The Origami Forum

recently i have been reading through design secrets and cannot seem to make the step on 16 to 17 of this hummingbird. it says "sink 1/3 of the top point." but wow the acordian thing is messing me up...that is i mean how it mountain and valley folds and makes like 4 flaps on either side of the model. i dont understand how the sink is supposed to end up. i just wrinkly the paper and then i cannot make the tail properly. i am having trouble with the rest of the model also, but i think i need to fix my folded geometry one place at a time. would anyone care to help me out with this sink?

Oh yes, this is a fun step.
I'll show you some details for a sink like that in general:

After precreasing the sink you will have to open the sink area as good as possible.


Turn the octagonal sink line into mountain all around and then begin collapsing the model again. The "vertical" creases will change their direction (valley-mountain) at the sink link.


The finished sink:


You can practice this step by trying to sink the tip of a frog base.
Hope that helps

ahh! of course!! hehe i tried robert lang's method for a closed and open sink from the previous part of the book and the point was just so pointy it wouldnt flop into place..now however i can do that part clean and the tail looks a little better, now on that part i dont really understand how to pull out the tail parts.....i can get the first part of that part, but when you have to "pull the layers out farther to the sides." as in step 29, but i've so far just done the best i could and made a fan thing...but the body takes a wrinkle beating in that process. i can probably get the rest, except for the pleated wings on step 40. it seems i am a little tense by step 40, and i have not mustered the determination to get into that part of detail now.

and as a postscript
what is the smallest anyone has ever made on of these? i am using fairly large paper right now, and it is still a little tricky in parts. practice

I tried it for the first time yesterday with 15x15 cm paper. I couldn't pleat the wings as much as in the diagrams though...

Morgan wrote:What is the smallest anyone has ever made one of these?

I took this as a challenge and turned an approximately 6,5 cm x 6,5 cm piece of Japanese foil into this about 3 cm long crumbled Hummingbird.


Strangely enough, this one turned out better than many of my prior attempts with bigger paper....

i just realized noone ever responded to your tiny hummingbird... good job :) even though it took too long to say so :)

I like this model! While in Vancouver, I folded it out of green foil and it ended up very nice-looking!

hi i'm folding this model for the 3rd time and i am still stuck in the same areas, so in a last desperate attempt i am posting this call for help hoping that someone can help me out. I am having trouble with steps 28 -30, and 32-33, i hope someone can help me out.

Yes, I'm having trouble with step 32 as well. Can anyone help us out?

hi i'm folding this model for the 3rd time and i am still stuck in the same areas, so in a last desperate attempt i am posting this call for help hoping that someone can help me out. I am having trouble with steps 28 -30, and 32-33, i hope someone can help me out.

Okay, the best way I can describe steps 28-30 is...you are grasping the middle sections on either side of the tale (the parts that you folded in to the center in steps 20 and 22) and unfolding while simultaneously pulling on the flaps. This causes more paper to be pulled from the center, thus making those flaps longer. You are essentially fanning the flaps out to the sides to make the tail feathers. Does that sorta make sense? It would be easy to show you, but alas, no camera.

In step 32-33, the round crease at the top just serves to round the body. The two creases on the bottom...well, just fold them, and let the body puff out (you're forming the hummingbird's round tummy) into a 3-dimensional shape. After you do this the paper will not lie flat. Step 33 takes a small bit of left-over flap and locks the round shape into place.

Hmm, I don't think I did it right because I can't seem to get the bottom to connect to the top in step 40. Or maybe I'm just doing the step wrong? How exactly should they be connected?

It doesn't actually attach to the top. If you look at step 40, it shows a small crimp in the bottom body part. Do that crimp, and then bend the body up a little and tuck it inside the head. I got mine to stay by squeezing the head a little bit too. It's kind of precarious.

All right I'll try it. Does it hold together well when it's finished?

I made mine out of red/green tissue foil, so it held together quite well. I'm not sure whether regular kami holds together, but if you wet fold a thicker sheet, you might be okay.

so, i was wondering....when you fold the belly up into the head, it says to hook it under the beak....i can't really do that....help please?