Reddit mentions: The best origami books

I have designed some of my own! To give a sampling, in increasing order of complexity (with diagrams!),

• here's a truncated tetrahedron,
  
• here's a double equilateral unit which can make things like an octahedron, icosahedron, "spiky ball," and many other deltahedra,
  
• here's a rhombic dodecahedron, and
  
• here's a compound of the cube and octahedron.
  
  My favorite origami book is John Montroll's Animal Origami for the Enthusiast, which starts out with simple, charming models and builds up to complex masterpieces like this lobster. It's one you can go back to for years. (I still have my childhood copy, inscribed "Merry Christmas 1988, Love Mom and Dad.")
  
  Another lovely volume, though not an ideal first book, is one called Origami for the Connoisseur. One of its highlights is an exquisitely beautiful seashell model. Here's someone folding it on YouTube.
  
  If you're curious about modular origami, Tomoko Fuse is a master of the field. This book ("Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformations") is a hefty omnibus with plenty of lovely designs. Fuse tends toward a bit more surface elaboration and fussy preciseness than I go for these days, but her work is absolutely worth recreating with your own fingertips.
  
  Most of all, I'd encourage you to just try things out and have fun. There's action origami that does stuff (fancier versions of jumping frogs and fortunetellers), there's a big "tessellation" scene, where people fold intricate, two-dimensional patterns, there are flowers and franchises and figures. Any decent bookstore will have a papercraft section with an origami book or two. Libraries should have plenty of volumes available.
  
  Enjoy!

As a former anime nerd I have snooped and found some age appropriate potential gifts (I don't know what she's seen though!)

Rylee:

• Boruto Manga vol 1 Sequel to the Naruto manga series, a lot less sad so far
  
  
• Gravity Falls Cinestory Comic vol 1 Gravity Falls is an age appropriate Disney Cartoon that's honestly really cool and unique. The story gets pretty deep so you can enjoy reading it together if you want!
  
  
• Avatar The Last Airbender Complete Series A beautiful epic story about a young protagonist tasked with saving the world from a century old war. If you haven't seen it, watch it with her. This is an American cartoon but it is a must watch
  
  
• Spirited Away If she hasn't seen it, this is one of the most popular Ghibli films. Family appropriate with strong cultural references.
  
  
• The Magic Kingdom of Landover part 1 This includes the first three novels in the series by Terry Brooks. One of the first fantasy novel series I was able to get into at a young age
  
  
• Needle Felting Tool and Project Kit to make some cute plush kitties in a cool crafty way. Might not be good for the 8 year old to try but Rylee should be fine!
  
  
  Trinity:
  
  
• Karakuri Papercraft Book Learn to make mechanical paper sculptures. They're very cool!
  
  
• Paint Your Own Horse Figurine Kit
  
  
• Tetris 3D Puzzle
  
  
• Ducktales Xbox360 Game Awesome remastered video game from the 80's!
  

Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa (http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Origami-Mathematically-Based-Models-Complex/dp/4889962514) is a pretty good book to learn about the more technical side of origami. Jun Maekawa goes into depth about how he developed a lot of the models and what techniques/theories are applied in the models. He also selected models for the book which are illustrative of specific design features. I found a lot of the models in this book to be fairly difficult but with enough patience I was able to fold most models.

Personally I'm also a fan of Origami to Astonish and Amuse by Jeremy Schafer (http://www.amazon.com/Origami-Astonish-Amuse-Jeremy-Shafer/dp/0312254040) which isn't quite as technically in depth as Maekawa's book. However Schafer does go into depth about how he developed the various models as well though. The models can also be quite funny and I'm fairly sure 14-year-old me would have thoroughly enjoyed this book. The models in this book can range in difficulty from fairly easy to tediously difficult.

I think either book would make a good present and they're also reasonably priced on amazon.

I think I started with the traditional bases and started thinking what else could use that arrangement of flaps. Also I was really persistent. The first things I came up with were nothing special but I kept on it because I wanted to get better.

Robert Lang's writings on origami design are great but can be a little overwhelming if you're just starting out. One of the books that I remember really liking as a beginner (and still today) is Origami to Astonish and Amuse by Jeremy Shafer. The author talks about how he went about designing things, and he shows how you can take an existing model or base and modify it to something completely new. I would definitely recommend picking it up if you can.

I too love origami but not that fond of single unit/ origami..

I started with Modular origami..

It appeals to the gear head side of me and the fact that i love geometry..

The options are limitless..

I use http://www.antiprism.com/ to design and preview my Origami builds

A few ideas for inspiration: try the following books...

Unit-Origami-Multidimensional-Tomoko-Fuse

Unit-Polyhedron-Origami-Tomoko-

Modular Origami yields eye catching models that are like art pieces and most things i fold/assemble,ble get very awe inspiring reactions..

So I wasn't going to enter this contest until I saw this amazing origami book!

I thought it was a perfect way to craft items that are along the mythical/fantasy side since I see you enjoy that. (Dr. Who, Harry Potter, Buffy, GoT, etc.)

So I know you said $30 for mine, but I REALLY want this even though it's super cheap. I just can't seem to justify buying it for some reason even though I really want it.

Thanks for the contest!

• Geometric Origami. Wow, that book looks amazing!
  
• An adorable Turtle!
  
• That's turtley awesome!
  
• I painted this box

• Model: Simple Sonobé 12-unit Assembly Plus Alpha
  
• Designer: Tomoko Fusé
  
• Source: Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformations
  
• The base cube was a bit unwieldy at first, but as I added the accents it tightened up. I'd say it's moderately secure, it shouldn't fall apart on its own, but certainly would not stand up to a lot of rough handling. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

It really depends on what kind of origami appeals to you but I do mainly modular origami and my number one go to book is Tomoko Fuse's Multidimensional Transformations Unit Origami. This book was published in 1990 and is a little bit pricey (around 30-50 dollars these days). It was my first major origami book and I couldn't be more amazed at how many different designs it offers. The models really range from basic to extremely advanced and most of them like in the medium-hard range. If you're looking for something complex and not as 2-D as many origami books can offer you- I highly suggest this book. Oh yeah, It's also not short. It's around 230 pages of work.

Here's a link to what it looks like: http://www.amazon.com/Unit-Origami-Multidimensional-Tomoko-Fuse/dp/0870408526

Hope this helps!

The butterflies are all by Michael J. LaFosse. I got the patterns from here and here.

The boxes are by Tomoko Fuse. I have a slew of her books. This one is decent for beginners. This one is ideal for beginners but, alas, is out of print.

The other tiny things are by Meenakshi Mukerji and are from this book. She has a fabulous website with an absolute wealth of pictures, info, and diagrams for modular and geometric models. And if you check out her guest gallery, well gee, doesn't that second group of photos look familiar? ;-)

I love making origami! I'm always up for trying to make new things o:

This book could give me some new ideas. and I'm not so sure that I can squeeze in much more under $20 but maybe some paper?

--Just saw the edit. If the item doesn't have to be these things then a gift card would be great because I'm saving up. But the book is fine too if it can't be a gift card.

Thanks! The key is to start simple, be persistent, and to be analytical when you're folding from diagrams. Most people ( myself included) start by modifying traditional bases. When using diagrams, Try to look at the ways that structures come together and look for recurring structures and try to understand what these structures can do. Everybody recommends the book origami design secrets by Robert lang but the book that helped me understand design the most was Genuine Origami by jun maekawa. This one http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Origami-Mathematically-Based-Models-Complex/dp/4889962514/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415713219&sr=8-1&keywords=genuine+origami Other than that try to get ideas from other models ( I got the idea for the shell from fumiaki kawahatas stegosaurus) and have fun discovering your unique style of origami! If you have any more questions feel free to ask!

This model is folded from one tapered sheet of paper(No glue involved) and is designed by the lovely Assia Brill. I find this to be a whole new subgenre of Origami that's very fun to twist at the end. You can follow a tutorial by Sara Adams here.

For those who might say since it's folded from a non-square it's not Origami, I'd like to point out that most of this elitist snobbishness about the purity and preciseness of paper has only recently been glamorized in the west. A lot of traditional Origami models are folded from paper such as rectangles, hexagons, and even ordinary things like candy wrappers. As long as no scissors are used while folding the model(then it becomes Kirigami, which is another beautiful art), and no glue is used, then it is Origami. Folded from foil, tissue, wrapping paper, or whatever the case might be.

Thank you to those who read my comment. English isn't my first language so sorry in case I made any errors.

I'm pretty sure it's made from double-sided convex hexagonal ring units (a mouthful, I know!) from Tomoko Fuse's book Unit Polyhedron Origami.

Here's one I made next to the illustration from the book, and it looks pretty much identical to OPs.

It's an awesome module, they look similar to little turtle but they hold together much better. They're made from 1:2 paper which can be annoying, but they're basically just an improved little turtle otherwise.

EDIT: Icosahedrons made with little turtle also have wider triangular openings and the spikes are a bit shorter from what I remember.

Happy cakeday! Here is a lady licking a squirrel!

CAH with /u/huskyholms /u/writerlib and /u/digitalyss is awesome!

I'd love this to keep myself busy and for making gifts.

Next up: 72 Pencils :)

Those are neat! Is #4 pure origami? If so, what pattern did you use? I have a Tomoko Fuse's book on modular origami, and have yet to go through them all :)

Masahiro Chatani has a number of books about making these types of cards. See, for example:

Pop-Up Origamic Architecture

Paper Magic: Pop-Up Paper Craft

Pop-Up Greeting Cards: A Creative Personal Touch for Every Occasion

Pop-Up Gift Cards

>If anyone's interested I found this book on Amazon
>This book
>The actual Japanese book


Thank to /u/HiepNotik for providing these links.
If anyone is interested in learning this, they can buy the book.

Advanced origami as in you want to learn how to fold more complex models than the average swan/crane/toys? In that case I recommend any of Robert Lang's books, his insect models are incredibly complex. Or you can try Modular Origami by Tomoko Fuse which is tedious but extremely satisfying when complete.

If you want to learn about the theory behind folding new models and how origami techniques are applied today, then check out this TED Talk by Robert Lang.

This is the peacock from the Genuine Origami by Maekawa. Had a blast, but I'm definitely gonna start from the beginning to ease into it!

Might be a bit late, but this book is a really great place to start.

I really like Lang's origami in action. Shafer also has great action origami models. You can usually get these books at a library

The mountain goat/bear! I love it!! I might have to get the book...

https://smile.amazon.com/Karakuri-Make-Mechanical-Paper-Models/dp/0312566697?sa-no-redirect=1

One book that I have found that is nice for beginners is Rick Beech's Practical Origami (my copy has a copyright of 2004, but apparently its actual publishing date is 2002). It is full colored, with actual photos of the folding process rather than drawings of the process, and it has a pretty big section on choosing materials, basic folds, and some of the common bases used in models. Amazon's default page for the book says that it is unavailable, but there is another listing that appears to be the same: http://www.amazon.com/Practical-origami-step---step-paperfolding/dp/1843093928/

Edit: I don't know how important it is to you, but there are apparently 83 models in this book.

Requires two dollars but it was extremely fun to fold. You have to fold 8 legs. One by one.

Made with instructions from

http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Origami-Transforming-Dollar-Priceless/dp/1937994023

If you want to purchase a great book with similar diagrams you can find it in here:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312040156/giladsorigampage

If you just want to follow a youtube video this is all I found:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufsmv2U8CAI

Here's a pic. Or Support the Author!. It really is one of my favorite books and very worth it.

There are tons... search for Karakuri (japanese paper automatons) or search google for wooden automata, in particular the artist Dug North is doing some really cool stuff in wood.

There's a great Karakuri book: Karakuri: How to Make Paper Models that Move that does an amazing job outlining and demonstrating all the different linkages and gears you can use to generate different movements. It also comes with tear out pages to build the models and gears out of paper.

I've been meaning to get around to start building models of various gears and linkages for 3d printing, but haven't had a chance to yet.

I have some!

Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa

Each model comes with a "theme", often mathematical in nature. Design theory (like Design Secrets but more digestible) and history is interspersed.

Origami from Angelfish to Zen by Peter Engel

Probably the most intellectually wide-ranging book on origami of all time. The first half of this book is collection of essays about origami history, math, design, and the craft as an art form.

Advanced Origami by Michael Lafosse

This book mostly covers the paper side of origami, such as how to make duo paper, wet-folding, etc

My favorite origami books are:

Origami for the Connoisseur https://www.amazon.com/dp/4817090022/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_X5GGzb0NC14YA

and

Genuine Origami: 43 Mathematically-Based Models, From Simple to Complex https://www.amazon.com/dp/4889962514/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_L7GGzb1H9N4SY

Both books are well written and cover a wide range of designs (both in content and in skill level). The harder models in genuine will take hours to fold.

That's incredible. I have this book: Genuine Origami: 43 Mathematically-Based Models, from Simple to Complex https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/4889962514/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_VC8bBbZ0VFWS3

And there's a 3 headed dragon that is just gorgeous:

https://origami.me/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/origami-non-traditional-dragons-featured-uai-1600x900.jpg

If anyone's interested I found this book on Amazon

This book

The actual Japanese boom

The unavailable book that some of the models you see in the gif

I own this book and very much enjoyed it!

The postman just delivered this while looking at this post. It looks very exciting. Must focus on work, must focus on work

I used to work in a tourist shop and they had a Hawaiian Money Folds book. I used spend hours learning how to fold shirts, plumerias, pineapples, etc. It made leaving tips at restaurants a little bit more fun.

Here's the link without the referral part: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312566697 :)

Unit Origami by Tomoko Fuse

http://www.amazon.com/Unit-Origami-Multidimensional-Tomoko-Fuse/dp/0870408526/

The best book for unit work. I got one over 20 years ago when I was 12. Lost it some time during those 20 years and bought another one a few years ago just to have it.

I highly recommend this book for beginners, Karakuri: How to Make Mechanical Paper Models That Move, available on Amazon.

This book includes quite a few variants of the sonobe unit if that help.

This is the book, but I don't have it yet, unfortunately. /u/opus25no5 mentioned on his/her thread that instructions for this model could be found online, and I did find a youtube video. Try it! :)

They're all from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Unit-Polyhedron-Origami-Tomoko-Fuse/dp/4889962050/#reader_4889962050, which I would recommend

Amazing, I've tried to fold this on 6" paper several times and failed. I end up crumbling it into a ball :/ and make a bolder instead.

I believe this is Jun Maekawa design? and is in the book Genuine Origami.

How it works: https://youtu.be/lKv5gpF29uw
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Karakuri-Make-Mechanical-Paper-Models/dp/0312566697/ref=sr_1_1?

/u/coolxeo posted this link

Also, link to Genuine Origami https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Origami-Mathematically-Based-Models-Complex/dp/4889962514/

Dragons, Witches, and Other Fantasy Creature in Origami

amazon

the publisher, dover

nearest library

It's called Genuine Origami by Jun Maekawa. This one does NOT have the pterodactyl that you are referring to.

Here’s a guide to making them:
https://www.amazon.com/Karakuri-Make-Mechanical-Paper-Models/dp/0312566697/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=Karakuri%3A+How+to+Make+Mechanical+Paper+Models+That+Move&qid=1572831623&sr=8-1

I found it on deviantart and the guy who makes them has a book on 'Extreme Origami'. http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Origami-Transforming-Dollar-Priceless/dp/1937994023/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1334420833&sr=8-3