Paper - Preferred folding material

General discussion area for learning about paper, and the different types available.

What material do you prefer to fold with?

kami
108
19%
foil (tissue/American/Japanese)
235
41%
heavy paper, wet folded
33
6%
normal copy paper
141
25%
other (plastic, metal, flour tortillas)
57
10%
 
Total votes: 574

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Cupcake
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Post by Cupcake »

Well, I folded a special model just yesterday. I consider a special model one thats just better than the rest.
And I'm not going to use my kami and foil for simpler models and first attempts, because I can't just go out and buy more of this special paper, because theres no paper shops nearby
Ryan MacDonell
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I like foil backed paper!
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spiritofcat
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Post by spiritofcat »

I voted for copy paper since that's what I always used to use and closest to what I now use.
I use this brightly coloured memo paper I found in K-Mart.
It's just less than 10cm on each side (13.5cm along the diagonal), comes in a stack of about 5cm high and in it's own perspex tray, only costs me $5 for the stack and lasts for ages.
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PaperBeetle
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Post by PaperBeetle »

Paper-backed-foil, no contest. The best source is chocolate bars. In the UK, I would particularly recommend large Aeros, Galaxy, and Green & Blacks - much better (i.e. thinner) foil paper than that free sheet you often get in a pack of plain kami. The mint (green foil) and vanilla (blue foil) Aeros in particular have very vivid colours, although the blue is unfortunately not very color-fast.
There is also a company that makes large chocolate bars for middle-class outlets like English Heritage, Past Times etc. They use a slightly heavier paper foil, but often with subtle colours and a texture to the foil. Very nice.
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Cupcake
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Post by Cupcake »

Interesting choice. I usually just fold anything foldable, from chip-bags to yogurt wrapper things (the foil ones).
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origamimasterjared
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Post by origamimasterjared »

PaperBeetle wrote:Paper-backed-foil, no contest. The best source is chocolate bars.
Definitely. See's Candy bars (the ones that young students sell for fundraisers) are wrapped in foil that is nearly unbeatable. This skull was folded from a See's chocolate wrapper:

Image

CP in Anna's Xmas Book if anyone wants to try it.
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origami_8
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Post by origami_8 »

I agree that chocolate wrapper foil paper is one of the best folding materials available. Unfortunately it´s mostly a little bit fatty and covered with some creases. Also you have to cut it square yourself and it´s not very large in size. I would be interested where to buy large rolls of this stuff, does anyone know? It´s getting difficult to get this stuff here in Austria since most chocolate bars that where sold in foil paper are now sold in plastic covers, a very bad trend for people who want to fold with it :(
Once I bought around twenty packages of a very similar Origami foil paper with foil in many different colours over eBay, if I only would know where to get more of it...

Another good folding material is thin kraft paper. There was a time when I folded nearly everything with it (around that time I experienced with making an own homepage...

At the moment my prefered folding material is double mc treated tissue paper. It´s very thin and crisp, holds creases well and can be made in any size you want up to the size of your tissue paper. You can make it in every colour combination you want (if you are able to find non bleeding tissue paper) and is really strong.
Another good point for this material is that you can shape it wet and it will become stiff and won´t change it´s appearance any more.
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Fanatic
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Post by Fanatic »

For some strange reason I like to fold things out of Washi. There is a chinese bookstore nearby that sells Washi. It's pretty thin, and it's strong. I love it.(the only criticism I have for it is that it's overdecorated and doesn't hold creases to well.)
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kingdomwinds
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Post by kingdomwinds »

i like kraft paper. Cheap, durable, and looks nice. Only con is that i can't find duo colored ones for double sided models.
Watusa
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Post by Watusa »

kingdomwinds wrote:i like kraft paper. Cheap, durable, and looks nice. Only con is that i can't find duo colored ones for double sided models.
i agree, kraft paper is really good. but, as Roman Diaz provides instructions for in his excellent book, you can always back it with some tissue paper (although you might want to invest in a decent vinyl roller). The PVA or MC solution adheres the tissue and sizes the paper, making it hold creases and wetfold better.

Oh dear, that sounded a lot like an advert, didn't it? :oops:

I don't know the names of the paper i most often fold with, because i steal it from the art department at my school :D But i'm pretty sure it's blank newsprint paper. Sized and backed with some other paper (like kraft paper) it's really nice to fold with.
Watusa
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Post by Watusa »

a lot of people fold with tissue foil, but complain about finding a reliable source and having to make it yourself. well, nicholas terry sells rolls of the stuff on his site:

http://design.origami.free.fr/boutique/ ... -paper.htm

i dunno what the rules about linking to commercial websites are, but i thought that might help a few people out. :)
hardcoretraceur
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Post by hardcoretraceur »

i love folding out of anything really, everything has its own character. for vday i folded a dozen roses out of cardstock and it gave them an entirely different feel than if i folded them out of something else.
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Cupcake
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Post by Cupcake »

I like thick paper, like copy paper. i don't really know why, maybe it's because I fold with copy paper so much that I often shape it like a would with foil... (except not as well)
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theorigamist
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Post by theorigamist »

I've been wanting to try kraft paper, and I was wondering if anybody knew of a place online to buy patterned kraft paper. I found a place to buy kraft paper cheap and in large quantities:

http://www.dickblick.com/zz115/06/

But it is all one color. And I doubt I'll want to make 800 square feet worth of origami models in the same color.
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JeossMayhem
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Post by JeossMayhem »

Sometimes if I want to make something small that isn't that complex I glue a piece of Japanese foil with some soft paper using some kind of Japanese rubbr glue, so it's basically improvised sandwhich paper. The texture is pretty neat.
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