The Origami Forum

Would this be a bad idea? I thought it would make the action a little better.

umm... maybe. It's good to fold another one, then wet-fold the first one and see if it works.

It is possibly a good idea.
I did that on a flasher from Jeremy Shafer. It was completely dry-folded from a strong paper, then I wet it while being hold in closed position with a strap all around (it was completely sinked into water for a few seconds!).
Its resulting closing movement was a much stronger springy action.

I also used to do this when I was into action origami. It always worked well, especially for the spinning flashers.

And it seems like a good idea to me. Wrap the thing in a band of some sort, dip it in water. Let it drip-dry for a few minutes, then put it under a stack of books for a few days. I have also done this before, and it seemed to work well for me

Another question about spring into action, how long can I make it and have it function? Like a 1:4 ratio instead of 1:2?

Just double the original length and make more circles for more springs

I don't know how far you can stretch the proportion, but I'm sure it works with twice the lenght as you can see in this video I did some time ago:

Hey, that's pretty neat. I like it.