Product Description

Imagine folding a piece of pater into nail clippers that really work, or a Swiss Army knife that actually opens, or a surfer on a wave that crashes when the surfer is slid forward...There's no need to imagine-this is for real! In Origami to Astonish and Amuse Jeremy Shafer has taken the art of paper folding in an entirely new direction. Filled with hundreds of entertaining models and folding ideas, ranging from amazingly simple to ridiculously complex, this is origami at its most fun and creative.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #102077 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"A brilliant and bizarre take on art and life." --Peter Engel, author of Folding the Universe -- Review

Review

About the Author
Jeremy Shafer has been folding for fifteen years and has created hundreds of original models, each folded from one piece of paper, without cutting. He has been published in major origami journals in the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, and has exhibited his work at seven OrigamiUSA conventions. He is a member of the Friends of Origami Center of America and is the editor of the BARF (Bay Area Rapid Folders) newsletter. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Customer Reviews

Really good work plus really funny work
It worths the long wait. This is the only origami book make you laugh to tears.

All models here are folded from a single square, no cut. The author emphasize this philosophy, and wrote a quite clear essay about it and encourge the folder-reader to become designer.

Followed are a lot of wonderful models. Besides the very excellent models "Swiss knife", "Nail clipper", etc, and extraordanary models: man swapper, man on the surf, eight interwine ring, eagle balanced on the tip of the mountain (both folded from dollar bill) etc, there are many funny models:

An elephant from behind (so only butts and tail, and tip of nose), a walking man(when spread and flatten the whole paper, the creases become a labyrinth.) One I appreciated most is the "Origami square", fold as followes: Take a Square paper, rotate and rotate and rotate and flip and rotate and rotate, then VOILA, the origami square completes. (I got angry and very happy at the same time when I read this). Moreover, a invisible duck, a car with tires replaced by 4 legs....

The author is so versatile and desperately funny, joyous atmosphere prevails the whole book. Highly recommended.

Astonishing and amuse definitely!
The title is rather apt. I was suitably astonish and amused by the origami subjects within. If I have to choose one word to descibe the book, it would be "quirky".

For those who have been purchasing origami books and getting the usual stuff and would like some unusual subjects, this is definitely the book!

Within the book is divided into 4 main sections: 1) Origami Action (32 models) 2) Symbols, Signs & Stunning Designs (21 models), 3) Models from the Heart (15 models) and 4) Origami for the Almost Deranged (21 models). Most of the subject matters cannot be found elsewhere, in any other origami books.

I find the general format and presentation of the book rather unusual too, rather refreshing. Throughout the book, for every models, there is a section "Thoughts behind the fold". This allows you to get into the mind of the author and possibly ideas for creating your own models.

There are so many models that I am unable to list all of them. Among my favourites are a workable Swiss Army Knife, a nail clipper and slithering snake skin! There are also a lot of action models and this suits me very well as I like action models.

The general complexity ranges from simple to complex. On a range of 1 to 5, with simple (1) and complex (5), I find that most of the models fall in the range of 2. Do not let this fool you, simple models can be very effective and fun to fold too. The final result is astonishing and amusing, much more so that some complex models.

I like to mention too that I had fun with the running car, hey!, running on legs, not wheels! Then you will be taught how to fold the carbon atom that even a rocket scientist could not fold. Do not forget to try folding the invisible duck too! It's a riot!

Hey! as I am already almost deranged, folding from the book maintained me in the same deranged condition. Perhaps all you almost deranged origami enthusiasts would like to group together and form the ADOES (Almost Deranged Origami Enthusiasts Society).

Origami to Astonish and Amuse
I was surprised for a great Origami book that includes excellent models for different skills (23 simple, 8 low-intermediate, 20 intermediate, 12 high-intermediate and 26 complex, in total 89, and not 400 as is written in the cover) and different interests:
Action Models, from beginners (Baby Bird, Men's Suit), intermediate (clapping hands), high intermediate (surfer on a wave), to complex (nail clippers), and in other areas like Symbols and Signs (some billfolds, a pyramid and a balancing eagle that poses at the top of the pyramid), Heart-related origami (Cards, envelopes) and others (like a square base with hands that folded it -a la Escher-).
The book includes tips and ideas to fold variations for the models.
If you are interested in Origami to entertain children and adults, or making not traditional models, this is the book.
I recommended specially for intermediate to expert folders.