Questions about the work of Roman Diaz

merman · Post by **merman** » May 2nd, 2010, 12:53 pm

Hi all,

I am looking for some new books and I am completely unfamiliar with the work of Roman Diaz. His two books Origami for Interpreters and Origami Essence look very promising.

Can anyone tell me a bit more about these books? Are the diagrams clear? And does the finished result of models live to the expectations? For instance: I found the book Dragons, Witches and Other Fantasy Creatures in Origami by Mario Adrados Netto and Annibal Voyer very promising in the bookstore and bought it, but when I folded the models I found the bases very common/usual and the models look better on diagram than in real life (sorry if I insult anyone with this).

And does anyone have good experiences with ordering at origami-shop.com ? Are they fast and reliable and who's behind it?

Post by **origami_8** » May 2nd, 2010, 1:25 pm

Both books are highly recommendable.
Origami Essence (OE) has fun folding sequences and the models come out exactly as in the diagrams because every single step is fully referenced.
Origami for Interpreters (OI) is more free. Meaning that the author leads you to a model that has lots of possibilities for shaping. You will get a nice result in any case but the models are more advanced and not every step is fully referenced. If you begin folding with OE and work your way up to the more complicated models you should have no problems with the models in OI. The diagrams are very clear and beautifully drawn and the author gives further tips on paper choice, recommended starting size and final shaping.

Origami-shop.com is run by Nicolas Terry. He is very reliable and usually ships very fast. He is located in France so orders from the United States may take a bit longer to arrive.

denori · Post by **denori** » May 2nd, 2010, 1:29 pm

Hi,

Both books are excellent. They are well made, the diagrams are clear and there are photos of the finished models. Even my own versions of the models I've folded look very nice

!

origami-shop is run by Nicolas Terry and is extremely reliable. I've had excellent service on all my purchases from there. Books and paper arrive in excellent condition.

Dennis

merman · Post by **merman** » May 2nd, 2010, 1:39 pm

And how experimental is Diaz' work? Does he use a lot of traditional bases like the fish base and the bird base, maybe with some variations or are these more kite-folded based such as the work of Kamiya, that uses angles of 22.5 aqnd 45 degrees, but sets up bases with reference points not working with tradiational bases a lot? (wow what a long phrase)

aces21 · Post by **aces21** » May 2nd, 2010, 1:55 pm

Origami essence is the best book I have ever bought, and I have bought a lot. I would say the bases are traditionalish, not straight forward bird or fish base, but lots of variations. The folding sequences are all very natural. Almost every model has a moment where, having folded a few creases using traditional references, you perform a manouvre using those folds to find the basic shape of the model appear before your eyes. Well worth the money.

joshuaorigami · Post by **joshuaorigami** » May 2nd, 2010, 1:59 pm

i have both books and i have to say origami essence is really good.
interpreters is more complex models and a little off scale but overall its quite good for an advanced folder. essence on the other hand is a brilliant book with lots of fabulous models in it ans its in my top 10 origami books!
its worth every penny!

merman · Post by **merman** » May 2nd, 2010, 2:21 pm

I have now seen some images of the diagrams of Interpeters and I must say it looks good, but I kinda dislike the fact some models are black and white when the diagrams show they are full color... does Essence have this also???

It kinda feels similar to Robert J. Langs Blue Crab from Sea Life. The model is amazing but it IS bi-colored even though the diagrams indicate otehrwise

NickH · Post by **NickH** » May 3rd, 2010, 3:36 am

As others have said both books are first rate with OI the more advanced of the two. I too have ordered from origami-shop with fast and professional service on all occasions.

Diaz rarely uses standard bases. His folding sequences are very enjoyable and only occassionally is 'endless' precreasing involved. Even the "simple" models in OE (such as the frogs or inflatables) are increadibly clever. All diagrams come with advice on paper size/thickness and whether the same color on both sides are needed. When the same color is recomended on both sides the diagrams still show two colors for clarity. I wish all diagramers were as thorough.

Buy both if you can or start with OE. I'd say its the best allround origami book ever. I'm an "advanced" folder and enjoyed everything in it simple to complex.

Cheers

akugami · Post by **akugami** » May 3rd, 2010, 6:15 pm

there's a bonus for origami essence downloadable at nicolas terrys` website:

http://design.origami.free.fr/terry/Ori ... P&diag.pdf

you can give a try to romans style to fold and diagram with it ...
i bought both of his books and won't miss one in my little origami collection.