Origami: The Complete Practical Guide to the Ancient Art of Paperfolding [Hardcover]

Rick Beech (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

Origami is an ancient Japanese craft that has grown into a 21st-century art form. In this fantastic book, traditional classics, such as the famous Japanese crane, sit side by side with modern pieces designed by the world's most respected origamists.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Anness (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754807827
• ISBN-13: 978-0754807827
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,210,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An encyclopaedia of origami, August 3, 2001

By 

"lhs1701" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Origami: The Complete Practical Guide to the Ancient Art of Paperfolding (Hardcover)

This book is really big in size and with plenty of colourful photographs.

Why I called it an encyclopaedia? This is because it reminds me of the days when I would receive an encyclopaedia as a birthday present and would spend many pleasant hours looking at the photographs and reading it.

It starts of with an excellent introduction to origami. It gives history, followed by a gallery of origami masterpieces. Next it discuss what paper, techniques and basic folds are required. I like the part where the various types of paper were introduced.

The sections is divided to

1) Traditional Classics (crane, cup, lily, samurai hat, kimono, crown, sanbo, waterbomb, peace dove, sampan, masu box)

2) Animals, People and Flowers (nun, butterfly, swan, scottie dog, buttonhold flower, rooster, human figure, shell, goldfish, rabbit, tulip and vase, elephant, peacock)

3) Toys, Games & Action Origami (jumping frog, glider, banger, stackers, barking dog, zoomerang, tumblewing, nodding dog, magic star/frisbee, pecking crow, flapping bird, talking frog, catapult and basketball hoop, moving lizard)

4) Practical Paper Folds (page corner, letterfold, pin tray, the ellington, lazy susan, photoframe, square bix, business card holder, heart coaster, easter basket, pinwheel and puzzle purse, gift bag)

5) Party Tricks (Laughter lines, fortune teller, dollar shirt, envelope trick, blinking eyes, strawberry, kissing lips, money pig, newspaper hats, the captain's shirt story)

6) Decorative Origami (sailboat, hanging decoration, bangle, bishop's mitre napkin, pixie boot napkin, swan napkin, rose napkin christmas stocking, gift tag, pop-up flower, button flower, paper chain, heart ring, star, santa and sleigh)

7) Modular origami (spinner, butterfly ball, Japanese brocade, five intersecting tetrahedra. modular star, modular cube, kusudama, fireworks)

Instructions are in the form of photographs not diagrams. In general most of the models are easy to fold. There are enough difficult ones to challenge the more adventurous.

As I had been folding for over 30 years, I have seen most of the models before. As I prefer simple folds (easier to teach beginners), this book brings together many old favourites in one book with some new ones of course. I find this book complement Dave Petty's book, Origami, very well.

I would recommend this book as a lovely present and a good introduction to origami.

As for myself, I plan to get a second copy.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible resource and guide!, January 23, 2002

By 

"napraforgo" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Origami: The Complete Practical Guide to the Ancient Art of Paperfolding (Hardcover)

I love love love love this book! I am a beginner in origami, but i could easily open up the book at any page and follow the instructions. The models are very nice, there are basic things like the cranes and boxes and very advanced ones (including incredible modular origami). I especially like the photo instructions, you don't see the usual drawn origami instructions that may be intimidating and hard to follow for a beginner, but photos showing how exactly your model should look like at the variosu stages. Very easy to follow and gives you a great feeling of accomplishment throughout the folding activity, because you see that yours is exactly like the one of the author.

This book is also a great gift idea, because it's large format and very nicely produced with glossy paper and excellent photography! Highly recommended!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for beginners - but cheaper edition available, November 10, 2001

By 

Kathleen Cobcroft (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Origami: The Complete Practical Guide to the Ancient Art of Paperfolding (Hardcover)

Before buying this book, see if you can find the mini hardcover edition published under the title: "Origami handbook : the classic art of paperfolding in step-by-step contemporary projects" by Hermes House (imprint of Anness publishing) ISBN 1843092123. The book is identical except in its smaller size (24 x 18 cm) and cover, but is less than half the price of the larger edition (strangely, I've seen both books together on shelves when browsing bookshops). The reduced size pages are still quite clear and readable.

As a book, it's very attractive - full colour glossy photographs on each page illustrate the models (good for diagram-impaired people, although they are sometimes a bit tricky to follow) - and features a gallery of models at the start of the book and instructions in basic folds and bases. It's good for giving a new folder a taste of lots of different models, but if you have a few books already you'll probably find that you have most of these designs.