When you get stuck....

monkeyboyhero · Post by **monkeyboyhero** » July 19th, 2009, 2:08 pm

Hi all - my first post, so I'l try and make it half decent....

Sometimes when making a complex model, I get to a point where I can't understand the diagram/instructions or work out what I'm supposed to do. Particularly when the fold is tricky, I just feel stumped! I wondered what other more experienced folders do in this situation? Have a break from it and come back? Give up and try something simpler?

What I've been doing is basically writing the model off, and then taking it to pieces to see if I can work out what is meant to be done (i.e. unfolding it way too much, tugging bits out that should be left in place etc) for next time.

Does anyone else have any tips or advice for if you are feeling stumped or frustrated by a certain fold in a model

(PS This post was inspired while I was trying to fold Jerry Harris's Tyrannosaurus Rex - I'm baffled by the head!)

ftangdude55 · Post by **ftangdude55** » July 19th, 2009, 2:32 pm

I usually just keep trying new things, and if that doesn't work, I just ask how the step is done, here on the forum (which doesn't happen that much for me).

Which step has you baffled (of the T-Rex)? Step 50? 51?

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » July 19th, 2009, 3:25 pm

I guess we all understande your frustration since most (if not all) have experienced it too.

Sometimes the cause for a step to not work as it is explained in the diagrams is because you made a mistake in a previous step, so that flap you are told to pull is locked or that point doesn't have the shape shown by the diagram, etc.

So what I do is go back and make sure I've followed the instructions for previous steps correctly and many times I've found the culprit this way.

Other times there have been tiny lines showing where the creases should go and I haven't seen them, those have gotten me in trouble too.

Other times diagrams have been wrong plain and simple.

unknownfolder · Post by **unknownfolder** » July 19th, 2009, 3:31 pm

When I get stumped I concentrate and try to figure out how the model could possibly become that shape. I consider what paper is going where, what precreases, if any, go into the fold, and, if the diagram has text, read it more carefully than I did before.

If none of these work I backtrack to a previous step to make sure I didn't mess up one of those. Most of the time this is the case when I am having difficulty on a step.

I usually don't take any breaks if I am stumped.

Hope this answered your question.

Post by **TheRealChris** » July 19th, 2009, 3:45 pm

don't forget that some steps are not needed to finish the models. sometimes its only a preparative step to make some later steps easier. sometimes the step is not needed and is "only" giving the model more details.
try to skip that step an look how far you will come. sometimes a later step will explain the meaning of an earlier step.
teaching a model in real life is much easer, you can say "bend this flap upwards and pull out the hidden layer out that way". in a diagram you may have to split up that one explanation in a lot of steps.

Ariel_A · Post by **Ariel_A** » July 19th, 2009, 4:14 pm

All of the above suggestions are good.

However, when I've puzzled and have gone back and forth, I will sometimes take a break and sleep on it. A number of times, it has made much more sense the next day, but other days I had to continue with Chris's strategy and usually ended up with a pretty messy approximation which nevertheless gave me some idea of what was going on in the folding sequence.

Good luck,
Ariel

HankSimon · Post by **HankSimon** » July 19th, 2009, 7:07 pm

If I don't know how to describe the problem, then I set it aside and work on other models. I have some models that have taken me more than 3 years of returning to ... I'm still working through the Giang Dinh models after two years.

If you have a camera, then take pictures where you're stumped and tell us where the diagrams are. Maybe someone has successfully folded it, and can tell you how to work through it.

Sometimes just describing the problem and listening to various suggestions will help.

- Hank Simon

ahudson · Post by **ahudson** » July 19th, 2009, 7:46 pm

monkeyboyhero wrote:Sometimes when making a complex model, I get to a point where I can't understand the diagram/instructions or work out what I'm supposed to do. Particularly when the fold is tricky, I just feel stumped! I wondered what other more experienced folders do in this situation? Have a break from it and come back? Give up and try something simpler?

I generally keep working away at it until I find a solution. If, after an hour or so, it still doesn't make sense, I just assume the diagram is flawed... I've only had that happen a couple times though.

monkeyboyhero · Post by **monkeyboyhero** » July 19th, 2009, 11:39 pm

Thank you all for your advice! Ftangdude, you guessed correctly - it was step 50! However, inbetween posting, going out for the evening, and coming home and trying again I've managed to do that step at least. I think I just needed to mull over it for a bit - time away from a tricky model seemed to be the best solution.

(I haven't moved onto the next step yet, so fingers crossed for that)

Does anyone else find it rather aggravating that some models seem to have a really complex step that only has one diagram, when earlier in the model really easy steps got two or three?!

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » July 20th, 2009, 1:11 am

monkeyboyhero wrote:Does anyone else find it rather aggravating that some models seem to have a really complex step that only has one diagram, when earlier in the model really easy steps got two or three?!

Quite often.

redheadorigami · Post by **redheadorigami** » June 5th, 2010, 3:37 pm

i shout out random obscenities, curse that step of the model, srung it up into a perfect sphere and retry!

dinogami · Post by **dinogami** » June 5th, 2010, 4:04 pm

I remember my first successful, relatively complex model -- Montroll's "Pegasus" from Origami for the Enthusiast. I am not exaggerating when I say I probably went through at least 100 attempts, always getting successfully into the diagrams up to around step 50, and then being stumped. (I know -- in retrospect, this isn't that hard of a move!) IIRC, I basically kept trying different things with my model attempts, no matter how bizarre, incorrect, or unlike the diagrams it seemed. Eventually, I stumbled onto the solution, basically by trial and error. Subsequently, I had similar issues with step 6 of his "Rabbit" from the same book, and basically did the same thing 'til I got it. After that, finding steps that were unclear became increasingly rare, though it still happens occasionally even now, though I (fairly or unfairly) tend to attribute those more to unclear diagrams than to difficulty of a fold!

Summer · Post by **Summer** » August 8th, 2010, 5:38 am

I remember way back when in my very early origami days when I simply couldn't understand a rabbit-ear fold. After a night's-worth of sleep I went back to it and just solved it right away!
Some people say that you solve your waking problems in your dreams... that's how the sewing machine was invented and, for all you science people out there, how the structure of benzene was discovered!

HankSimon · Post by **HankSimon** » August 8th, 2010, 7:42 pm

Benzene only has 6 folds, much easier than most Origami

- Hank Simon

youdneverthink · Post by **youdneverthink** » August 20th, 2010, 7:15 pm

HankSimon wrote:Benzene only has 6 folds, much easier than most Origami

- Hank Simon

hahahaha

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