The Origami Forum

Hi,

Last night I was working on Montroll's Eastern Dragon (from the Zodiac book) and ended up tearing the thing horribly when I had fold it all in half. This has been happening to me a lot lately as I work on more complex models. I would be very grateful for any advice on how to work around this problem. I read somewhere that origami masters account for the thickness of the paper when they fold, etc.

Thanks,

--Danny

what paper do you use for folding?

When I only folded with 10 inch (25cm) kami, years ago, that started happening with many complex models that I folded. At first I started looking for larger kami, but that was hard to find. Only one brand makes a 15 inch kami square. So, eventually I learned to seek out other types of paper. Maybe the best thing is for you to try out as many types of paper you can find, and learn their strengths and weaknesses. In principle, given the right paper, you can fold anything.

You probably need to use thinner paper.
Tissue, double tissue, tissue foil, are all thinner and less likely to tear than regular kami or copy paper.

This model comes out very well in gold tissue foil. I'd recommend making the tail longer with a 1x6 or 1x8 rectangle as a starter, just because it looks cooler.
EDIT: oops, I meant Wu's Eastern Dragon, sorry. I've never done Montroll's.

most anything designed by montroll should be able to be folded from ordinary kami with minimal tearing. there are definitely stress points where tears are likely, especially as he favors book folds in his latter designing days. one thing that helps is to crease such "stress points" gently, do not use your nails, for instance.

with more complex designers (such as lang), it helps to "soften" the fold. for instance, if you fold a piece of paper and look at it top-down, it looks like a "V." when there are many layers, add a curve to the center so that when you look top-down it looks like a "U."

danny31374 wrote:Hi,
I read somewhere that origami masters account for the thickness of the paper when they fold, etc.

Michael G. LaFosse talks about this in his advice chapter in "Advanced Origami".
I have no good methodology, but if I see a lot of layers being folded over themselves, I usually unfold the section and put the creases in where they "should" go before the thickness of the paper layers distorts it.
I then use that as a guide.
I am though a very meticulous and slow folder.

With regards to the Montroll models, I had the same problem with the Chinese and Western dragons from that book at first.

Bethnors advice is excellent. All I can add is to not try to fold each step all at once, or quickly.

Anecdotally, I find the slower I put a crease with many layers into position and flatten it down, the less likely the paper (even cheap, poor quality paper) is to burst. Ease the creases/steps slowly into position and the paper sort of has time to breathe.

Good Luck.

This is great advice from everyone. Remember that paper is not 2D-it has thickness, and as layers stack up, you need to start thinking about the thickness that results. Don't try to fold it in half like you would one or two layers-be gentle and willing to compromise with a fold that doesn't exactly fold flat.

The idea of folding a U rather than a V makes sense for avoiding tearing, but I would think it would give a sloppy result, with the layer underneath not being completely covered by the U fold (since you are subtracting some paper length in the curve of the U). I will experiment and see what I come up with.

Another thing I think I read somewhere is that if you are folding, say, a simple point, and you know you are then going to fold the whole thing in half (bisecting the point), you make sure the tip is sharp, but leave a slight gap between the two layers brought together, so when you fold in half, there will be a tiny bit of room there for the edges.

I'll have to experiment. (And to answer the issue of what paper...just boring old cheap origami paper from the craft store.)

That is true about folding points in half. For example, when folding a crane, the head and tail will be folded in half when reverse-folding them upward. It is good to keep this in mind, otherwise the head and tail end up looking messy.

Recently, whenever I make a flapping bird, as I pull the tail, it rips. The layers are too snug and don't want to move around. This is a problem whenever I teach it.

...and embarrassing when the student's bird flaps and the master's bird rips in two.

I'm not the only one, yay!

The point is to fold it not too precise, I found the less accurate you fold it the less likely it rips.

And don't pull its tail

Anna's point is best, provide a little leeway. BTW, when you fold Senbazuru, the books also recommend folding the cranes with a little give.

When I am teaching the flapping bird, I tell the students to tug on both flaps one at a time, before committing to tail or head. Usually, one side is a little looser, and they can work the paper a few times to improve the flap.

I usually recommend that the looser flap be the head, then suggest that they hold the middle of the neck and the very base of the tail, then pull the neck at a 45 degree angle. Works well with copy paper.

- Hank Simon

You could also try Randlett's flapping bird-- it's a lot less likely to rip than the traditional model, and not much harder to fold.

In my opinion it's even easier to fold and it doesn't ever rip no matter how accurate you fold
It's a model I learned directly from Robert Lang at the Masters of Origami Exhibition where he proved that he can fold it in under a minute, afterwards I could as well...