origeng

Origami

Origami is the art of folding, an old Japanese tradition that goes way back to the 12th century. "De kunst van het vouwen" by Everdien Tiggelaar, publisher Cantecleer, is a very nice little book to learn the principals of Origami by. The do and don't and rules of Origami is very clearly explained accomplished by visual illustrations. Origami is a relative cheap hobby for the main material that is needed to make the objects is paper. However, a large variation of gorgeous paper is on all sides available and due to Origami the love and appreciation for paper can grown comprehensively so it can cost a lot of money after all. I for instance have build up a large collection of paper, I now are in the possession of a large quantity of different kinds and sizes of paper. The only things besides paper that is needed to do Origami is a fold bone and, in case the paper is cut manual instead of buying it all in the right measurement, a hobby knife. Examples of what I have folded past times is shown above and under.

Box in box in box
three only here
but you can make
endless variations

For years I have concentrated on folding boxes, they were the only objects I made. The problem you encounter folding boxes is that it's not too easy getting different kind of papers - colors and motifs - to match, especially since boxes are usually made out of more than one segment. I only know one book with

boxes made out of one segment. This book, published in Japanese only, is by Tomoko Fuse. Most of the books by Fuse focus on folding boxes and these books are my absolute favorites. It's easier to cut paper for making boxes yourself so you have more choice. In general, the boxes I fold are very small, more miniatures, and measure only a few inches. Lately, I'm folding other themes than my usual boxes as well for it gives me more freedom. I am not a Origami designer myself so I'm folding my themes out of existing books. Some books are published in Holland but most come from Japan and are not translated into the Dutch language. Apparently, due to a minimum of interest, it is not justified to translate more of these Japanese Origami books. I've been able to find some of the Japanese books here in Holland but others I had to import from Japan. To do this, it is best to try to find a Japanese bookstore for their knowledge of the existing publishers in Japan is greater than not Japanese bookstores and the change of getting a book ordered at these bookstores is much bigger. If you know the basic existing rules about Origami, the themes from the Japanese books are doable.

Her roots drowned
Her flower given to the light
She's at a constant fight
In an everlasting dualism

This is my interpretation of a Lily.
I've made the flower and the leaf of the Lily (called "Rose" in the books for without the petals it is a rose) from books but putting it together like this was my own idea. This pattern can be found in different Origami books, for instance in above mentioned: "De kunst van het vouwen" by Everdien Tiggelaar. As a variation,the leaves are folded of very thin cardboard, normally used for Origamic Architecture projects (see my Origamic Architecture page for more information, there is a link to this page at the end of this page).

These tentacles of the trees,
normally called branches,
and doomed to die in autumn,
can, when folded, reach far into old age.

These flowers, again, are made out of an existing Origami book but putting them together on branches comes from my own imagination. The pattern of these flowers can be found in "Origami, paper folding fun in colour" by Zülal Aÿtüre-Scheele and is called "Lily". It was a great pleasure to make these branches with flowers because, unlike the boxes, one can use every kind or color of paper to make the flowers. The more colors and motifs one uses the better it seems to favor the branches. The only difficulty I found with this model was in attaching the flowers to the branches, this was a heck of a job. I finally managed to do so by wrapping very thin iron wire round the end of the flowers and than attaching it, with the same thin iron wire, to the branches. Than I wrapped brown flower tape around the branches to cover the iron wire. Attaching the flowers together was much easier to do with the next model that I made for the dinner of a wedding party. This again was done with thin iron wire. It was my imagination that came up with the idea to put the flowers together like this. I used to buy my Origami paper at

a Japanese shop in Amsterdam and from the Dutch folding service in Warffum in Holland. Unfortunately, the vouwservice is no longer in business and the Japanese shop is, to my opinion, limited as it comes to Origami paper. So in recent times I've bought a lot of my paper from Fascinating Folds in America. I don't think they are always that nice to their customers but they have the largest collection of paper I have ever seen. However, getting the paper to Amsterdam is very expensive. Besides the costs of the paper, one has to consider the shipping costs and they are pretty stiff. The times I've ordered from Fascinating Folds I had my shipment within a month, which I consider very quick. Paper for Origami projects can be find everywhere but especially at "Vlieger" (a very great assortment of all kinds of paper) and at De Bijenkorf in Amsterdam. This paper that can be bought at De Bijenkorf is primarily meant to wrap gifts in but I think this is the nicest folding paper one can ever imagine. It makes tremendous sharp folds and it is available in gorgeous motifs and colors and above of all that, the stock is in general sensitive for trends.

The only negative thing that can be said about this paper is that it can loose its color just at these sharp folds and turn white there.

The queen of flowers;
The Rose!
Timeless
And eternally beautiful

The rose is an object that can be made in different measurements and from all kinds of paper; from a kind of ribbed wallpaper to - very delicate - veined transparent paper. The three roses you see here are made out of three different kinds of papers; the white one is made from the wallpaper kind of paper, the middle one from ordinary Origami paper and the red one is made from the delicate kind of paper. In general, people that do Origami find that Washi (handmade paper) is the nicest paper for folding objects, and I agree, it's beautiful. However, I think, in a lot of cases it is not the easiest paper to work with. When one wants to have very sharp folds, Washi is not the first paper that comes to mind.

Well, that is what I wanted to tell and show about Origami. In case you are interested, I have three more pages concerning the Japanese art called Origamic Architecture: Origamic Architecture (with cards from patterns of Keiko Nakazawa and Masahiro Chatani) Building page (cards mainly from buildings situated in Amsterdam from patterns of my own) and Escherpage (cards from self created designs in Escher style). Your reactions on this page are very welcome and, in advance, I give you my thanks.

Kind greetings,

Ingrid.