Paper - Preferred folding material

[wolf]

Ooooh, now we've turned you into a paper addict. Welcome to the club. Muahahahahaha!

[rokonacdc]

you know actually ive decided i li..... just kidding

[EricGjerde]

From my understanding, kami is the japanese word for paper (which becomes "gami" when used with "oru" to make "origami"); and washi is the term for "japanese paper", nothing more. Of course, what it means and what we mean when we use it are two different things!

I used to fold a lot of unryu (meaning something like "cloud dragon paper") which is a lightweight mulberry bark paper with inclusions of larger fibre sections. This comes from beating the mulberry bark (which has various names) for a good long while, which gives the thin translucent paper, and adding in less-beaten pulp materials to give the longer fibre inclusions.

It folds well when properly treated with things like methylcellulose or gelatin, depending of course on what your final model is. I tend to give it heavy MC treatments so it becomes rather springy, although with lesser quality mulberry papers this can lead to cracking.

However, I just recently was introduced to the absolute marvel of abaca paper due to a visit with a small papermill; it's fibre from a relative of the banana, which grows in the phillipines (and elsewhere) and is/was referred to as "manila hemp", although it's not actually a hemp product. This paper is ludicrously strong- I have some that is maybe 50gsm at best, yet it is relatively stiff and springy, and does not seem to crack under any circumstances. I folded a section back and forth, creasing it heavily with my fingers and then a bone folder- over 100 times, reversing folds, and I was still unable to tear the paper along the crease. absolutely fabulous stuff.

I came away from my papermill visit with a good selection of 100% abaca papers in various thicknesses and levels of beating (I don't know the proper term- the length of time the fibres spent in the beater being softened up). Also, some 80% abaca 20% flax mix, which also looks very promising and has a wonderful natural coloring to it.

I can see now why LaFosse uses abaca to make his origami paper, as it provides immense strength with very little thickness!

It's particularly well suited for tessellations, at least in it's natural state- quite translucent, and I certainly intend on learning how to make this paper so I can get just the right level of translucency, springiness, and color. Wonderful stuff.

Additionally, I learned that materials like lokta are also called "Daphne" by paper makers, and that the lokta paper that one often finds in origami usage has little to no pulp processing- hasn't spent much time at all, if any, in the beater. I'm very curious to see what kind of change it makes to the paper's consistency and foldability by longer processing, so that's a definite item on the "to-do" list.

One of the coolest things was seeing the shelves full of raw mulberry bark, silk, linen scraps, flax, and other materials waiting to be used for paper creation. Definitely one of the best parts of my trip to NYC for the OUSA convention!

[~folder~of~paper~]

Once I used a square of shortcut pastry to fold a Yakko San, but it didn't turn out too well when I tried to bake it
I love Tissue Foil, but Yuzen and Unryu look fab when they are used to make the right model. Paper money's quite fun, too...
I carry a box of washi and kami around everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE! People think I'm crazy, but when I get the urge to fold... You all know what I mean

[~folder~of~paper~]

Read pp. 25-32 from Advanced Origami; Michael G. LaFosse. Quite helpful!

[Brimstone]

Once I used a square of shortcut pastry to fold a Yakko San, but it didn't turn out too well when I tried to bake it

I once heard a Lang interviewe in which he mentioned he would use tortillas and other edible stuff. Has anyone else tried it?

[Cupcake]

Hmm... Edible origami... sounds like fun!

[~folder~of~paper~]

edible origami is great!, but my yakko san wasn't cooked in the middle and tasted like old flour...

[4sigma]

I've been doing origami for a long time, and my favorite has always been Japanese foil. But just recently I read Robert Lang's webpage about how to make tissue foil, and it's got to be my new favorite now. It's not quite as thin as Japanese foil, but it is much more resistant to tearing, which is what Japanese foil always seemed to do whenever I tried to fold insects or anything similarly complicated.

Fortunately in the poll, tissue foil and Japanese foil are the same option, so I don't have to pick between them.

I'm interested in learning how to do wet folding and am wondering if I should just start with elephant hide, or if there is something cheaper I should start with that's nearly as good? Does MethylCellulose help a lot, or is water nearly as good? Looked around for a thread that discusses this and didn't see one, so posting the question here.

Mods -- if I should start a separate thread, let me know and I'll happily do so.

[silentmagesoul]

I am actually far too lazy to get anything better than binder paper. I know there are much better paper types, but I can't seem to bring myself to go search for some foil, tissue, kami, or washi somewhere out there in the wide scary world. The binder paper is just in reach so it's just so much more convenient.

Now that you mention it 4sigma, I might try Lang's tissue foil to break my lethargy.

Oh, and edible origami seems like a very interesting idea. Think of the possibilities at a party or something.

[4sigma]

Searching for foil should not be scary -- I found mine in the local market. Not sure where you're located, but a lot of stores that sell greeting cards also sell tissue-type paper.
The adventure is finding the spray adhesive to bond the two together.


There's a thread on tissue foil somewhere but I can't find it at the moment -- search on "Tissue foil" returns 129 matches.

[rokonacdc]

search "tissue and foil" or "making and tissue and foil"

[rokonacdc]

here is the video

[silentmagesoul]

Searching for foil should not be scary -- I found mine in the local market. Not sure where you're located, but a lot of stores that sell greeting cards also sell tissue-type paper.
The adventure is finding the spray adhesive to bond the two together.

I'm pretty much scared of everything, especially adventures. Just kidding. Thanks for the advice guys.

[~folder~of~paper~]

Shopping for paper is an irrational fear because it's my favorite thing to do, the only thing scary about paper is paper cuts and origami clowns. I hate clowns!