How to prepare unryu

[el señor b]

I was at an art store today and saw that they had big sheets of unryu paper that looked really nice. I was going to buy some, but then I realized I don't know how make it origami-ready. What do you all do? Do you glue it on either side of a sheet of foil? Do you just back-coat it with MC? Do you MC two sheets of it together? Also, how does it compare with other papers?

If there's already a thread that answers my questions, then I didn't see it.

[NickH]

Pretty much all of your suggestions work - exactly which you would use would depend on the actual model. I use a lot of unryu. Depending on the model I
a) apply methyl cellulose (actually I use wallpaper paste which is basically MC with some preservatives). I do this on a glass sheet with a brush, rub it in by hand then let it dry. Peel it of and cut your square. Ideal for insects, Ancient Dragon etc.
b) back coat two sheets of unryu together to either increase the thickness (I found single thickness to thin for Kamiya's Cerberus for example) or to get a duo colour sheet (for models such a Komatsu's tiger)
c) spray with spray adhesive and apply aluminium foil. I did this once for a Bahamut - but I find reversing folds with this difficult, as have others.

Best of luck. Experiment.

[Jonnycakes]

It depends on the kind of unryu. Chiri unryu seems to be thinner than traditional unryu (it is great for complex models), but other kinds can be quite thick. Marc Kirschenbaum does a lot of stuff from unryu-foil and works wonders with it. Backcoating 2 sheets together works if it is thin paper-I tried it once with some unryu, though, and the paper was practically unusable because it was so thick.

As for treating the paper with methylcellulose (MC), you should do this to any paper that is unsized (or that you would like more sizing in). This makes it possible to wet-fold the paper and also 'crispens' it up. Whether the paper is thick or thin, if the paper is something like unryu, washi, hanji, lokta, etc. then it will not have sizing in it 99% of the time. I would recommend just trying to MC one sheet, cut it to size, and fold with it to start. You should get a feel for things pretty quickly.

[NickH]

I have real trouble MC'ing lokta. It seems alot more anisotropic in one direction and hence when it dries it contracts unevenly and lifts of the glass. I always end up with "wavy", unflat sheets that just cant be accurately cut square. If anyone else has experienced this and knows a fix I'm interested. I have plenty of lokta available to me but have basically abandoned it for unryushi.

[origamimasterjared]

Yes! I asked Robert about this, because I used to have the same problem. I actually MC'd some lokta to unryu the other day. The solution is this: put MC on the glass first. Robert told me I just needed it for the edges of the square, but I have had better success if I just put it all over the area where the square will be:



I do this for anything thicker than double tissue paper. I also use this trick when I want to make sure the bottom sheet is stabilized.

[NickH]

Sincerest thanks Jared. I will certainly give this a try! Lokta has a great intermediate thickness and more even pulp than unryushi - I miss using it.

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

I don't know where everyone finds this wonderful lokta...the only stuff I ever find is thick, uneven, and frays when given a crease...

[origamimasterjared]

You're not missing anything, Bandersnatch. Sometimes you do just get a good piece of lokta. It's inconsistent stuff, but if you look through piles of it, you can find some good ones usually. Also, I back-coated it to unryu. It was thick and I had to fold damp, which is something I generally hate doing. The result was fantastic though, so I can't complain much.

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

Ah, okay...I felt like I was taking crazy-pills, Jared!

[andssl]

A friend of mine has done this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIewF2r3 ... tube_gdata