SolemnDragon's Journal: Book Review: Fabulous Origami Boxes

Today, we're going to review a book. It's called, "Fabulous Origami Boxes," and it's done by Tomoko Fuse.

Now, i'm notorious for my love of origami, though not for my talent for it, and there's a very good reason for that. While i delight in the soaring ratios of the crane, i very often produce the humble flapping of the duck, to my great chagrin and the insult of ducks everywhere. When i go home today, and see the daily hate letter in the form of a pond minnow nailed to the door, you can bet it's because another delighted fan came across some of my work and immediately took reasonably well-justified affront.

Tomoko Fuse has no such troubles. I suppose it's my own fault for picking up a book labelled, "FABULOUS" boxes, and not one labelled, "VERY UNIQUE BOXES THAT EVEN A BLIND FOOL COULD MAKE IN ONE TRY." They're fabulous, i have to give them that. There are two kinds represented: those that are unit origami, made of several pieces along similar patterns... which will make you feel dumb because no earthling could have thought of them... and those that are going to make you feel dumb for only being able to make a bowl. Please note that none of the interesting ones are made from one sheet of paper. They are all made of multiple pieces of paper, which means that you need to schedule extra time for staring blankly at not one, but four sheets, and that's just to make the bottom half.

It's good book. The diagrams are clear, and I've come to deeply appreciate that. The instructions are less than usually muddy. (I've developed a fascination with the way some origami artists aim for both perfect clarity and trade secrecy: "Grasping the upper corners, pull the top flap down while turning the model 1/4 turn counterclockwise, squash fold the inside flap and execute a perfect double axel, recite the lost book of Mortimer the Gypsy while flipping the model inside out, fold the bottom left corner under your knee, and THERE YOU HAVE A FINISHED PTERODACTYL!")

This book is mercifully free of most of that. She's a good instructor, and while I expected more types of model ("This is a folded set of flaps. Here you have them assembled in a square. Make more of them, and they turn into a hexagon. Make more and you get more corners. If you had gotten an A in geometry, you wouldn't need me to tell you this.") at least i can appreciate the pretty boxes and admit that she deserves the price of the book just so i have a place to go when i need something to put dead minnows in for storage or regifting. "Dear Quacks. I am hereby returning your minnow AND your restraining order, which i have folded into a representation of a frog. Yes, it is too a frog!")

Onething i like about it is the pics on the first few pages. If you're anything like me, yours will look more like the rocks and shells photographed than the actual boxes. That's all right. Too many books don't have pictures to give you an idea what makes this artist qualified to tell you how to turn a double axel in the first place; i like a book that includes real examples of the artist's work. From the look of her tiny little flowers, I'm betting she can turn a triple axel, at the very least.

  It's a pretty good book, and i'll give it four cranes, one for each on top of the little 'crane-topped' box. I'm sure the ducks will love it.

Incredible Origami Book

[johndiii]

Origami to Astonish and Amuse, by Jeremy Shafer [amazon.com], is an excellent book. There are some incredibly complex models - but even though I will never fold them, he presents them in a humorous and insightful way. And the final section, Origami for the Almost Deranged, is very funny. Some of the less way-out models include simple instructions for folding a carbon atom, and the Invisible Duck.

Highly recommended.

maybe

[blinder]

i need to write my book on the subject? how to fold boulders, rocks, asteroids (and comets)... and other fun shapes. whaddya think? i've nearly mastered the origami boulder!

Re:

[johndiii]

Perhaps you could have your own site like this one [origamiboulder.com], to sell origami asteroids. :-) (Be sure to read the letters section...)

What I wonder is...

[nizo]

Who was the first person to come up with these origami shapes? I mean seriously, how much paper would you go through before you just came up with a simple crane that flaps its wings on your own? Even the basic origami shapes I have seen make my mind boggle.