The Origami Forum

Hey everyone,

Yesterday, I came across a place selling paper, and bought some on a whim. I ended up with some 15cm tissue paper (which I've never used before), and some smaller paper described as "Yuzen Chi" (presumably meaning chiyogami...I can't read the Japanese/Chinese characters).

Now, I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.

The "yuzen" paper has some beautiful patterns on it, and every sheet is different. But the sheets are small, and much heavier than, say, kami. I have some other heavy paper as well, both solids (in some rather fibrous papers) and chiyogami, in sizes ranging from about 8cm to 15x20 cm.

Any suggestions for what to do with this heavy paper? In particular, I'm wondering what I can do with the yuzen/chiyogami that will work with the strong designs on the paper.

- Darryl

It is very beautfiul paper, but its uses are fairly limited. It tends not to hold creases so well and its thickness limits it to easier models (which the large "facets" of paper show off its beauty better anyway). I think it works well on the traditional designs, models that require "puffyness", those of people in kimonos, and boxes. I've not used them for modular work before, but that might be another good application.

I know what you could do with it you could fold it

Seriously though I don't really know what you could use it for because my nearest big towns are miles away and they don't sell good paper

sorry :

DShpak wrote:Any suggestions for what to do with this heavy paper? In particular, I'm wondering what I can do with the yuzen/chiyogami that will work with the strong designs on the paper.

Usually NOT for representational origami. The paper tends to distract from the model itself (which is your primary interest, the paper should accentuate the model, not draw attention your eye to it first). Besides it is too springy for complex models, and they will lose their shape almost immediately, though I imagine you could use sizing/MC afterwards.

So... boxes, boxes, boxes. They lend themselves quite well to the Fuse boxes (or anyone else's, I would imagine) or her spiral modulars. I guess you could use them for the larger modulars, but this might get expensive (since those require ~ 30 sheets, though for ideal effect I think you should alternate with similar colored kami). Another thing to do if you celebrate Christmas, is to use them for traditional models (i.e., crane, waterbomb) and then use them as ornaments for your tree. Or, make a lot and give them to someone else to use as ornaments in their tree (and don't worry about getting started now, it's not the models that take the time, it's properly stringing them up).

If you have large sheets of the stuff, it's quite attractive to fold the Montroll peacock so that the design appears on the tail.

I ran into this same problem when I bought some very beautifully patterned washi paper. It even had gold inlay! The paper sat in my box for so long because it was almost too pretty to fold. But then I did exactly what Bethnor suggested: I made ornaments using the traditional crane. They received very positive reactions from those I gave them to as gifts.

Thanks for the comments. They match my thoughts: simple models, which might make good gifts. I hadn't thought about Christmas decorations, but that's a good idea.

I've just gone through the pack again: 25 sheets, astonishing variety, and they're all gorgeous. Some do, in fact, have gold inlay. I think I'm going to turn to my copy of Origami Omnibus -- in the past, I've admired Kasahara's ability to make a simple model look like a work of art when well-folded from attractive paper.

Here are some samples of the sheets, in case anyone's interested. I've also scanned in a copy of the label from the package. I'm curious what it says; if anyone can translate it, I'd appreciate it.

they are nice