Customer Reviews

Classic Origami

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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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I got this book a long while back because I was always interested in origami and decided to finally give it a try. I adore the end-result figures that you can create if you can figure out the instructions. The instructions leave quite a bit to be desired, I've found. Part of the problem with them may be that they've been drawn as opposed to someone taking pictures. I cannot imagine why, really. It may be aesthetically pleasing, but it makes it hard to tell exactly what your paper should look like at times and it can be extremely frustrating. In example, I love the spider that is given in this book. But the pictures show things that I cannot get the paper to do.

So, if you aren't already experinced in the art of folding paper, I would suggest you get another book and come back for this one later.

I purchased this book Classic Origami by P.D. Tuyen on 1/05/07 at retail price at a bookstore. I was really excited about it until I tried to create the first project of the dragonfly. I just recently mastered the dragonfly, squirrel, and fish. I was so frustrated about trying to do even the nesting swan which took 6 plus months to finally accomplish with a librarian who also has done alot of origami. She couldn't figure out the dragonfly either! I have been doing origami for 18 years and this book was the most frustrating to imagine the steps that were missing. I have done many other dragonfly patterns that were very complete in their steps. So make sure that you take out a library copy first and see if you can do these designs.

The models in this book are very stylistic and are unlike any others I've seen. That being said, I find the instructions in this book very difficult to follow compared to other 15 books I own. I consider myself a low intermediate folder but I am only able to complete about half of the models in this book (and even they don't look very good). There is at least one fold in each model that is very difficult to figure out. The diagrams leave something to be desired. A good book, just not for folders of lesser skill.

Tuyen's presentation of figures from the crane to his spider is a refreshing interpretation of ten basic forms. The diagrams and instructions make folding the models in this book easy yet the figures themselves are a challenge to complete. This is among the top 20 of my favorite origami books.