Playful Origami by Reiko Asou
(mine included a package of 20 origami papers attached to the back)
Published by Joie/Japan Publications, Inc.
ISBN#: 0 87040 827 5
Listed Price: $17 USD
# of pages: 96, 88 models

Difficulty Level: Beginner/Advanced Beginner

First off - I want to admit something. Origami wasn't easy for me - it's still not easy for me. I get frustrated and sometimes end up throwing my origami books across the room to leave the project undone for several months. I can get quite frustrated with the designs I attempt which aren't all very simple, but in creative things such as these, I'm rather demanding of myself. Although, what keeps bringing me back? I think it's the neatest thing to create these complicated shapes from simple pieces of paper.

With Playful Origami, and a little patience, you can make everything from little, inventive origami scenes, to party decorations and favours!

Very simply, Playful Origami contains 88 different models that you, or you and the young ones can do - under your supervision, of course. There are four sections to this very slim, soft-cover book:

Adorable Animals
Make a flapping bird, or a dragonfly (my favourite insect - but I don't know if I'd call it "adorable"), even a somersaulting horse or a koala bear! All sorts of creatures, but most of them are of the aquatic species - not that I'm personally complaining. I love the sea, although some folks may not be as interested in all the fish swimming from within these pages....

Fine Flowers
There are carnations, the lotus flower and a very interesting dandelion model - leaves and all! The flower selection isn't very great (there are only 10 shown), but those presented in this book are bright and big, showy flowers - like the sunflower they give instructions for on page 60. I love sunflowers and the one displayed is fantastic, although a bit complicated, but more on that, later.

Make Your Own Toys
Not only can you make origami for viewing, but once completed, you can play with the airplanes, piano and stool, or bags and hats Playful Origami supplies instructions for. Mostly, this section is comprised of various airplanes, but there are other cute things like umbrellas and fanciful hats for miniature dolls.

Little Party Partners
How fantastic that you can create little containers and even party decorations that are easy enough for the kids to do and useful to boot! There are crane name-card holders, a "shell" garland, paper doilies and mini candy boxes (very nicely used for party favours). Of course, these are predominantly containers, to hold favours or candy - small things that are practical and decorative all in one shot.

Is This Origami?
Don't get me wrong - this is the art of folding paper, but there seems to be more "craftiness" with use of glue and scissors (traditionally, origami is solely folding paper to create objects, with no use of glue) for the models in Playful Origami. It's not a real issue - even though I can also admit to being a bit of an origami-snob.

As I mentioned about the sunflower - I do like this model in the book, however, it's not "natural" in that you need to glue the first layer of petals onto a smaller piece, glue the second layer onto that first layer and then glue the front (where the sunflower seeds come from) onto the petals! Whoa. Too much, don't you think?? It's very pretty, but that's an awful lot of gluing for something that's calling itself origami.

Also, the models of the squid and canary involve scissor-cutting - for the squid, it's the tentacles and for the canary, the feathery look at the canary neck. Granted, there are some origami structures that do involve a bit of cutting or trimming, but this is excessive, in my opinion. Other additions to the origami were pasting/colouring eyes and noses on the animals and using stickers to further decorate the creations.

Of course, this is minor and kids will love the added colours and sparkles added by these methods. It's my personal preference to avoid these extras for myself - but it appears to be a very fun (although potentially messy, depending on the age/maturity of the child) twist on traditional origami folds.

Photographs - both black and white for the instructions and coloured for the teasers - are all over this book and there is very little in the way of words, which is fine. The pictures are clear enough to grasp the fold and the words under each instructional photo explain the rest.

The teaser pages, though, are the most incredible - colourful and bright, done by (I'm assuming) the author and her students, the papers used aren't your garden-variety. There is shiny metallic paper, opalescent - there is even fabric and netting used to create these wonderful designs! Example: my favourite insect in the world is the dragonfly (anyone with unwanted dragonfly-emblazoned items, send to me, please!) and there is a model of one within Playful Origami that was actually the final reason why I purchased this book.

It follows the traditional crane folding, but instead of bringing up the head and tail, you roll the head flat, curling it under and pull the tail straight out - and for the wings, cut them in half (be careful not to cut them off!) and round out the sharp edges into dragonfly wings. I know that probably didn't make much sense, but it's a very simple design that goes from a crane to a dragonfly with very simple variations.

Although, back to my original point. The teaser pages show what possibilities there are - instead of merely using origami paper, the dragonflies (and the cicada design) were created by using a starched and loose-net colour fabric! It was very neat. Origami paper used had multicoloured and shades and patterns of all kinds. There is silver-mylar used and gift-wrap paper - you name it! These exciting examples are just a start. Use these to come up with your own ideas for materials for origami. I know of one model (not within this book, unfortunately) that involves using opalescent cellophane to create the image of an ethereal creature.

Overall, Playful Origami is for the beginner who wants to try their hand at something that, although comes from very old traditions, is new and bold - and they can bring their kids into learning these models, also! I would advise the cutting and pasting be carefully done by an adult, but other than that, this is a great book for kids and adults to learn from together.

For those folks who are new or returning to origami....

My best advice is don't give up! Keep trying, even if that means you put the project away for a while, like I do. When I do happen to create something out of origami that doesn't look like a 2 year old stomped on it, I'm darn happy. I've taught origami from this book to children (8 and 9 year olds) I've been a nanny to and it's very fulfilling to see their brilliant faces as we make worlds of paper elephants, seals and dine in a garden of origami irises, tulips and lilies. Imaginations are wonderful things, aren't they?


Thanks for reading, and keep on folding!
sibhreach - that silly lil' changeling


Recommended: Yes