Paper - Preferred folding material

[phil]

I used to exclusively from foil but recently I deciced to try folding from handmade papers. I used Lokta paper to fold animals , I think it gives them a fur like took. Here's Lang's moose I folded from it.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/family_ph ... pg&.src=ph

I also found that Thai mulberry paper works great for complex models. Here are some of Lang's Insects I folded from large sheets of it.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/family_ph ... pg&.src=ph

Here is a Tiger I folded from tiger print paper from india.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/family_ph ... pg&.src=ph

I still use alot of foil paper but I think the handmade papers give the folds a more natural look.

[stuckie27]

why is this a sticky?

[justin]

i always design with foil unless i run out of it. and i rarely fold anything that im not designing so well...ya...i like foil cuz it isnt like folding a rubber band, if ya know how that can feel...yuk....
o and wat do you mean by sticky?

[Anonymous]

why is this a sticky?

So that it can be back-coated with another thread and then made into a small paper elephant.

[Anonymous]

If I’m learning a new design then I’ll use cheap plain paper.

I like models to have a durability to them and so I prefer to work with heavier papers, if it’s practical. Elephant Hide is a wonderful material to wet fold with.

There is a specialist paper shop in Holborn, London, called Falkiners and I’ve experimented with some of the cheaper papers that they sell there. I have had a couple of disasters – I bought this flock paper, which is furry on one side and which I thought would be good to make horses with. Unfortunately, the furry backing means that folds often creep out of position and the model doesn’t hold its shape.

I sometimes back-coat tissue with brown parcel paper to give it some extra thickness.

[Anonymous]

hello,

i`ve got a question

my english isn`t so good...

so what do you mean with "kami" ?

perhaps it means washi - handmade japanese paper ?


thanks

thomas

[TheRealChris]

kami is the name of the simple origami paper


Christian

[Friet]

Hi, I just registered and I thought I'd start with the question that I've wanted to ask someone for a long time. Living in the Netherlands, far away from any advanced origami stuff. Like books with models more complex than cranes and little piggies, and no other people that practice origami (that I know of anyway).
How thin is the paper that you guys use, and how big are the sheets that you use? There are a couple of shops over here that sell simple 6 inch origami paper, called harmony origami paper. (Picture)
It's fine for folding simple complex models, and it's only around 4 bucks for 55 sheets. I can easily fold things like Anibal Voyer's Pegasus with it.(although it tends to tear if the models get too thick) But if I try his Dragon with three heads, I can manage to fold the damn thing, but the model becomes so tiny that even my pincer won't help me with accurately folding the heads and tail. So basically I spent many hours on the dragon, but in the end nobody could really tell what it was, which was really frustrating The coulour patterns of the paper can also make models look very strange, by making a head dark green, but a jaw totally white.

So do you guys know of any place in Europe (or maybe even in the Netherlands) where I can get/order some bigger and thinner paper?
Some info on different kinds of paper would be appreciated as well, especially the kami paper you guys seem to like so much.

Thanks a bunch in advance!

[Dioniso]

why don't you try with tissue-foil paper?
You can make it yourself, as big as the foil you can find, and it gives a wonderful result.
You just need foil tissue and spray glue.
Look the last model I've folded from a 21cmX21cm tissue-foil paper I made.
[img]http://www.tuttuben.it/treefrog5.jpg[/img]

bye
Dioniso

[TheRealChris]

you should try to get in contact with Paula ( http://www.orihouse.com/ ). She's from the Holland and very active in the community. she's also a very nice person, and will surely help you with your paper-problem

greetings

Christian

[wolf]

So do you guys know of any place in Europe (or maybe even in the Netherlands) where I can get/order some bigger and thinner paper?
Some info on different kinds of paper would be appreciated as well, especially the kami paper you guys seem to like so much.

Kami must die. If you work out the cost per area, it's cheaper to get equivalent weight paper and then cut it to whatever size you want.

Since you're in Europe, A3 and A4 sized paper should be available in any large stationery store. The lighter weight (50-60gsm) papers should work for dry folding, and the heavier ones (100gsm or more) can be wet folded. The one downside is that they come coloured on both sides, unlike kami.

Stationery stores often carry drafting or tracing paper too, in large rolls. These are nice and thin but sometimes hard to work with. You can back them with foil to make them stiffer, if you can't get tissue paper to make tissue-foil.

Big art stores may carry Japanese rice paper, washi and elephanthide. One such place in Europe is Steinmann, in Stuttgart. Maybe they take orders from all over Europe?

Oh, and try http://www.origamisources.com as well, for a list of art and book stores in Europe (and the rest of the world).

[cybermystic]

Personally, I use whatever I can get my big, fat fingers on. I've been known to mangle paper, napkins, foil, kami, interoffice junk mail (read: color copies), even fabric swatches from time to time. If it can hold an edge, I will fold with it. When I start a new prodgect, though, I use paper that is unimportant, just because I know it will end up as an origami boulder on the other side of the room

[phil]

I recently tried Tissue foil for the first time. It was a little hard to work with at first, but I think it looks good. I don't like it when the silver of the foil shows, I tried to hide it as much as possible. The foil helps in the final shapeing, the legs stay in the position you put them in. It's also cheaper than the handmade papers. Here's what I folded so far, Lang's Longhorn Bettle was the fist model I created from Tissue Foil.

Tissue Foil Pictures

All those models were folded with 10 inch Tissue foil.

[wolf]

I don't like it when the silver of the foil shows, I tried to hide it as much as possible

One way is to use a three layer sandwich (tissue/foil/tissue) - in this situation, you won't have a foil side.

Another thing to do is to start with a slightly larger piece of tissue, then wrap the tissue around the raw edges. That seals off all the edges so it looks better; also there's less chance of delamination at the edges.

[TheRealChris]

I don't like it when the silver of the foil shows, I tried to hide it as much as possible

mostly non-origamists told me, that they thought, this gave the model a special look, and that they really liked it. many people liked those "foil stripes".


Christian