The Origami Forum

Today, I received a large sheet of bright red paper. It is roughly 35 inches on each side, and I think I can trim it down to 2 squares. So, the problem is what to fold! I was first leaning towards Szinger's dragon, but not now. Someone recommended I folded Lang's frog, but red frogs are not very realistic... Anyway, if anyone would be grateful enough to recommend a model, that would be great. Please, nothing super complex. (many layers, hard reference points, long, stretched out folding sequences, etc.) I thought about an Ancient Dragon/Bahumut, but I have not succesfully folded one yet, and I wouldn't want to waste paper trying. I can fold fairly complex models. Thank you in advance.

Have you tried Jun Mekawa's Devil?

It is diagrammed at http://hugo.pereira.free.fr/Origami_Diagrams/Devil.pdf and it is an awesome model.

Well if you are going to divide it to 2 squares that gives you roughly two 45cm squares which is a good size for many models.

If you are comfortable with CPs you could give kamiya's phoenix a try. It was actually the second CP i ever tried and my result from about 50cm wrapping paper came out pretty good, you can see it on my flickr.

If you are looking for something diagrammed how about a Hermit or Fiddler crab by Montroll or Lang?

Kamiya's Little Bird is diagrammed in a Tanteidan magazine, and that would look nice in red paper and 45cm would be a little bit large starting size but it would work.

A red butterfly would look nice too. Butterfly models range from intermediate (Lang's butterlfy is very nice) to supercomplex (Jason Ku's).

Thanks for responding! Well, lets see. I once collapsed the base of kamiya's phoenix 3.0, and I don't think the reference points are really all that painful to reach. Red would also be an appropriate color. As for the hermit crabs, I haven't tried them but I've seen the diagrams and they don't look terribly complex. And the butterflies, yes I also think that Lang's is very nice, it is a major possibility. However I don't think I'll be folding Ku's anytime soon. Now that I think about it, I wish that I took the Green paper. Then I could have folded Lang's Mantis from Insects II. Oh yeah, and I have folded Maekawa's devil, but the one in genuine origami and Viva Origami. I already thought about that one. I folded that out of printer paper, and it was really thick.[/u]

I think you should do a frog! I promise they exist!

Please, do an Ancient Dragon. They're not too hard, trust me!

I recommend Ancient Dragon too.
If not, I think you can fold Jose Maria Chaquet Ulldemolins Doctor Fokker I, its a great model. Diagrams are in Famous Aircraft in Origami, 18 realistic models.

Well, I've an update. I can cut 1 roughly 40 inch square, and two 21 and a half inches. It wasn't big enough to cut 2 large ones. So, forgetting my failed attempts at folding the Ancient Dragon, I guess I could use the small 2 to practice, and maybe use the large one too, if I succeed. As for the red frogs, I'm starting to think one would look very nice, actually!

Well if you feel up to the challenge again, try folding the ancient dragon from the large square. Sometimes it's easier to fold it from a larger square because the size makes it easier to work with the more intricate folds. I folded my recent ancient dragon from a 39 in. square and it came out much better than my previous two attempts from paper less than half the size. The only pain was all the precreasing, which i find easier on a smaller square.

The other squaures are good sizes for some of the models already mentioned.

Umm Bad news...


Well, I got stuck, and I tried to do some tricky open sinks+swivel or whatever, and as I progressed, the folds became crumpled and messy. There's no chance this is turning into a dragon! So, I currently have 2 even larger sheets. However, I might give that mantis a try.

EDIT: I am using on of the larger sheets for another dragon. I am determined to finish this one, all the folds are right on so far.

I have a bright idea. I think I will cut the gigantic square into fourths. I will post a pic to show you just how big it is. Also, I have failed my first 2 ancient dragons. I skimmed over the Bahamut diagrams; Is it harder than it looks? Cause it looks decent, not to hard.
Now, I will go cut it.