The Origami Forum

On the box there are instructions for making it more "un-dense" by adding water, which is the way I assumed most people would do it.

thats not what I mean. i mean add a little glue to your water, not a little water to your glue.

what I mean is to put like some of the glue in a gallon of water to make the solution to apply onto the paper

is that what you mean?

2 parts glue one part water works quite nicely. But then if you're trying to turn a load of water white, then the other way round would work. Then just don't let the water evaporate.

I've recently tried tracing paper for the first time, for this fold of Satoshi Kamiya's flying Hercules beetle and I must say I'm not convinced. OK, it's cheap (70p for an A2 sheet) but it splits along creases very easily.

I think I'll save it for test-folds.

With tracing paper, you CAN get amazing results, but I think there are several factors that determine them. One being the brand of tracing paper you use, as you said you bought some cheap stuff, but I think Shuki Kato (http://www.flickr.com/photos/origami-artist-galen/) uses strathmore brand and he has amazing results.

The other is that in order to get good results I THINK you must wet finish the paper to get layers together. No one has really mentioned actually using any sort of finish, but I am quite sure in order to get amazing results the majority of nice origami folded from tracing paper is wet finished at the very least. I have heard that MC does not soak in to the paper well though, or else I would say MC was probably used.

I use strathmore and love it! You need to do a wet finish though, or the model will come apart after a while.

I use primarily strathmore paper as well, but I have used several different types of tracing paper. Each has it's own unique qualities that make it good for certain tasks. Strathmore is very crisp, yet flexible, Beinfang paper is not as crisp, but is thinner. Canon tracing paper tends to rip along the creases you make in it, especially at points with many intersection, it's for that reason I don't use it anymore. A wet finish is desirable but not necessary. My ancient dragon did not have a wet finish applied to it and I don't think it could have been made any better with methyl cellulose. (though I did spray paint it, rendering the model very rigid) I will admit that getting extremely thin points is difficult without a wet finish.
Each type of paper is unique and never folds the same. don't give up on a type of paper just because it didn't turn out Iike this one that was folded from - insert favorite paper here - given time you will learn the secrets to fold excellently with any type of paper. But I diverge. To sum it up, tracing paper is a great medium that, like any other paper, is mastered over time. Terrific for test folds and/or final renditions.

I don't think wet-finishing would work; it doesn't seem at all water-permeable.

Hey ho. It was my first attempt at the flying Hercules Beetle too. When folding complex models like this I generally don't get a result I'm entirely pleased with on the first attempt anyway. I'll try that model with a different paper, and try the rest of the tracing paper for different models. It's all about experimentation isn't it?

For tracing paper, Wet finish works best with CMC. Though similar results can be obtained with simply water. It will take some practice, not to mention courage to really soak the model, to get it right. For say, insect legs, I like to dampen all of the layers using a paintbrush, then pinch and pull the leg into a desired shape (you should exaggerate the shaping just a bit because it spreads ever so slightly if your don't put constant pressure on it) you'll get the hang of it, once you give it some practice!

I use display backing for all my big work. It's a brilliant paper but it's very odd, nothing like i've heard anyone on this forum describe. While making the ancient dragon though, i have decided it needs some sort of coating that'll help it stop perforating around points. Has anyone got any suggestions? A transparent coating that leaves the paper easy to fold, less strainable and slightly stiffer.

Methylcelullose

I thought that was a chemically unpleasant glue thing? If i coated the white side of display backing with it, would it make the paper stiffer, less rippable and more responsive?

Please refer to some of the posts on MC for question about sizing paper, backcoating, etc. (But to answer your question, yes it's the chemical thing and (not unpleasant though) yes, yes, and yes.)

to put it simply, its amazing.