> From: Seth <[email protected]> > > I'm thinking about what kind of protection finished origami sculptures need > and looking to the o-list for opinions about that. > Can origamis just sit on a shelf uncovered for indefinite periods of time? > Can they/should they be safely stored away in boxes instead? Do they need to > be covered by glass/acrylic at all times…
Hi Seth, I can only chime in with my experiences here - the flat artwork I’ve stored properly (between sheets of pH neutral tissue paper in flat file drawers) has held up amazingly well, but the 3D items that I’ve kept in boxes or containers have lost their shape over time - especially, as Robert mentioned, with cycles of humidity. Using wire & glue is definitely a must, for any paper sculpture, if you want it to stay intact for any lengthy period of time and not change. Paper is too fragile a medium to withstand cycles of heat and humidity without additional support (even big, heavy paper). If you used enough glue or sizing to mitigate paper’s natural love of absorbing water, then you might be able to get away without additional wire support. Otherwise things just sag over the years. Kind of like people, in fact :) Also - saying this for the benefit of the larger audience - using acid-free paper is a necessity. Commercially made wood pulp paper, in particular, is often very acidic, and this will eat apart the paper over a fairly short period of time. This is further exacerbated by the fact you’ve spent a lot of time folding it (breaking the paper fibers a lot) and rubbed oils from your hands all over the paper too, while folding. All this will make a model fall apart and look very tatty in a short number of years. The lesson here is: if you care enough to make it, you should care enough to make it from good paper. Storing your unused paper in a dark place, away from the light, is also good - helps keep things from breaking down and discoloring. Paper tubes or flat files are best. (you can find flat files these days cheaply from architectural firms that are shedding old paper archives and moving to all-digital, and are happy to have you haul some away.) Best of luck on building out your studio! Eric Gjerde
