The Origami Forum

I am having some trouble folding a smaller bird base on a larger one by border grafting. I have the book Origami Design Secrets by Robert Lang and I can't get past step 14 (at least that's what the step is in this book) where you have to pull the paper from the corner out all the way. It looks easy enough but I just can't get it right. Can anyone help me out?

What you're trying to do is bring out all the extra paper on the inside of that point. Open out the point a bit, and start to pull out the extra paper in there until you're able to straighten it out and form a point, as in step 14.

As far as border grafting in general goes, if you're trying to design a model with border grafts, it helps to have a complete idea for the model in mind and/or on paper before you add any grafts in. Since grafts are most commonly used to add extra phalanges/points to an already existing appendage, you can (in most cases) fold the entire model without the border grafts to get a simpler "base" design of what you're trying to make, then see where you would need to add extra points and graft them in accurately once you know what the entire crease pattern is going to look like. Hope that helps!

Thanks for your help, but I still can't get it. I took a few pictures, and hopefully you can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Thanks again.

You're not supposed to open out the left side. The arrow in the diagram isn't saying open the flap out to the left, it's saying to open the flap outward, as in pull out the extra paper. In your bottom-most picture, you'll see that the left side (and the right side too, if you were to open it out) are comprised of two layers of paper. Pull off the top layer and re-form the bottom layer, and you'll find yourself with a big ol' flap sticking out, which is what step 14 looks like.

As a side note, I'd suggest taking a bit more time and sharpening your creases at points, so that all the creases come radially to a point. Some of your points are blunt because the creases aren't very clean and accurate, and that can lead to both ugly finishing products and, in some cases, inaccurate creases screw up future steps. Just a suggestion