Customer Reviews

Origami with Dollar Bills: Another Way to Impress People with Your Money

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, let me start by saying this book is a great value. It's only $6 so if you get a couple of good designs then hey.. its worth the nominal investment.

DESIGNS
1-bill: Sea lion, Kling-on Bird of Prey,Electric Eel, Horseshoe Crab, Phoenix, Vampire Bat
2-bill: Jedi, Tiger Shark, Squid, Fruit Bat, European Dragon, Eagle
3-bill:Roger's Rabbit, Oriental Dragon, Scorpion

PROs:
o He gives some instructions on basic folds.
o His designs are all unique and original and can't be found free on the web.
o Nice spiral bound book with hard cover - always helps when trying to fold and read.
o He includes interesting factoids about Money

CONs
o This is a personal thing - I really prefer single bill designs.
o I felt like some of the designs didn't really look like what they were supposed to look like.
o Although he provides pictures - some of the pictures are variations of the design and if you you follow the diagrams you don't get what is in the picture -- this is confusing.
o Some of the diagrams are inaccurate.
o Some of the multiple bill designs don't attach well-they just kind of sit up against each other.

OVERALL IMPRESSION:
Like I said -- this book is a good value - I could figure out most of the designs I folded. Although I don't care for all the designs, there are enough to choose from that I'm sure most people will find at least a few they like. My favorites are the Horseshoe Crab (looks similar to a more recognizable stingray -- but they do in real life too) and the scorpion (3 bills) which I made for a friend and he loved it (he's a scorpio).

I looked at this book in a bookstore before purchasing it and still bought it.

Other books I recommend: The Buck Book, Guide to Hawaiian Style Money Folds --- and for more advanced folders -- Dollar Bill Origami.

This book looks nice, seems like a good idea, and is user friendly (spiral bound, etc). However, the problem is that the models contained in the book are sorely lacking. It's most likely true that everyone will find something that they figure is worth their time to fold, but overall, the models are not overly clever nor interesting. Furthermore, for me at least, it is a disappointment that so many of the models require more than a single dollar bill, sort of defeats the purpose to me. (Especially since the majority of the models that require more than one bill aren't impressive to begin with).

The bottom line: (out of 10)
---------------

Model Value:
3 (everyone will find something to fold, no one will find a lot to fold...)
Instruction Clarity:
6 (for the most part the instructions are clear and detailed. However, when you have a book of models this simple, the instructions should be flawless, which alas, they are not.)
Difficulty:
3 (Perhaps the most difficult thing about the book is convincing yourself it's worth folding up that dollar bill instead of spending it on a better book...)
Enjoyment:
7 (Higher marks for enjoyment because the book includes some interesting notes, facts, and tidbits on money. However, after reading it through once or twice, the enjoyment level drops considerably since the models don't hold their own compared to better books (ie, Montroll's, etc))
Overall Value (not an average):
4 - Not bad, but also not real good. You can do better elsewhere, but this will work in a pinch

As another reviewer noted, the spiral binding format is nice, but the models aren't very exciting. Instructions on many of the models are ambiguous to downright confusing, and could have been much clearer with just an extra sentence or two to explain how a particular fold is made.

This book is far from the worst that I've seen, and I'll probably purchase other dollar bill origami publications from this author, but I wish he had an experienced origami folder editing his models for clarity.

some of the designs looked really fun, however, after 2 hours and the brains of 2 college graduates, we gave up. not all of the diagrams are accurate. nor are all of the techniques explained. they will explain a simple technicue in the beginning of the book and then use an advanced variation of the same fold later on. they never tell you how to properly advance beyond the beginning fold. there are also terms/techniques not covered in the intro that are then used later on. leaving you trying to interpret the illustrations. overall, what i thought would be a fun way to dress up a simple gift left me with a headache and some terribly crumpled money.

This is a cute little book, but I was disappointed because it contains only 15 figures to make with dollar bills -- five using one dollar bill, seven using two, and three using three bills. Also, I don't consider most of the figures to be interesting ones or anything that most people will recognize upon seeing them. The figures are: eagle, eel, European dragon, fruit bat, horseshoe crab, Jedi, Klingon bird of prey, Oriental dragon, Phoenix, Roger's Rabbit, scorpion, sea lion, squid, tiger shark and vampire bat. Nevertheless, I set out to make every figure -- only to find that steps were missing from the instructions and photos, and I couldn't figure out how to get from here to there on several of the figures. After several failures I ended up giving up in frustration!

There is a bonus included -- approximately every 12-14 pages there is a 2-page spread of "fun facts about dollar bills."

A better way to give kids money than just handing them a bill. Plus you get a history and fact to repeat while folding. Makes you look like you know what money is all about.

GREAT book.. I am learning several of these already.. Many hours of fun..Will be teaching some of these at Pow Wows...

This book would be fun except the diagrams are very unclear. I have spent upwards of two hours trying to figure out a fold based on a poorly drawn picture and an even poorer direction. Do not buy! You will give yourself a headache.

Not as many designs as I thought but very detailed and fun. Easy to understand instructions with pics and fun.

This book looked cool but it's pretty much impossible! The directions aren't clear or concise.