When is the best time to try your hand at an overly-complicated, yet nerdy, origami fold? Close to midnight on a Sunday, of course!
There it was in my Facebook feed last night: a friend had shared a link with a big ol’ enticing image of a paper X-Wing. In a rather dramatic and lengthy title, the link taunted me, promising I would be able to fold MY VERY OWN X-Wing from a single, square sheet of paper.
Hey, I have origami paper! Challenge accepted!
Some folks recommend reading user comments on projects like these, just to see where others might have run into trouble or to learn tips for getting past the difficult bits. Last night I learned that I am not one to take such recommendations; I just selected a paper color, hit play on the video, and followed along.
Now keep in mind that I paused and reviewed different sections a LOT. It probably took me three times as long as the video to actually finish the thing. BUT! I managed to get a not-bad-looking X-Wing on my first try!
Like the video says, sharp creases are a huge help. I also occasionally used a palette knife to separate layers and start straight folds, but it was a bit too wide to really get down into the corners that didn’t want to pop open like they were supposed to. Maybe a skewer of some sort would have been a more helpful tool.
Want to fold some origami of your own? If this tutorial is any indication, Joe’s videos are great to follow along with. His YouTube channel is HowToOrigami, and if videos aren’t your thing he’s also got a few step-by-step origami tutorials in photo-series form on Instructables.
