The Origami Forum

Does anyone know of a good model that can be easily memorized and folded from a standard piece of printer paper to impress/give to others? It'd be cool to be able to fold something relatively quickly to show off the beauty and complexity of origami.

Tear it into a square and then fold it into a:

Flapping Bird or
Jumping Frog or
Water Balloon or
Gift Box

My vote is always for the flapping bird, if people are watching...

You might also learn some Dollar Bill Origami...

This flapping bird (quite similar to Samuel Randlett's) is great too, and quicker to fold than the traditional one (if time is of importance). And its flapping motion is much more dynamic too!

I have a pretty quick-to-fold fractal flower design that I might be able to diagram. It's complex but fairly easy if you're good with unsinks.

My average reaction is "Wow, that's amazing!" or "You're really good". But what bugs me is that most people appreciate simple models over complex ones. Apparently it is a "Brilliant job" to fold a crane, but just "good" when folding Nguyen Hung Cuong's eagle. I have also given some origami to a few of my teachers. My science teacher likes them a lot also, occasionally (with my permission) picking up one, if it has wings, and says he is teaching it to fly. Because me and a friend started an origami club at school, we have converted about 5 or so people. Once i folded a fiery dragon under my desk during English and showed my teacher afterwards. She said it was great (she didn't realise I folded it during her lesson).

To paraphrase a very old story by Parkinson [See: Parkinson's Laws], if you tell someone that you're a nuclear physicist, they don't say much, but if you tell them that you build houses, they're more comfortable with the conversation...

Most people react to my origami with a, "Wow!, That is so amazing!" Or sometimes a, "Cool!" Once Someone's reaction was, "Quit showing off!" I never brag about my origami models I just show them. Heck what was even weirder was the model where I got the quit-showing-off reaction from was a traditional origami pop star.

When They see it, they usually tell me I'm obsessed or they ask me to fold them one.

Strangers like it. The family is more of a "That's cool, but you need to get a life" kind of reaction...
I guess my family was more impressed 15 years ago when I was a 10 year old folding animals from candy wrappers XD
Maybe if I fold them a ryujin 3.5....

A couple days ago I told someone I did origami. She said, "Oh, so you can make those little swans and stuff?" I told her I can do a lot more than that.
I wasn't able to show her any of my models at that time, but I will if/when I get the chance.

It annoys me how many people say 'How did you do that'. I then reply with the sequence of steps and they just usually walk off in a huff. Also, non-folders also seem to be amazed by my models but origami experts just give (constructive) criticism.

Blue -> A good response to that (at least by my judgment) is "I just fold a sheet of paper for a few hours." That usually catches people off guard, and it's funny to see their reactions.