MC --> Very Large Sheets?

dinogami · Post by **dinogami** » June 30th, 2010, 8:07 pm

Hi All! -

Hey, has anyone tried using methyl cellulose to graft multiple pieces of paper (say, for example, unryu) together to create very large sheets? I haven't tried it but I'm curious if it would work. Given that the MC seems to be a good bonding agent between two sheets to make two-ply paper, I would suspect so, but wanted to see if anyone else had any experience (as well as advice about how much to overlap for maximum effectiveness). Thanks!

origamimasterjared · Post by **origamimasterjared** » June 30th, 2010, 9:44 pm

You will need to MC all the way across the big sheet. Otherwise it will warp.

Why not test it out yourself. MC some scraps together like that. It should work.

As for the method of overlap, there are a few things you can do. A basic rule of thumb is to overlap by a half inch or less. There are more sophisticated things you can do, for instance designing the overlap based on the crease pattern of the design. If you can design your overlap to not have a lot of folds running through it, all the better. For example, if you are folding something from 15ths, you can overlap two sheets by a bit less than 1/8 and not have as many folds going through it.

dinogami · Post by **dinogami** » July 1st, 2010, 12:02 am

origamimasterjared wrote:You will need to MC all the way across the big sheet. Otherwise it will warp.

So noted, and makes sense!

Why not test it out yourself. MC some scraps together like that. It should work.

I'd love to try it with large sheets, but have a space problem...for some bizarre reason, I hadn't thought to try it with small sheets first. Good idea!

As for the method of overlap, there are a few things you can do. A basic rule of thumb is to overlap by a half inch or less. There are more sophisticated things you can do, for instance designing the overlap based on the crease pattern of the design.

I'd thought about that, but only had vague plans for anything in particular. I'd love to try Lang's "Black Forest Cuckoo Clock" using this technique (and probably make the overlaps in the areas he recommends taping), but at the museum I advise we've chatted informally about doing something like Lang did with a life-size pterosaur hanging from the ceiling, too!

qtrollip · Post by **qtrollip** » July 1st, 2010, 1:03 am

I know this is done by many artists; Robert Lang has advised to bond the rough frayed edges (as opposed to cut edges) together as to prevent the unwanted visible line.

Post by **origami_8** » July 1st, 2010, 5:03 pm

I think when wanting to make a huge sheet of double tissue I would overlap the paper by laying one layer of tissue paper in portrait and the other layer in landscape style over each other and then brushing the MC on top.

dinogami · Post by **dinogami** » July 1st, 2010, 7:32 pm

origami_8 wrote:I think when wanting to make a huge sheet of double tissue I would overlap the paper by laying one layer of tissue paper in portrait and the other layer in landscape style over each other and then brushing the MC on top.

That's interesting...I'm curious as to why...? I would worry about the different fiber directions in each sheet contracting differentially when the MC is applied. Or does tissue paper not have a discreet fiber orientation (I've never looked)?

FrumiousBandersnatch · Post by **FrumiousBandersnatch** » July 1st, 2010, 8:50 pm

Nobody has addressed this, so I thought I might mention: You're going to need a truly gigantic piece of glass/plexi to do this on...

Post by **origami_8** » July 1st, 2010, 8:58 pm

I do not think that this should be much of a problem, but I have to admit I never tried. But this would be the most logical way for me to do this.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » July 1st, 2010, 9:24 pm

FrumiousBandersnatch wrote:Nobody has addressed this, so I thought I might mention: You're going to need a truly gigantic piece of glass/plexi to do this on...

I found a solution for that. Instead of using glass, I use two taped-together huge wooden boards. These boards are very smooth, so that the paper doesn't get some kind of weird texture from it. Furthermore, it is quite easy to pull the paper off once it has dried.

Another benefit of using wooden boards is that I can fold them in half (since it's two boards) and the materials are very cheap. It cost me around 8 Euro's in total, and it allows me to make sheets up to 120x120 cm.

I can post some pictures to provide further clarification, if necessary.