Customer Reviews

Dollar Bill Origami (Dover Origami Papercraft)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the second book of dollar bill folding from John Montroll. Like all of his other books, the directions are in clear black and white (with some grey shading) and are easy to follow.

The models in this book range from simple to complex. One unusual aspect of this book is that many of the models were designed by other folders such as Sy Chen, Gay Merrill Gross, Stephen Hecht, Robert J. Lang, Won Park, Mike Thomas, Peter Farina and others.

Models include Boat, Three Diamonds, George Washington Slept Here, George Washington Framed, Star of David, Windmill, House With Chimney, Sword, "One Way" Arrow, Tetrahedron, Cube, Diamond, Tulip, Evergreen, Tree, Flower, African Mask, Shirt With Tie, Swan, Crane, Vulture, Goose, Flamingo, Peacock, Pelican, Eagle, Asian Dragon, Alligator, Tyrannosaurus, Rabbit, Armadillo, Squirrel, Aardvark, Llama, Bison, Butterfly, and Dragonfly.

The book even includes methods for creating paper in the dimensions of a dollar bill in case you want to do different sizes or just reduce the cost of your "paper".

A fine addition to any origami library with a little something for everyone.

John Montroll is a well known name in origami, and he does an excellent job of creating both simple shapes for beginners as well as extraordinarily complex shapes for experts. This book is no exception. This is a great book to get if you're interested in presents, tips or other uses for money origami. Even if you're a raw beginner, you can start with the very simple items, and work your way up to the complex.

First, the collection of shapes. Things are rated by star difficulty. With the basic one star you get a boat, three diamonds, George Washington slept here bed, and a swan. For two stars you get a George Washington framed picture, star of David, windmill, house with chimney, sword, one-way arrow, tetrahedron cube, diamond, tulip, evergreen, tree with spiked branches, African mask, shirt with tie, crane, vulture, goose, flamingo, peacock, pelican, Asian dragon, alligator, tyrannosaurus, rabbit, armadillo, and squirrel.

Move up to three stars and you get a petalled flower, eagle, aardvark, llama, bison, butterfly and dragonfly.

That's the beauty of this book. You can make the classic shirt and swan designs for general tip-giving. If you've got a friend that is year of the dragon or year of the rabbit in Chinese astrology, those make perfect gift giving shapes. A house becomes a great housewarming present. The bed is a "thanks for letting me stay over" present. Insted of your gifts coming across as crass "take the cash please" sorts of things, you give it a touch of class by matching the shape to the occasion.

I have a minor problem with the illustrations, as they are simply done with one side of the paper shown white and the other side shown grey. That makes it really hard to understand what's going on in some situations. If the illustrations actually showed a dollar bill design, you could match up where the parts fell to know you were folding properly. John also has this tendency to do tricky folds that involve squashes and folds that will tie your brain in knots. It can easily take you several tries to figure out his more tricky moves on advanced designs. Again, better illustrations would help with this.

That all being said, you get an amazing collection of designs in this book, and your skills will definitely advance as you move your way through the designs. Well recommended!

This is not a origami book for the faint of heart - or novice folder - by any stretch of the imagination. I have been folding for some years and found some of these designs to be a bit of a struggle. I'd get it... but a little more written instruction would have saved me some time.

PROS
1. Great Designs (he uses a variety of great designers - see the review before this one for details) - some of the best I've seen!

2. Good Diagrams - not great .. but accurate - found myself on a few occasions looking at one pic then the next and thinking "then a miracle occured" - but managed to work my way through them all.

3. Amazing attention to detail. John Montroll has an incredible eye for small detail folds that really differentiate his book from the others I've seen (I have a collection of 8 - not comprehensive by a long shot). Its this little attention to detail that will move your folding from intermediate to advanced. This is the first book I've had in a long time that has really advanced my folding skills. Not just because I've learned some new designs - but I've learned how to detail my designs.

4. Lots of designs - really an incredible value for the sheer number of designs you get - this is true with his Dollar Bill Animals book as well.

CONS
1. could use more written instruction with some of the diagrams
(if not for this I'd give this book 10 stars)

This along with his Dollar Bill Animals book are great! Personally, I preferred the Dollar Bill Animals book because I just liked the designs. This book however includes designs from a variety of authors as discussed in previous posts - which is a great addition.

Overall - the designs and diagrams outweigh the negatives. But after seeing Jodi Fukamoto's books this book is lacking in niceties.

This is not a book for beginners - but a MUST HAVE for intermediate to advanced folders. There are some easier folds in this book - but I fear a novice would struggle to figure them out.

I was very excited by the designs in this book but I felt like steps were missing in the instructions and therefore, I was unable to complete several of the pieces. I have other books by John Montroll and have not had this problem before. Needless to say, I was dissapointed in this book.

This is very similar to his other book. It has some great ideas but the directions are less than desireable. Not for beginers. (barely for the hard core folder) The tree on the front of the book we pretty easy. But most of the folds seem to skip steps and leave you scratching your head. It is a good addition to my collection but "the buck book" & "the guide to Hawaiian-style money folds" are the best ones I own.

I thought this would be a fun way to give money as a gift by tucking 20 one dollar bills between the pages. When my sons and grandsons flipped through, they were definitely delighted with the dollars, but most of the origami was pretty advanced and hard to follow. They soon lost interest, but still talk about the novelty of the packaging.

I bought this product for myself and my boyfriend this past holiday. So far, we both really enjoy it. The book offers three levels of folding and many projects. As a novice, I've been able to do many of the basic and a few of the second level folds, luckily the book also offers a glossary of folds!

I bought this title for a 16-year-old female who really likes origami but she couldn't successfully complete most of the projects. Though the book offers a neat variety of end products, the directions are confusing/inadequate. This item should be purchased mostly by/for origami lovers with lots of experience, who can intuit the steps and folds that must occur between the steps that are actually illustrated.

I picked up this book for the "shirt & tie". It was pretty easy to follow and I feel like I'm a pro at it now. There are tons of other things you can make out of a dollar all detailed in this book.

I love doing crafts and scrapbooking. This was the perfect "new" project to try!!!! Great way to pass time on rainy afternoons.