Origami has cutting critics, imaginative author finds

It's all about the basics, he says.

Each of Duy Nguyen's 18 books begins with diagrams of traditional origami folds — carrying descriptive names such as "kite fold," "pleat fold" and "squash fold" — followed by pages of "base folds," which are multistep creations that form the underpinnings of many objects.

His army ant, for instance, begins with the 15-step "base fold III" and then requires an additional 36 steps, including one scissors snip to separate the antennae.

But wait. Scissors?

Nguyen is an engaging man who uses his expressive hands to illustrate his many stories. But when he speaks about some American book critics, his face clouds and his hands become still.

"They use words that make me very angry," he recalled about some reviews of his first book, "Fantasy Origami," which introduced his occasional use of scissors and glue. Origami purists are warned of those atrocities.

It's not true, he says, that traditional origami never included the cutting of paper. Michio Uchiyama, an origami master and author born in 1878, was an early advocate.

In response, Nguyen said, he wrote a pair of "Origami with Dollar Bills" books to prove he's perfectly capable of creating origami without scissors.

One volume features aircraft — including a Boeing 747, Concorde jetliner, F-14 Tomcat and a World War II fighter — while the other is divided into objects created with one, two or three dollar bills. For $1, one may create a Klingon Bird of Prey spaceship or a horseshoe crab. The "$3 objects" include Roger Rabbit, a scorpion and an Asian dragon.

But his other 20-plus books, including some as-yet unpublished, feature an array of creatures and characters with a grace and sense of movement that Nguyen says are only possible by using scissors and a bit of glue.

"Scissors is another tool," he said. "One piece of paper, you fold it 100 time, the paper is not going to hold. Paper is going to tear, and they look very boring. You do a little bit of cutting to get out of a hard situation and make it look better. Make it look like in your mind."

Swordfish, for instance, look much cooler with spiky top fins. So do the windswept manes of horses, or the feathered wings of a falcon. Nguyen also fancies spraying some creations with metallic or clay-toned paints, giving them the appearance of solid statues.

He designs his own paper patterns, so his football players may wear Seahawks jerseys; his Spider-Man has a recognizable red, webbed suit; and his moths and butterflies are realistically patterned.

His publisher, in general, has shown little interest in his more complex and lifelike proposals, said Nguyen, clearly frustrated by the limited nature of the marketplace. Instead, he has been urged to make his designs increasingly simple to appeal to a younger readership.

Nguyen has complied, with books that generally require less skill than that needed for his designs in "Fantasy Origami."

But someday he hopes to market the rest of his creations, which fully exist in his mind — and his computer. His "Star Wars" menagerie, including Jabba the Hutt and Yoda, is ready to go, along with an array of superheroes and dozens of Olympic athletes. He dreams of a fairy-tale book with stories ending with directions for re-creating entire scenes with origami.

"I like to make them look real," he said. "Because that's what people like."

Diane Brooks: 425-745-7802 or dbrooks@seattletimes.com