Paper - Preferred folding material

[phil]

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

You're right, I showed a few models to people and they liked the foil stripes as well. I folded Montroll's Three headed dragon & it has a silver stripe down his back. I think it looks kind neat.Here's a picture

I also folded Lang's laby beetle from four diffrent types of paper, Duo Kami, Japanese foil, Tissue foil, and Thai Mulberry paper.
Paper compairison pictures

[Friet]

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

I found a link on her site to http://www.ori-expres.nl/ .

I went there (6 hours in a car ) and bought lots of paper!
As far as I know it's the only store in the Netherlands where they sell origami paper (other then the very simple paper) and I can recommend it to all the Dutchies out here

Cheers!

[MeadowMuffin]

Greetings all. I'm new here. I didn't see my favorite folding material mentioned, so I thought I would mention it: tracing paper.

It's very thin, holds a crease well (although sometimes reversing the direction of a crease can be challenging) and the translucency allows one to more easily line up folds with hidden layers.

[Friet]

Don't models look strange when you can see the underlying layers?

[MeadowMuffin]

Don't models look strange when you can see the underlying layers?

Not really. If anything, it adds to their appeal. What appeals to me about many origami models is the complexity of them and by being able to see the underlying folds as well as the outside appearance, it adds an extra layer of complexity to appreciate.

Besides, tracing paper is more translucent than transparent. Normally, in order to see through it, you have to push down on a layer to see the layer beneath it, and that works for the thickness of a double layer at best.

[Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM]

For experimenting and designing I prefer to use scrap paper cast offs from the laser printer and the interminable Californian school flyers that keep clogging up my kitchen.

I also make good use of 4 inch square colored note paper.

For finished products I use wallpaper with or without a painted (pearlex or metallic paint) back side. Or I print one side of a colored sheet of copy or laser printer paper with a grey-scale pattern. Several of the coloured patterns available on this site should work quite well. (When I get my origami web site up and running I'll post some free samples of the ones I have developed. )

The copy paper can be waterproofed (to protect against splash) by painting one or both sides with oil-based clear polyurethane. I have yet to try spa varnish (it may make the paper too rigid and creasing difficult) and wood finishing oils.

Other alternatives are American heavy duty foil (I make origami boxes which do best when made with the heavier materials) which can be stained with metal dyes - although this is somewhat tedious and difficult (for me) to put on without causing blotching.

[dani luddington]

i like florist foil, Charles Esseltine introduced it to me years ago. you can sometimes go into a florist shop and ask if you can buy a roll, last one i bought was 12 dollars cant remember the footage,(25ft x 12 or 18 inches?) but it was pretty generous. also when it is rolled you can cut your own size paper, especially good for long rectangular pieces of paper, for things like Langs black forest cuckoo clock! which i have not even attempted as of yet. so please dont ask me if you are stuck on that model. (smiles)
sincerely, dani

[Aurora]

I used stardard A4 70 gsm for normal practice, like folding the base. Later use larger paper to fold actual model. I cant get kami or foil here. The poor quality often cause my model to tear and colour fade.

1 exception, I use tissue to fold kawasaki rose, so it wont hv obvious cease on it.

[DavidW]

Wow it looks like just about everyone folds from foil here!

I like to use foil for the first attempt, then kami (unless it's obvious that the model is too thick or unwieldy) and the foil again for the final fold.

[Joseph Wu]

Not me. I've not used foil in years, other than when I need to have a metallic finish on a piece. Give me a good sheet of tension-filled paper (such as elephant hide) any day. Second choice would be a good wet-folding paper. When I finish a piece, I want it to stay in the shape it's supposed to have, rather than remain malleable like foil.

[wolf]

Tissue foil works in the humid tropics. Wet-folded elephanthide quickly turns into wet-unfolded elephanthide.

[Joseph Wu]

Yes, and your videotapes grow mildew, too. I'll stay in Vancouver, thanks.

[Brimstone]

Give me a good sheet of tension-filled paper (such as elephant hide) any day

Could you please ellaborate on the advantages of this type of paper? There are several of us who've only heard the name but have never touched a piece of elephant hide. Does it stay as you folded it the same way that tissue does?

[wolf]

Does it stay as you folded it the same way that tissue does?

No, elephanthide holds a crease about as well as normal weight (70 gsm) copy paper, and needs to be wetfolded if it's to hold its shape (assuming you're not doing dry tension folding). It's extremely strong, however, so you can make a crease through several layers of paper without having to worry about the topmost layers splitting apart.

[Brimstone]

That sounds more or less like kraft (or it is craft) paper. Are they very different?