TECHNIQUES
Why does my model look different from yours? My students have asked me this question many times. Part of the answer is experience and the other part is vision. The added skill obtained from experience is summed up in one word: technique.
Being an origami artist requires that you perfect many different skills, from folding to designing. As you gain more experience and develop your skills, your origami models will improve. As with any art, it is essential to learn the basics first. Without good folding skills, an artist cannot control the communication of his or her ideas. The clever technical skills that I developed prove useful when I create new origami art designs. When you look at a piece of origami art, ask yourself, “Is the designer’s message clear? Does the folder understand this creature or subject? How does the choice of paper complement the work? How has the execution of the folds, the choice of the model, the color and texture of the paper, its size and its overall appearance affected me?” You will soon see that it takes both technique and vision to make art. Once you develop your folding technique, you will be able to explore the art of origami.
A REVIEW OF THE BASICS
Before I discuss the advanced techniques used to create the projects in this book, it is important that you are well acquainted with basic folding techniques. Here is a quick review.
Folding Paper Neatly
The first and most important technique in origami is to move the paper correctly. So many people begin by folding a paper crane, only to be discouraged by sloppy points, a bent beak or white showing in the middle of the wings. Much of this can be resolved by taking care to place the paper properly before creasing the fold. Good eyesight helps, and forming the fold, then burnishing the creases with a bone folder tool or the back of a thumbnail, often makes all the difference. Generally, fold the paper away from you and crease the fold from the center to one side, then from the center to the other side. It is also important to place the crease exactly where it goes before burnishing it into place. Make sure you have good lighting and that you bend your head over the model to look straight down on the edges of the layers. Parallax will throw you off!
The process of folding a piece of paper begins with making a bend. As you decrease the radius of the curve of the bend, your commitment to the placement of the crease intensifies. You must check the position of the edges, making adjustments as you continue to flatten the bend. Some folds require that you focus on the placement of the crease, not the placement of the edges of the paper. For example, when folding steps 14 to 16 of the Cardinal, you should carefully decrease the radius of the bend while closely adjusting the roll of the flap until the crease intersects the exact corner of the paper.
Folding on a Table or Hard Surface
The best way to form a sharp crease is to burnish the fold with the back of your thumbnail against a hard surface, such as a table, board or hardcover book. Folding paper on a tablecloth will not work well. The use of a supporting surface is most useful where a clean, precise geometric look is desired. This is essential for paper airplanes and origami puzzles. A folding tool, such as a bone folder or the back of a spoon, is helpful where tough, heavy papers must be creased firmly, and to save wear and tear on your nails when folding numerous origami models.
Holding and Folding Paper in the Air
We often teach origami in schools and large assemblies, and so it is important for us to hold our paper up in the air so all can see each folding step. Invariably, we see students hold their paper in the air, too, so we tell them to use the table, and explain that we are holding the paper in the air to make it easier to see. Folding in the air is challenging to the beginner and we discourage it at these public events. When students are sure of their skills, however, they will find that folding off the table is essential to most intermediate techniques, such as inside and outside reverse folding and sinking, and advanced techniques, such as wet-folding. There is a dance-like choreography that is possible only when the paper is supported just by your hands.
Reading Origami Diagrams
Origami diagrams are easy to follow if you know the language. Mountain folds are indicated with dots between the dashes. Valley fold lines have only dashes. More complex maneuvers are often shown by several mountain and valley folds. The best clue is to look to the next drawing to see the resulting shape.
Basic Folds
Here is a quick review of the basic folds with which you should be familiar.
Edge to Crease
Most folds are created by lining up edges or placing an edge on a crease, then decreasing the bend until the two planes are flat. The beginner will often use visual signals to decide when the edge lines up. More advanced folders will align edges by feeling for the alignment. As you look carefully before placing the crease, be sure to bend your head over the alignment so that you can look straight across the two edges of the paper, perpendicular to the table. A folder who does this realizes that every sheet of paper has a thickness. Understanding and accounting for that third dimension is helpful when planning to eliminate gaps after reversing certain creases. Wet-folders using thicker papers tend to learn this quickly.
Inside Reverse Fold
When you pull a point between the outer layers of paper, you often turn a portion of a mountain fold into a valley fold. This maneuver is called the inside reverse fold.
Outside Reverse Fold
When you pull paper back over itself to enclose the other two layers of paper, you also turn the tip of the paper over, showing the other side. This maneuver is called the outside reverse fold.
Rabbit Ear
When you pull in paper from two directions and are left with excess that sticks up in the middle, the maneuver is called a rabbit ear.
Squash Fold
When you raise a multilayered flap perpendicular to the table and the remaining paper, open the layers, then press the center mountain fold flat to the table, this is called a squash fold.
Petal Fold
When you pull a point across the other layers of paper, lengthening the form by bringing in paper from the sides to cover the top, you are making a petal fold.
Sink
When you reverse the mountains and valleys that form a point or peak in order to create an indented form, this maneuver is called a sink.
Crimp
When you grasp a folded piece of paper and insert a symmetrical, mirror-image pair of mountain and valley folds on either side of the central mountain fold, the central mountain fold turns direction due to a maneuver called a crimp.
ADVANCED FOLDS
The advanced folding techniques used for the projects in this book include curved folds and wet-folding. These techniques take time to master, but they are crucial to creating complex models.
Curved Folds
Folds do not have to follow straight lines. Sure, straight folds are easy. Since two points define a line, two landmarks on an origami model often describe a great place to make a fold. Why make a curved fold? There are two reasons: one part is technological, the other is aesthetic. A curved fold locks its own shape. A straight fold is nothing more than the spine of a book, where pages are free to open and close about the spine line. A curved fold is a tension-compression structure, one with give and take. It demands that the paper respond elsewhere. A curve yields a softer appearance and throws a softer shadow. For these reasons, wet-folders often finish their models with a series of curved folds, a process that can take much longer than all of the straight folds leading up to the finishing steps.