discussions, except they usually are just individual answers. Hopefully I can drum something up here.
Currently I have two projects in the works that I still need to get myself to finish. I'm roughly "half-way" through Satoshi's Bahamut and working on a Saku B Monster Hunter Saltas Queen model that is nearly finished.(Just needs shaped)
So far my proudest is LQD's modular phoenix. (https://imgur.com/a/L527otB) It took me roughly 6 or 7 hours to make and put together, I think. I actually ended up having to fold 3 wings as I forgot to reverse the instructions to make the other. >.>
I've mostly been working on design and diagramming stuff. I got a pretty nice design for a blue jay worked out and diagrammed earlier this year, but I've been working on figuring out what to with it. In the past I've always submitted diagrams to annual collections, but the one I've done in the past has stopped sending copies to people that get in (feels a little less worthwhile if I still need to buy a copy) and it seems like folding from books is getting less popular anyway. I've been messing around with making a video, but that's all pretty new to me and — after a first little test — it's clear I have plenty to learn about making those...
I had fun figuring out a nice way to prep paper for that model, which was a little tricky because I needed something thin but wanted good contrast between the blue and while sides. I ended up going with a layer of white acrylic paint between a sheet of thin blue unryu and sheet of white tissue, all treated with MC. Works pretty well, and keeping the paint between the layers prevents the paint from flaking or the paper feeling too weird.
I agree on the online community stuff at this point. In the past, that one forum and flickr worked well for me, but its understandable that those are pretty dead these days. I've found a few of those discords, but I never really end up liking that platform for this kind of stuff and a lot of them feel very... teenager-y I guess? I honestly haven't worked too hard at finding a good place to keep up with this stuff — maybe Instagram or Mastodon something?
Ohh, that sounds neat. I'd love to see it. I still need to get into making my own paper. I just need to buy some things and actually do it as a fair bit of the models I end up trying to fold could really benefit from it.
I typically prefer books and diagrams. I'll use videos if necessary, but I'm really not a fan of play/pausing videos every step. You also run into the issue of some of the steps not being as clear as they could be because of lighting or they forget they are doing something without thinking.
Honestly, something like Deviant art would work well for a community. Can have your portfolio and follow others. Maybe show off your progress as you fold new things, make paper, etc...
Yeah preparing your own paper is huge, especially for the kinds of complex stuff you posted. Double tissue works super well for that kind of stuff, and it's way cheaper than anything comparably nice. You don't really need too much stuff, really just some Methyl Cellulose and a piece of glass (or really anything the paper won't stick to). These days, I use a big sheet of acrylic, but you can even just do it right on a window or mirror or something — MC cleans up easily with water, so it doesn't really make a mess.
I agree on preferring books, for the same reasons. It does seem like a lot people newer to the hobby start off from youtube, but maybe that's more of just an approachable way in. It would be interesting to know what most people really prefer for more complex stuff. Some of these videos have hundreds of thousands of views, and there's no way they sell that many copies of the Tanteidan books or whatever.
Whoa, making your own designs sounds FASCINATING, and super complex! Have you heared about wet folding? I've never tried it, but from what I've seen it can aid in creating some pretty masterful forms. After you diagram and design the new form do you fold it to see how it turned out? Is it just a shit ton of math you're doing in order to diagram? It sounds so next level to me.
Yeah, I've had fun with wetfolding in the past, but I don't do it too often. I do usually use "wet finishing" type techniques on parts of models though — for example, in the design I was talking about, I did that to help get the legs skinny. I think it's usually easier to do that with glue than water though (either methyl cellulose or just a regular PVA glue).
There's lots of different ways to design things and it can range from total trial-and-error to something very algorithmic. I usually kinda split the difference — I come up with a basic layout of the structure, figure out the different parts of the model mostly individually, and piece them together. Then I'll adjust the proportions of everything to make everything fit together nicely and try to come up with a good folding sequence (which is usually the hardest part). There aren't really any special techniques for diagramming that I know, it's really just a bunch of drawing on the computer. It is a pretty essential part of design for me though, because it forces me to really think about every step — every time I diagram something, the design ends up getting much cleaner.
If you want to try this stuff out, Origami Design Secrets is absolutely still the book to read. Even if you're not into math, you'd get a lot out of reading it — there's a lot of it in that book, but most of the concepts are pretty intuitive and most of it isn't really required to understand what's going on. Reading/folding your way through Jun Maekawa's Genuine Origami could be a gentler introduction. I think it's not in print in English anymore, but it looks like it's on the internet archive here
Wow, thank you so much for the resources! I will definitely give those a look through.
I grew up (in Japan) doing origami with my mom and classmates pretty regularly. But once I moved to the US around High school, I pretty much never touched origami paper. Now, over a decade later, I've started to get back into it and it has been a lot of fun. I'm still doing beginner level stuff that I just find on YouTube, and it's a nice ritual to do before going to bed. Some of the things I've seen on Reddit's origami subreddit are insanely impressive. I probably will never get myself to commit to those super complicated ones, but it would be cool to join an existing community or create a new one around origami.
I don't do any complicated forms any more, but I've been folding for almost 30 years.
Recently I made 100 lily's for my friends upcoming wedding, and I'm very pleased with how they came out. She said that the wedding colors are all the colors so I found some double sided paper with a variety of colors and because of how the lily is patterned you can see one color on the inside and the other color on the outside. They look really cool.
But my main go to is cranes. When I was young I hit a point where I got bored with the standard size so I started folding bigger and bigger, making squares from taped together newspaper big enough to fold a boat I could sit in, or a hat I could wear, but that became boring too. Then I started getting smaller and smaller. Now I use whatever bits of paper (usually what might become trash) to fold tiny cranes. I can fold a crane half the size of my thumbnail (and sometimes a bit smaller depending on paper quality, lighting, and general willingness). I often fold while sitting through something, and give it to whoever is around me. It's a delight to see people get so delighted by them.
Back in collage I would start my first class with making a square and start an abstract design on it, then spend the following classes working on the design until I was done and I'd then fold it into a flower or crane wreath and leave it on my desk. Having something to do with my hands would help me concentrate on the lecture, and seeing the abstract pattern become a whole new configuration after folding was always really interesting to see. Also, my professors never seemed to mind and often would tell me later that they kept every finished piece I left.
Folding has been a great way to fidget and self sooth. Instead of leaving little bits of shredded paper or some such in my wake I now leave little bits of origami!
Yeah, I totally get the fidget aspect of it! I've never found much use from fidget toys, it needs to be something that requires a little bit of focus to do and origami is perfect for that. I can't do anything complicated and focus, but traditional models I know by heart work really well.
Not quite "current" (that was in 2021) but still: My partner and I made the classic "fold 1000 cranes" project for our wedding.
Logistics:
Some observations:
I folded 1000 paper cranes for my wedding too! They definitely added that personal touch to the decor.