Thank you

[paperdragon]

Hi everyone here at the Origami Forum.

Thank you for letting me be here, and thank you for the things I was already able to learn by browsing past posts.

I've just recently gone through some of my old books. And one of them happened to be Mythical creatures. So I start folding a couple of them, from the diagrams, and I did ok. I was able to do the first one, cerberus without a hitch. Yay me. I'm a total noob when it comes to this sort of thing. I had put the book down years ago, things in my life weren't going so well at the time.

So after trying some of the harder models in that book, I found this out about myself: I'm horrible at reading and interpreting what the diagram wants me to do. I tried again with the dragon in flight by Esseltine, diagram almost had me in tears. Fine young man posted a youtube vid of folding one for his girlfriend and lo and behold, I can fold it from memory now.

Is this sort of thing normal, as in, does anyone else here have trouble with some folds just because they see something in a diagram that isn't there, or shouldn't be there but is somehow?

I folded the bee by Marc Kirschenbaum yesterday, finally. After 3 weeks of bashing my head in with its diagram and lots of new cat toys (love crumpled paper) but last night I made the first mutant creation that looks somewhat like a bee. Kinda. But if I had to do it again...

I don't know if this will get easier. Like do you guys just look at a diagram and go, ahh yea this here, that there, do a back flip, now a cartwheel, dance around the oak tree naked in the moon, and voila, the completed works of Shakespeare in origami. Any tips you may have for interpreting those diagrams are greatly appreciated.

[JeossMayhem]

Really, all I would suggest is practice more with it. Whenever I got really stuck on some step I would just work on another model. Eventually you'll come across a diagram with a similar or same move but is just easier to visualize. You'll go back to the design you were frustrated with and be amazed that you'll know exactly what to do.

Being frustrated is totally normal, but yes, it will most definitely get easier.

[M Deutsch]

What I do is whenever I attempt a model I fold up until I really have no idea what to do next then i make a light pencil mark by the step that I failed at. I then leave it for a while. Maybe fold something easier or from a different book. Then, later when I go back to it I almost always get past the tick. Sometimes you just need a little time to digest the diagrams and let your subconcious do a little folding


Good Luck!

[mrsriggins]

When I get stuck on a model I'll start folding it a second time, making sure that the original one I was folding was correct and I didn't make any mistakes earlier on. If I didn't and I'm still stuck on the same step I'll study the picture for a bit, compare it to my model, make sure it's exactly like the step before, etc. I'll attempt different things I think it wants me to do and see if it comes out looking like the next step. Those things usually help. But there are sometimes that I really am just stumped- and not always on 'difficult' models which is when I hop on the board and ask for help I always fold a model for the first time in copy paper so it's not a huge deal if I mess up or need to start over, only when I have the model down will I use some of my precious origami paper on it. Don't get too frustrated about being stuck, it's part of the learning process and when you finally come out of it you'll know something new!

[Max]

As Jeoss said, practice is everything.
By the time you will begin to get a feeling for the paper and the folds the designer wants you to make. In the more complex models some folds are more intuitive than readable from the diagram. Thats because some steps are quite hard to diagram...

For Kirschenbaums Bee, dont waste your time! I folded it recently and was very disappointed. I folded it quite large 40cm x 40 cm or something with tissue paper. Though its a bit challenging, the folds are not very elegant and the result doesn't look very much like a detailed bee...In other words: There are better models for a beginner to fold

Greetings,
max

[OrigamiGianluca]

Getting in stuck is normal. Don't worry about it.
Sometimes I get in stuck even on my models (if it has passed some time from the last time I've folded it )

Solution?
Practice, and don't give up!

As the other have already said, don't fix yourself on a step you can't solve, but leave it for a while, do something else and then come back.
It works.

[TheRealChris]

hello and welcome to the board [img]http://freenet-homepage.de/origamichris ... wavefh.gif[/img]

[angrydemon]

Thank you for thanking us for nothing!

Don't worry if you can't figure out the diagrams. Just leave it, and go fold something else that you understand. Later when you go back to fold it, you'll find that it becomes much easier and you should be able to finish it without any problems. Bashing your head in isn't healthy. It can lead to brain damage and in some cases, even death. Every year, more than 8000 children die from extreme cases of head-bashing. You can help save these lives by contributing to the Save Head-bashers In Trouble charity group at http://www.dontbashyourheadyoumoron.com/

[mastermattdude]

Angrydemon: I'm sorry, but your link doesn't seem to be working . Perhaps you got that site mixed up with www.sarcasm-kills-more-children-than-any-amount-of-brainbashing.com.

Paperdragon: We all appreciate your thanks! Don't worry about having difficulties- "Rome wasn't built in a day". When i first folded Marc's bee my finished model was the cat toy . The second time, it was just a more entertaining cat toy. Don't get discouraged.

[chesslo]

don't worry if you are stuck, try to take so time out and relax yourself, after that try the model again carefully and that should help!

[floopate]

getting stuck is normal! what i do when i get stuck is i try the model all over again and see what where i went wrong, or i try to fold it with a bigger square (the bigger perspective sometimes helps).

What i also try to do is to 'separate' the move from the rest of the model, try to replicate that move alone on another piece of paper, this helps the frustration of having to fold 30 steps before the move you have difficulty in then having to toss the whole thing.

Last what you can do is try to change your paper. sometimes i use thicker paper that i KNOW wont be able to stand up to the final folds of the model, but the sharp creases and strength of the paper helps me figure out the move sometimes.

But if all else fails i just leave it be for a while and try something else, then when i finally do decide to try it again i move through the step with ease.

Just like everyone says here. practice! practice! practice! Im not a very good folder yet either, but one day i do hope to be as good as the people here. im practicing! practicing! practicing!

Hope this helps! and welcome to the boards!
/

[paperdragon]

Hey, thanks for all the replies and advice. You're right of course. Most of you. Except angrydemon, he just seems... well, angry.

I let things sit for a few days and I ended up learning how to fold a rose instead. It still is a lot easier to learn from a video or photos instead of the drawn diagrams for me though. I've been looking up a few easy newbie diagrams on the web and I'll try to fold a few of those.

As my choice of paper to practise with, I use gift wrap for now, there is lots of it, it has nice colors and I don't cry when I throw it to my cats. I never even thought about removing a fold from the whole model and practise it on another square. That is a great idea and I'll try that next time I get stuck somewhere.

[eric_son]

To add to the already great advice from the earlier replies:

If you find yourself stuck at in a model, try to fold another model by the same author. You might encounter the same kind of fold you got stuck with but from a different perspective. This different perspective might just be the help you need to complete that fold. Then you can go back to your old model complete it.

Each origami designer injects their personality into their models. Once you get acquainted with the designer's 'folding personality', you'll find it easier to fold the rest of their work. You'll begin to notice these the more you fold their respective works.

[paperdragon]

It's funny you should say that eric_son, I started folding the giant spider crab last night. Some of the initial steps in that are a lot like the bee, and if I hadn't folded that mangled bee, I could never have made sense of this diagram. I'll finish it today, barring getting hopelessly stuck again. But so far it all came together really nicely. I still eventually want to go back and try for a better bee though, it looks so nice in peoples galleries.

[Rdude]

Hahaha! Don't worry about AngryDemon, he isn't angry , he just has somewhat of a sarcastic wit. If you are having trouble with a certain step in one diagram, try to find a similar step in another diagram: sometimes folding things in different situations can be easier to learn than others.

Andrew