On 17/11/14 01.28, Gerardo @neorigami.com wrote:
I bought a sheet of aluminium for embossing. It's thicker than aluminium
foil for the kitchen. Who of you have tried origami with these sheets
before?
I once tried folding from beer cans:
http://papirfoldning.dk/ugensfold/ugensfold.html?page=2011-17&lang=en
While probably your embossing aluminium is more durable, I suspect many
of the same problems and strengths apply.
1. What tips can you give me when working with it?
The can-metal wears out after just one fold back and forth, so I had to
avoid precreasing and to avoid reversing any existing fold.
Instead:
- Study the model to see where the parts should end, and push them
directly there.
- Locks often require forcing the paper while tucking some flap in. Not
good. Instead, rely on the metal holding a fold in the extreme, i.e.
just push it into the position where you need it.
- The exception beeing curve locks, i.e. those where a flap is locked by
curving the flap perpendicular to the flap. The typical example is the
outer triangle flap of the traditional drinking cup
http://papirfoldning.dk/diagrammer/diagrammer.html?page=drikkebaeger01&lang=en
If you study the boat on my page, you will see that while it resembles a
traditional boat (which is usually folded by turning it inside out, a
no-go here), it has been modified to comply with the constraints of the
metal properties.
How thick is your metal sheet?
Some time ago I bought a sheet of copper, thinking the softer metal
would behave better than aluminium. Unfortunately, this sheet is awfully
thick, 0.3 mm as I remember. Also, I have not yet tried to fold it.
2. I was thinking about trying to fold Kamiya's Golden Retriever with a
square of that material. What do you think? Is it possible? Would it be
doable with a 25 x 25 cm (10 x 10 in) square?
I don't know the model, but if it can be "pushed together", then yes.
Maybe modify the folding.
3. I was also thinking that I shouldn't try to waste my time with
precreasing for references. Instead of that I should just try to find the
reference points with a ruler and mark them with a pen with ink for
example. Is that a good idea?
- If landmarks are needed, it is definitely better to draw them than to
precrease.
4. Should I think about using some sort of instruments for folding it (like
a ball-tip embossing tool for premarking or pliers maybe)?
- Some kind of scoring may help you control the creases while folding.
How hard to score? You will have to experiment with your sheet.
Best regards,
Hans
Hans Dybkjær
papirfoldning.dk
