The Origami Forum

I've been working on a lot of modular origami, and am wondering how to get them to stay nice over time. If you drop them once, the corners get messed up. Is there any way to avoid this? I'm thinking of glazing them, but I'm not sure what to use and how to do it. Would you brush the glaze on the sheets prior to folding, or cover the finished model with the glaze?

-Riddle

I brushed varnish on this guy after he was all put together with no real problem, but I gave him away so I don't know how he has held up!

I was thinking varnish might work, but wouldn't it be extremely heavy? also, did you brush it on?

It was a light glaze, it didn't add significant weight. I used a cheap foam brush. Buy a few of those little bottles in craft stores near the acrylic paints and try some out on cranes until you find one you like.

I briefly experimented with Paverpol a while back. It's marketed as a coating that can be applied to fabric for making weatherproof sculptures to put in the garden. It seemed to work pretty well with origami. It's translucent and not as obtrusively shiny as varnish.