Paper - Preferred folding material

[bethnor]

I don't know of many people who wetfold their(simple, heavily shaped) models using heavy art paper. Instead they fold their models from tissue foil, which I consider sacrilege and laziness. Why don't more people wet fold? I, myself, find it very enjoyable..

because the current trend in origami, like it or not, is increasingly complex models that require paper that is thin yet strong. most of the common wet-folding media (canson and even elephant hide) is strong, but definitely not thin, and not really suitable for stuff like insects.

[anonymous person]

I mean simple models- it really annoys me when I see a simple model that's been folded with tissue foil when it should really have been folded from dry kami or tension folded or wetfolded.

[TheRealChris]

what makes you think that those models should be folded from "dry kami"?

[bethnor]

well, for one, tissue foil is a lot of work for simple-intermediate models, without really offering anything over kami.

for another, the crinkly properties of tissue foil are exacerbated by simple-intermediate models, as there is less complexity to distract from the paper choice.

i hate to pick on joshua, but i would point you to his gallery. almost everything he's folded looks better with something other than tissue foil. as his models are usually intermediate, the imperfections in his tissue foil are also more readily apparent.

[anonymous person]

Also, there's very little need for tissue foil unless you're in a rush to make your paper because I really think that double mc tissue is a much better folding material, and you can always use more size to keep it in shape. There are loads more papers out there that are better to fold with than tissue foil, such as unryu, lokta, hanji, and(obviously),origamido. I think even Japanese foil is better to fold with than tissue foil because the end result is cleaner.

[bethnor]

for the record, kimscrane now has a huge selection of tant (the largest on the web now, actually).

[PhillipORigami]

For practice, I use foil, and for finals.... foil... or if i have some good paper from the paper tree.(paper-tree.com)

[cyitoh]

Can anyone share their experiences with the tissue paper from Terry's website?

For example, http://www.origami-shop.com/en/amasing- ... -1020.html

Does it not need to be MC'd? Can it be wet-folded? What are the cons of using it?

[DavidW]

My experience with the test sheet is that it folds like kami. Some complain about it being too thick. Check out the what are you folding thread, we recently talked about. And I wouldn't use it for wetfolding or treat it with MC.

Lpatch folds with it:

2nd Scorpion by Lpatch, on Flickr

I fold with it:

Lang's Murex by mahlerfan999, on Flickr

seems like a great paper, but NOT at all like tissue foil.

[TimelyToga]

kk where is everyone here getting their paper? I have scanned the internet and I quickly decided I have zero idea what paper is decently quality-ous? and is worthy of me purchasing it

are there any suggestions as to where and what kind of paper I should get? I just got "the works of Satoshi" and I wanted to make the ancient dragon, wizard and misc other beauties

[mummykicks]

I made tissue MC paper this weekend and evaluated several techniques.
The MC I got from amazon as elmer's paste, the shipping was as much as the MC but since I couldn't find it anywhere else locally I'm not complaining just yet (and it was only $10 total).

If found 2 tsp in 250ml was about the right ratio for me. The 2 oz of MC I bought will make a LOT of paper.

I know the general consensus is a glass surface, but I used a piece of lexan (polycarbonate), which is basically a plastic sheet .25" thick. It won't break if you drop it, and the MC won't stick. I had it lying around, but just about any smooth plastic sheet will do, and thinner sheets should be just fine even down to 1/16"...

Tissue paper was from Michaels (20" x 20" sheets), and came folded into 3rds, which sucks for trying to get it flat. But I saw no color bleeding like has been mentioned elsewhere.

I tried various methods, 2 sheets dry, then paint on the MC, one sheet at a time, start at one end, start at the middle, etc..

Regardless I end up with creases, and more pressure on the brush isn't the way to combate them. The worst was trying to do one layer at a time. I took the paper and used a dough roller to flatten them all down after drying and it gives it a marbled look I find aesthetically pleasing.

However, I still wanted to see if I could get it without any creases at all, and the method I used that got me the closest was as follows:

Start with one sheet, start in the middle and work your way out, if it starts to bunch up GENTLY (and I mean gently, or it will tear like wet tissue paper, which it is..) tug on the paper from the edges to help it find it's happy place.
I managed to get about a 15" square in the middle with no creases this way, hopefully with more practice I'll get the full 20".

Let it dry, I know I'm doing 2 sheets, but let the first one dry.

Apply the second sheet in the same manner over the first and they'll bond together just fine with the least amount of creases. What creases did appear were much smaller and finer than the other methods, and while I can't be certain, it appears that the second sheet didn't add any more...

It's better because any creases that do get created are only single sheet thickness, not double, and it appears the top sheet conforms to the bottom sheet quite well.

One thing that I also noticed was that the sheet gets larger when you MC it, about 1/4" over 20". When I went to put the second sheet on it was obvious. I also measured sheet thicknesses of the various papers I've used recently and I wanted a comparison between the stuff I just made:

20lb copy paper = .004" (.101 mm)
Kraft paper = .003" (.076 mm)
Paper backed foil = .0027" (.069mm) bought at michaels, not origami specific
Tissue paper = .0012" (.030 mm)
2 layer tissue with MC = .0015" (.038 mm)

Adding that second sheet doesn't double the thickness as you might expect, and based on the limited sample above, I see no reason to only use a single sheet...

Very easy to make, and pretty cheap if you can find a cheap source of tissue paper, mine was ~$3 for 15 sheets of 20" x 20", from which I get 4 9"+ squares after cutting, or about $.10 a sheet...

[shortloldude]

What type of paper can I get that has the ability to shape well, but not use MC/wet folding and is not homemade tissue foil? I have started to fold lots of human models and they are quickly becoming my favorite subject to fold, but my homemade tissue foil gets really wrinkled depending on how much detail I try to put into the model. A simple model like Hojyo Takashi's violinist does not get too wrinkled for me, but when I fold a model like Gabriel 3.0 it gets very wrinkled during the collapse/shaping. I have tried to use double tissue MC ( I read the topic on using MC to make the paper)...but have had lots of problems trying to get the paper to work, and am terrible at even attempting to wet fold. I have tried using tracing paper (strathmore paper) but I can't shape it well enough and lots of layers often make the paper thick and hard to handle because the paper tends to slide around easily. Any suggestions are welcome, I live in the US but do not have a Michaels or anything near bye, and so prefer to order online.

[origami_8]

Nicolas Terry's tissue foil papers should be fitting, they are strong and keep their shape perfectly: http://www.origami-shop.com/de/tissue-p ... 7_258.html

Or as a cheaper solution maybe usual foilpaper: http://www.origami-shop.com/de/papiere- ... 7_221.html

[shortloldude]

Thanks a lot Origami_8, I will give both a shot.

[endreon]

I almost never am able to use tissue foil, but it is my favorite!!!