Stupid dragon!

[Orca]

Well your right english isn't my first language and the most major reason I cant fold it is because of the wrinkles in my paper.

[maddoghoek100]

If wrinkles in your paper are the problem, there was a very good article in the origami usa magazine on making tissue foil recently and it had a tip that was really excellent for doing double tissue or tissue foil with no wrinkles.

Take a long ruler and some kind of weight and put it across one end of the tissue paper that you are trying to lay down. The ruler and weight will allow you to pull the paper taught and place it. It seems to work a lot better for me than rolling it out.

Also make sure you have enough weight on your paper while drying it. I let it dry between two pieces of glass for a couple of hours to remove the tackiness. Then if i am looking to speed up the process i put a piece of news print in with it and continue pressing it. the newsprint sucks up a lot of the moisture.

[bethnor]

once again.

if you're just practicing, tape four smaller squares together to make a larger square. if you have kami on hand, that will do fine. the final result won't be something you can show, but it will give you a rough idea of the pitfalls of the model.

making tissue foil to fold this model for the first time is ill-advised. if you mess up, not only do you have to throw away the model, but you also throw away all the time you spent making that sheet of double tissue or tissue foil.

most folders have more kami than they will ever use anyway. now's a good time. if you mess up, crumple it, tape another four pieces together, and start again. it literally doesn't even take five minutes.

[origamiperson]

hmm fold accurately? Make sure the paper is PERFECTLY square (sorry for the bold but I cant stress this enough). Finally, post some pics so we can further help you out.

I was just wondering how you could cut a perfect square out of a larger piece of paper. Even when I measure very accurately, I still end up with a rhombus rather than a square. Any suggestions?

[topsu]

Try searching for basic brown wrapping paper from your local supermarket. I can find them pretty much everywhere in 70 cm wide rolls and it sure makes my life easier. No more awkward kami things that fall apart!

[dinogami]

I was just wondering how you could cut a perfect square out of a larger piece of paper. Even when I measure very accurately, I still end up with a rhombus rather than a square. Any suggestions?

I use laser-cut, acrylic templates (0.1875 in. [4.5 mm] thick) that I ordered on-line (from Pololu). In terms of square-ness, here's what they quoted me when I inquired about the accuracy of the cuts:

"The resolution of the machine movement is around 0.004 - 0.007", and the laser beam width is roughly 0.01" (probably closer to 0.005")."

The squares of paper I cut with them are very, very square unless I somehow manage to mangle the cutting (which I do with a rotary cutter on a large cutting mat), such as if the template slips a bit while cutting and I don't notice--that's only happened a few times.

Is this a pricey solution? Yes, but the templates will last forever. I now have them in 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 17.5, and 24-inch sizes (that's 12.7, 15.2, 17.8, 20.3, 25.4, 30.5, 44.5, and 61 cm sizes for those of you in countries that use a sensible system of measurement). All told, they probably cost me a bit less than US$200 including shipping, and I ordered them in two separate batches so the shipping was a bit higher than if one ordered them all at once. There may also be cheaper cutters out there, particularly if you have a local one.

I've used cardboard templates in the past, but the cutter invariably ends up rolling up onto, and cutting into, the template (not a concern with the acrylic) or, worse, slicing off bits of the edge. Wooden templates would probably work just as well, but I've never looked into having any cut. The acrylic templates are well worth the money!

[maddoghoek100]

acrylic squares are a great idea, and i am dying to get something like that, but if cost is an issue then a good old framing square from the hardware store can be had for 5 - 15 dollars based on the length and it will be very accurate.

Also remember that if your paper has any waves in it from pretreating it then you will be hard pressed to get a square cut. And as Robert Lang says, you need to make sure to only cut your paper after it is wet if you are wet folding

[fncll]

Someone else recommended quilting squares and, while they don't come in the variety of sizes mentioned above, you might be able to find a few locally. The squareness seems pretty good..