Robert J. Lang, "Origami Insects and Their Kin", Dover, New York, 1995. ISBN: 0-486-28602-9. Model-by-Model Review by Tim Rueger (rueger@areaplg2.corp.mot.com), August 6, 1995. ------------------------------ Overall Impressions: This book, in my opinion, considerably advances the state of the art in published folds. The diagrams are clear and precise; typographical errors (inevitable in a book with 1879 diagrams) are easily worked around. The photos of his life-sized scale models of his Ant, Treehopper, and others are impressive. This book is not for the origami beginner; competency, if not fluency, with folding complicated models is a must. Folding these models has been a terrifically frustrating, and rewarding, experience. If you like your origami models complex, this book is a required addition to your library. ------------------------------ Reviewer's Background: I started doing complex origami models about two years ago, when I started picking up John Montroll's books. I haven't created many original models, but I immensely enjoy the challenge of complicated folds created and diagrammed by others. I really like "Origami Sea Life" by John Montroll and Robert J. Lang for the sheer breadth (and difficulty!) of the models, and Peter Engel's "Folding the Universe" for its in-depth treatment of creativity (but I still haven't completed his Butterfly). ------------------------------ References: Peter Engel, "Folding the Universe", Vintage, 1989. Out of print. Models referred to: Butterfly, Rattlesnake. Peter Engel, "Origami from Angelfish to Zen", Dover, 1994. Republication of "Folding the Universe". Robert J. Lang and Stephen Weiss, "Origami Zoo", St. Martin's Press, New York, 1990. Model referred to: Butterfly. Robert J. Lang, Praying Mantis diagrams, 1990. Available via anonymous FTP at info.service.rug.nl. World-Wide Web Uniform Resource Locator (URL): ftp://info.service.rug.nl/origami/models. Postscript filenames: mantis.ps1, mantis.ps2, mantis.ps3, mantis.ps4, mantis.ps5, mantis.ps6, mantis.ps7. Hostname and filenames valid as of 8/6/1995. John Montroll and Robert J. Lang, "Origami Sea Life", Dover, New York, 1991. Model referred to: Atlantic Sea Urchin. John Montroll, "African Animals in Origami", Dover, New York, 1992. Model referred to: Spotted Giraffe. ------------------------------ Model: Treehopper # of Steps: 49 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final size of model: 7" (starting: 10") A thorn-shaped insect. The simplest model in the book, it consists of long blunt points for a head and tail, and six short legs. Very large for its starting paper size. ------------------------------ Model: Spotted Ladybug # of Steps: 72 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final size: 2.75" (starting: 10") A simple bug, with six legs, a small head, and a pleated tail. Distinguished by color-changed spots on the back, which Mr. Lang freely acknowledges a being inspired by John Montroll's creations; this particular instance is similar to Montroll's Spotted Giraffe in "African Animals in Origami". There is a tough, small wraparound fold to color-change the head. My rendition of the model is probably the least realistic-looking in the book, since it comes out pretty flat, unlike the "real thing". Appropriate paper choice would make this model come out better (I used kami paper). ------------------------------ Model: Orb Weaver # of Steps: 68 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final Size: 3.5" (starting: 10") A good basic spider model. The abdomen is nicely rounded, and the legs are naturally proportioned. The release folds which form the base for the abdomen are difficult to perform without tearing the paper. They are virtually identical to those which form the base for the antennae of the Praying Mantis (described below), but on an easier, larger scale. ------------------------------ Model: Tarantula # of Steps: 70 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final Size: 3.75" (starting: 10") This model has a very similar appearance to the Orb Weaver, but has a fifth pair of points at the head for "pedipalps", as they are described. The body shaping uses closed sinks for rounding. ------------------------------ Model: Tick ("Hungry" and "Sated" variations) # of Steps: 65 (Hungry), 64 (Sated) Complexity: **** (Complex) Final Size: 3.75" (Hungry), 5.5" (Sated) (starting: 10") Lang's Tick model has eight short legs set toward the front of the body. The Sated version looks delightfully bloated, in a disgusting sort of way; the Hungry version is an un-inflated Sated Tick, essentially folded in half. ------------------------------ Model: Ant # of Steps: 87 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final Size: 5.5" (starting: 10") A surprisingly large model for its complexity, it also looks very realistic, with fully rounded head, thorax, and abdomen regions. The folding of the central pair of legs is a bit convoluted, and there are some close-quarters sinks required to shape the neck region. ------------------------------ Model: Butterfly # of Steps: 87 Complexity: ***** (Very Complex) Final Size: 4" wingspan (starting: 10") An especially tough model. It has less delicacy than, say, Michael LaFosse's butterfly models, but it does have all six legs, fully formed wings, and antennae. I like it very much, but it is difficult to fold neatly. This butterfly is distinguished from other complex butterfly models I've seen (Engel's in "Folding the Universe" and Lang's previous one in "Origami Zoo") by having four separate wing regions, fully separated from one another. The folds which separate the wings from the rest of the model are orthogonal "Elias-type" stretches, similar to those used in Lang's previous Butterfly. As with that model, I found it necessary to precrease the appropriate regions very early in the folding sequence instead of doing them immediately before they were needed. Also, the resulting stretched regions are not tucked up inside the wings as they were with the previous Butterfly. The folding of the legs and antennae is similar to the separation of the points in Lang's Atlantic Sea Urchin (in Montroll and Lang's "Origami Sea Life"), since all nine body points come from the center of the paper. (It is also interesting to note that the two antennae come from asymmetrically placed points.) ------------------------------ Model: Scarab Beetle # of Steps: 68 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final Size: 3.5" (starting: 10") This model has a nicely rounded body, and color-changed legs and antennae. There are a couple closed sinks, one of which is "optional, because it is difficult" (!). ------------------------------ Model: Cicada # of Steps: 95 Complexity: ***** (Very Complex) Final size: 5" (starting: 10") Another large, realistically-proportioned, good-looking model, but hard to do well. The thorax is nicely rounded, and model has very large-sized eyes and wings. The eyes and upper and lower jaws are formed from the center of the paper, so there are several closed sinks and similar maneuvers used to create these features. The eyes can be difficult to do neatly, since they are formed from small, flattened, eight-sided pyramids. ------------------------------ Model: Grasshopper # of Steps: 84 Complexity: **** Final size: 3.5" (starting: 10") This model is distinguished by very long and thin rear legs. It is one of the few in the book which starts with a standard Bird Base. This is a good model to start the book with, after the Treehopper; the only really complicated folds are two closed sinks on the center pair of legs. The rear legs tend to spread apart horizontally if springy (e.g., kami weight) paper is used. ------------------------------ Model: Black Pine Sawyer # of Steps: 93 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final size: about 4.5" (starting: 10") This beetle model has very long and thin antennae - they are roughly equal in length to the rest of the model. The body is relatively thin, and the legs are placed well forward. Another of my favorites. I found a couple maneuvers difficult. At step 41, two edges of one side of a stretched Bird Base must be sunk simultaneously; I found it useful to create a "study fold" on a separate piece of paper to work out where the creases fell. In step 54, the central crease of a point is to be flattened and later re-formed after squashing the base of the point. The description of the flattening as a "sink" had me a bit lost. Also, a close-quarters closed sink near the end (step 88) can be skipped if absolute symmetry is not important to the folder. ------------------------------ Model: Dragonfly # of Steps: 92 Complexity: **** 1/2 (Pretty Complex) Final size: 3.75" (starting: 10") A nicely formed model, with six short legs, four wings, a long, thin, rounded abdomen, and large color-changed eyes. Like the Black Pine Sawyer, it has a lot of personality. There are some small, complicated sinks buried deep inside the model to maintain required symmetry during the early folding stages. The legs end up very small, and are difficult to thin out neatly. ------------------------------ Model: Hercules Beetle # of Steps: 101 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final size: 5" (starting: 10") This beetle has a prominent upper jaw, a curved single point arching forward from the head. The lower jaw is nicely detailed, with a small "tooth" and eyes. The abdomen is well-rounded and holds it shape with small closed sinks. This model is structurally similar to the Praying Mantis, with very similar folds used to form the legs and abdomen. ------------------------------ Model: Long-Necked Seed Bug # of Steps: 100 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final size: 4.75" (starting: 10") This model has, as the name implies, a long, thin neck which terminates in two thin antennae. One wing overlaps the back asymmetrically. There is a complicated sink at step 24 that, as with another complicated sink in the Black Pine Sawyer, I found useful to build on a separate piece of paper. The closed sinks which narrow the body at the end of the folding sequence can be tricky since there is little room to maneuver at that point. It is hard to get the neck to stay thin using springy kami paper. ------------------------------ Model: Pill Bug # of Steps: 97 Complexity: **** 1/2 (Pretty Complex) Final Size: 3.5" (starting: 10") This bug has seven pairs of legs poking out from under a small dome composed of overlapping horizontal plates. There are also two small antennae and a pleated abdomen region. There are several closed "unsinks" needed to separate points. Creating the horizontal plates requires maneuvers which don't have any loose edges to get hold of. The necessary rounding is difficult to achieve with kami paper. ------------------------------ Model: Praying Mantis # of Steps: 108 Complexity: **** 1/2 (Pretty Complex) Final Size: 5" (starting: 10") This model was previously published online in Postscript format by Mr. Lang via the origami ftp archive at info.service.rug.nl. It is essentially reproduced in this book. The model has long front legs and a nicely shaped abdomen, and is surprisingly large for a given size of paper. The antennae are produced from a complicated set of release folds at the center of the paper which are difficult to do neatly. ------------------------------ Model: Stag Beetle # of Steps: 118 Complexity: **** (Complex) Final Size: 3.75" (starting: 10") This model has nicely detailed horns on the head region, with a thick, rounded pair most prominent. This model's legs are generated from thinned Elias stretches, whereas most of the other models' legs have a thinned Bird Base symmetries. ------------------------------ Model: Paper Wasp # of Steps: 122 Complexity: ***** (Very Complex) Final Size: 4.5" (starting: 10") This is a very realistically formed wasp model, complete with eyes, ribbed abdomen, and stinger. In addition, the antennae and wings are color changed. There are a few difficult sinks early in the folding sequence which are similar to those done in the Dragonfly. The ridges in the abdomen are done with difficult cylindrical crimps (somewhat similar to Engel's Rattlesnake). For these, it might be more appropriate to emulate the proportions of the crimps in the accompanying photograph of the model than to follow those shown in the folding directions; as diagrammed, it is hard to get clean, rip-free folds all the way around the cylinder. ------------------------------ Model: Samurai Helmet Beetle # of Steps: 140 Complexity: ***** (Very Complex) Final Size: 4.5" (starting: 10") This is my favorite model in the book, and in my opinion the most difficult to fold. The model has a complex point structure on the head, with four short points at the end of one long one, two thin points at the base of the head, and a curved "samurai helmet" structure atop the head. There is also nice detail of a diamond-shaped "mesocentrum" region in the middle of the back, and a well-rounded abdomen. There are several instances of close-quarters sink folds buried deep within the model. The helmet region is separated from the abdomen with Elias-type stretches which must be completed on the inside without unfolding the model. This is another region where a study fold saved the model from certain crumpling. The cluster of four small points on the head is folded using several crimps and sinks on a very small scale (even with the 10" kami paper I used). ------------------------------ Model: Scorpion # of Steps: 159 Complexity: **** 1/2 (Pretty Complex) Final size: 3.5" (starting: 10") The last model in the book, the Scorpion has eight legs, two small antennae, two very large claws, and a curved, segmented tail with stinger. There are several unsinks which separate legs points, and two instances of turning internal valley points into mountain points by creating waterbomb bases in the middle of the paper. It is essential to keep the first one (in the very center of the paper) neat, since it determines a good deal of symmetry later on, and the paper layers are configured such that they are not easily adjusted. ------------------------------ Copyright 1995, Timothy T. Rueger. This article may not be distributed commercially. This article is explicitly prohibited from being used in any off-net compilation without due attribution and express written consent of the author.