Origami paper psychology

[Leeuummmm]

I will
I haven't done much tessellation stuff before though so I can't do anything thAt exciting aha

[Baltorigamist]

Do you have Eric Gjerde's book? It's good as an introduction to tessellations.

[Leeuummmm]

Not yet no, I've been looking at reviews for it on the web and it sounds like a good buy! I'm a bit stuck for cash at the moment though

My birthday is in August though so I might ask for it then

[Baltorigamist]

It was my 2nd origami book (first was Robert Lang's Insects & Their Kin), and it's amazing. I still haven't gotten around to folding everything in it, but I love all the models.

[spiritofcat]

Not yet no, I've been looking at reviews for it on the web and it sounds like a good buy! I'm a bit stuck for cash at the moment though

My birthday is in August though so I might ask for it then

Eric's book is very good, but you don't need a book to start working on tessellations.
A lot of simple tessellations can be found simply through experimenting with repeating a pattern of folds.
One easy way to get started is to just fold a grid, either squares or hexagons, then use that grid to form pleats.
Where two pleats cross you'll have some extra paper available, so just see what you can do with it and in no time you've got yourself a tessellation.
That's how I got started into tessellations. I drew crease patterns to document some of my first discoveries. You can see them in the first few pages of my gallery thread if you're interested: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5278
The Waffle Tessellation is probably the easiest of mine to start on: viewtopic.php?p=53175#p53175

[Joe the white]

I think a large part of the quality of folding is skill, but paper plays a significant role. Some can fold copy paper into super complex models with good quality, likewise some can botch Origamido into a wrinkly mess, maybe even the same person for both, though unlikely.

The same could be said for a stone sculptor, comparing the differences between soapstone and marble. Soapstone can be worked easily and is not very durable, and marble can be difficult to work and stand the test of time, both can be beautiful when finished, but they have different properties that may not work for an artist as much as the other material. Technique is important, but its often lost in the diagrams. There are little nuances I've picked up in person from folders that I don't think I would have realized otherwise.

[Divergence]

Things like spreading out tension through layers, such as a crimp that involves 6 layers. If you crimp each layer individually instead of all 6 in a single crimp it will be less likely to rip, be more organic, and more likely to not spring back or splay out (this works just as well in Montroll models as well as Kamiya models, such as on legs or neck crimps). These kinds of techniques aren't always necessary in higher quality papers, which is why one can improve quickly when folding with them, but the technique works even better with these papers.

I'm sure most folders notice problems in folding with kami, such as when the underside is exposed in a sliver of white compared to an all-color model. It looks kind of tacky, so you spread the layers a bit looser and allow for more paper to cover that area. Its practically inevitable that despite your best efforts to be accurate in folding that you'll encounter a flap that doesn't reach as far as its supposed to or some place will be a little exposed that is supposed to be completely hidden. These are little things that aren't usually covered when you fold from a book/online print.

The quality of our paper may not keep increasing, that is up to our ace paper makers (I think I'd be interesting to see some plastic or metal threads added into some handmade papers to experiment with), but we can keep improving technique and maybe do things with lower quality papers that we can't currently achieve. It'd be an improvement for those in countries where paper is scarce and for those who can't afford "the good stuff". It might also improve our ability to create more complex pieces. Wet-folding (and subsequently, MC folding) was such a technique, I'm sure there are more that haven't been discovered yet.

[End Divergence]

So, to sum it up, it might be psychological based on the price, rarity, or respect for the material, but skill (or possibly talent with a different medium) is ultimately the determining factor in the quality of the finished model.

[Leeuummmm]

Sorry I've completely neglected this thread however I'm back now!
Since we last spoke I have obtained some elephant hide and folded some tessellations with that and I can say that they are coming out much neater then my other ones and is obviously a higher quality and more expensive paper to what I am used to!

[Baltorigamist]

Interesting. I've never folded from elephant hide, but maybe it was your mentality and your inherent understanding of the folding requirements of the paper.

[Leeuummmm]

Well oddly enough the first bit I folded I completely cocked up and the second one wasn't great either (though those were both partly because I was making things more complicated than they needed to be) but they were both just silly mistakes. I'm not sure if that was the excitement and me just wanting to get my hands on it that caused the problems or what. From those two cock-ups onwards things have been getting better though.

As was mentioned previously in the thread that might partly be because I didn't know how to handle the paper because it was so different to everything I was used to folding.

[Baltorigamist]

My rule of thumb is to always fold carefully, no matter what kind of paper it is. You'll soon figure out the best techniques on your own.