The Origami Forum

Hi everyone, I'm new here in this forum, and my english is quite bad.

I'm from Brazil and I'd like toknow where can I buy big origami papers, and I'd like to know which paper should I use to do origamis like the Ancient Dragon, Phoenix , etc.. I used a 45 x 45cm (17" x 17") paper, it's possible to make the details, but its hard to make it stay in nice positions.

Also, the paper I used is a one side colored paper, and i wanted a 2 sides coloured paper. Is there any website where I can find those papers and import to Brazil?

I have never seen origami paper that large anywhere. The biggest I have ever seen is 13" square. I would say get something that comes in big sheets (eg wrapping paper) and cut your own squares.

You can buy from http://handmade-paper.us/

You can make Ancient Dragon from a Mulberry tissue 19" x 25"(http://handmade-paper.us/page/CPO/PROD/tis/20-10-02) and you can finish it with metilcelulosa.

giro wrote:You can buy from http://handmade-paper.us/

You can make Ancient Dragon from a Mulberry tissue 19" x 25"(http://handmade-paper.us/page/CPO/PROD/tis/20-10-02) and you can finish it with metilcelulosa.

Gino,
this Mulberry tissue 19" x 25" measurement is in inches or cm ?

Thank's

NL3181 wrote:

giro wrote:You can buy from http://handmade-paper.us/

You can make Ancient Dragon from a Mulberry tissue 19" x 25"(http://handmade-paper.us/page/CPO/PROD/tis/20-10-02) and you can finish it with metilcelulosa.

Gino,
this Mulberry tissue 19" x 25" measurement is in inches or cm ?

Thank's

The quote sign (") stands for inches.

giro wrote:You can buy from http://handmade-paper.us/

You can make Ancient Dragon from a Mulberry tissue 19" x 25"(http://handmade-paper.us/page/CPO/PROD/tis/20-10-02) and you can finish it with metilcelulosa.

Some of their stuff looks worth trying, but I don't know how to interpret their thickness scale. How many GSM is standard origami paper? (When there are small details combined with a lot of layers, only the very thinnest papers are acceptable.) It is too expensive to buy without being sure of what I am getting.

GSM means grams per square meter. Usual printer paper has 80gsm, tissue paper 20gsm and thick paper for wetfolding like elephant hide around 120gsm.

Thank you. Since tissue paper tears too easily unless bonded to foil, and since printer paper is too thick for those of us who don't wet fold, I should probably be wanting paper in the range of 40-60gsm, correct?

Correct.
Preferably two layers of tissue paper glued together with methyl cellulose

Well, different papers are made from different fibers. Handmade Kozo and gampi can be as thin as 10 gsm, but are strong. This is due to the strength of the fibers, as well as their length (and being handmade).

Tissue paper is machine-made from really short fibers. Also, usually not acid-free (PH-neutral).

But yeah, 30-50 gsm is probably good.

For practice you can just use commercial storebought origami paper though.

is a single sheet of Mulberry tissue strong enough for complex folding ?

I think that yes. Before fold i place mulberry in a glass table and paint with a metilcelulosa. This give more strong to mulberry.

Giro.

somone just has to register the word "origamis" because there's so many people that use it

NL3181 wrote:is a single sheet of Mulberry tissue strong enough for complex folding ?

I hope so, because it looks like it would make some beautiful models. I would have to practice folding a given model out of cheap paper a lot before using it, though, as it is too expensive for making mistakes!

Thin papers tend to not fold very well unless treated. The thin papers have very little sizing, which is what not only holds the fibers together (I assume not much is needed for such light fibers), but also allows you to fold it. To get something like mulberry tissue fold-ready, you should probably backcoat it with another piece, or saturate it with methyl-cellulose, and let it dry. You should then be able to fold it dry. It's not that it's not strong enough; it's not crisp enough.

From my limited experience with it, gampi (while very expensive--~$15 a sheet) will fold without adding anything. Still, adding MC later in the folding process can work wonders for thin things like antennae, antlers, insect legs, etc.