Customer Reviews

The Guide to Hawaiian Style Origami

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a beautiful book, and the models are great, too!
All models relate to Hawaiian heritage, and most of them are flowers of the island.
The flower models are some of the best flower models I've seen, and the other models
are also very good, intermidiate+. The gecko is my favorite - with fingers - and looks very nice.
The diagrams are of great quality, there are amazing color photographs of all the models
(and the author explains what papers she used to fold them), and there is a section in the end
about selecting papers, layering (backcoating) and wetfolding.

I was attracted to this book by the picture of the hibiscus origami flowers on the front, never mind the saying, "don't judge a book by its cover." Well, I should have listened. the folds and lines were very confusing. the designs were nice and attractive, but this book made it tough to achieve the beautiful goals. attracted initially by the hibiscus, i immediately tried to make that, having previous experience in origami, i thought i could handle it. the diagram was a mess of dots, dashes, arrows, and lines. i could not, try as i might, make that blasted hibiscus. i haven't picked up the book since, except to hold it in my lap now as i write this review for reference.
designs:
aloha shirt(nice, pretty easy), volcano, humuhumunukunukuapua'a, anthurium, hibiscus(AAAAAAHHHHHHH!), plumeria, marlin, gecko, snow king protea, orchid(looks tough), hula dancer(also hard), double hull canoe, bird of paradise, torch ginger.

do not buy this book. it is thoroughly vexing.

I love this book. The designs are neat and inventive, many of them unlike what I've seen anywhere else, and the ones I've tried so far have all worked perfectly. My favorite is the gecko--the tiny little feet are adorable! I thought the diagrams were very high quality and easy to understand (I'd classify myself as an intermediate folder; of course that's pretty subjective, but I've successfully folded some quite complex designs before this). There's the obligatory description of basic folds and some nice information in the back about preparing your own paper using backings, coverings, and spray adhesive. You could find both of those elsewhere, but they were well presented here. Overall, I highly recommend it if you're looking for interesting new origami designs, but it may frustrate beginners.