The Origami Forum

What is the hardest memorized model you can fold off the top of your head.

For me its is Montroll’s turtle from Animal Origami for the Enthusiast, or Kawasaki's Rose.

I've just learned the Kawasaki Rose, so it is still rather fresh in my mind. But as far as memorized, I'd have to say the hardest ones I know are Andrew Stoker's seahorse, sun and moon.

My most recent (finished just this morning) fold has been the flying dragon by Charles Esseltine. What awesome diagrams he provides for that!! He has done a fabulous job of designing that one and it was a true pleasure folding it!

I dont think I have seen any of the mentioned models. Do you have any pictures?

I haven't seen any of Andrew Stoker's work on the web and I don't have any way of posting a picture. Sorry. These all came out of the book Fantastic Folds that he co-authored with Sasha Williamson.

The flying dragon can be seen at Charles Esseltine's site, http://www.geocities.com/origamiguy1971/main.html He calls it "Dragon in Flight".

Hope some of that helps. I'd really love to post some of my work; hopefully some day.

Well done on the sun and moon! I really like Andrew's work, esp the diskette case and the tree frog towards the end of the book.

I remember the 2 Kawasaki versions, since I fold them the most . The hardest thing folded to date is Lang's Butterfly from Origami Insects and their kin. I also like Beynon's Spring Into Action too.

I don't memorize models, because I don't fold in the public... but I can remember a model for a couple of days, after I've folded it.

Maekawa's devil, using Hideo Komatsu's folding method. I had been making devils for two or three years before I could do them without referring to the diagrams, though.

I used to be able to fold Lang's Hercules beetle from memory as well, but I haven't made one in ages so I've probably forgotten it.

I've very rarely made a deliberate effort to memorise a model. I end up remembering a model if I fold it enough times and if its folding method has a bit of a flow to it. Often I won't know for sure if I have a model memorised unless I go ahead and have a try at folding it without diagrams.

JMcK wrote:
I used to be able to fold Lang's Hercules beetle from memory as well, but I haven't made one in ages so I've probably forgotten it.

Wow, how long did it take you to spit one of those out?

The only thing I have in memory (and have done since I learnt it) is Phun Den Tuyen's Spide. I don't know - it's not the best spider model around, but when I learnt it (the times when I was a newbie to origami) the fascination for insects (because of the manyappendages) fascinated me.

I remember I was stuck on that model for a year a so; the diagrams were not that good, and I never understood what a combination fold was (which now is blatantly clear )

Some other ones are Kawasaki roses (popular with the ladies ), the lips action model by whats his face, and the flexagon that appears in New Origami.

stuckie27 wrote:

JMcK wrote:
I used to be able to fold Lang's Hercules beetle from memory as well, but I haven't made one in ages so I've probably forgotten it.

Wow, how long did it take you to spit one of those out?

About 45 minutes, maybe? (Longer if I was using foil.) Once you've folded it a few times, it seems to flow quite naturally. Most of the steps seem to follow on inevitably from the previous ones.

JMcK wrote:

stuckie27 wrote:

JMcK wrote:
I used to be able to fold Lang's Hercules beetle from memory as well, but I haven't made one in ages so I've probably forgotten it.

Wow, how long did it take you to spit one of those out?

About 45 minutes, maybe? (Longer if I was using foil.) Once you've folded it a few times, it seems to flow quite naturally. Most of the steps seem to follow on inevitably from the previous ones.

I was under the impression that the beetle was pretty hard, I applaude you.

I recently found that memorizing a crease pattern is much easier than memorizing several dozen steps. Once you've gotten the base, it's just a matter of working out the details (which appear to be pretty much standardized).

I've got a few Kawahata bugs stashed away in this fashion; it's always useful to know how to fold a scary looking cockroach in a pinch, heh heh...

I used to fold a bunch of Montroll's elephants when I was bored in school. I guess that would have to the be the most difficult that I remebered. I know Kawasaki's Rose but I am always scetchy.

MrBluePie wrote:I used to fold a bunch of Montroll's elephants when I was bored in school. I guess that would have to the be the most difficult that I remebered. I know Kawasaki's Rose but I am always scetchy.

me too, I seem to always forget how to fold it

John Montroll's Blue Shark, although it's not particularly complex. I didn't set out to memorize it but I made it a lot and the instructions got lodged in my brain.

I walked a pair of Yemeni fishermen through the steps once and their finished versions turned out better than mine.