I'm looking for a two-step model:
1. First is a general Delay Timer. Fold the model, put it on a table, and it unfolds, or snaps. Specific time delay , or reproducibility, is not important, but there has to be a general delay that can be repeated.
My general ideal is to use tension and unfolds, then use a flap that unfolds, allowing the first tension fold to unfold. I think that Momotani may have an unfolding flower, using a drop of water, but I want something simpler, using dry paper.
2. The second part is the Jumping frog 'illusion' from the pilot of the tv show, The Mentalist. He puts an Origami frog on the table, walks away, and it jumps. I don't expect that type of magic, but I am trying for a similar effect. The Origami Delay Timer is folded as part of a simple business card jumping frog that jumps like a spring when you compress it. The Delay Timer holds the compression, then unravels to let the frog jump.
No one has ever done it, so I imagine that it's much harder than I've described ... Or no one has done it, because they've imagined it's harder than I've described, so never attempted, then made variations to improve the effect.
- Hank Simon