My name's Sara Adams, and I discovered origami for myself during Christmas 2005. I've been hooked ever since. The intention of this site is to get you hooked, too. You've been warned! — Now go enjoy some instructional videos, pictures in the gallery, and all the rest of it. And most importantly, happy folding!

Making of Handmade Kozo

by Ilan Garibi, edited by Sara Adams


Tut Neyar is located in Zichron Yaakov, Israel, a rural location.

A few days ago I celebrated my 46th birthday. Today I will redeem a present: a coupon to a paper workshop in a paper mill just 3 miles north of my house. as I leave my house, the morning sun is hot on my face, while the cold winter wind gently chills it.

Tut Neyar

The place, simply called Tut Neyar, was founded by Izhar and Timna, and is in their backyard. Izhar is one of the only paper makers in the west who goes through the process of paper making from start to finish: from raising the trees to making lampshades out of his handmade paper. Izhar studied in Japan 30 years ago to then establish this unique place here. And this is where I will be his apprentice for the day.

Article on how to publicize origami books online

27 July 2011 - 11:07am — Sara

I wrote an article on some ideas for publicizing origami books online. I hope this will help authors promote their books further, and thus lead to more sales. But it also gives some suggestions how each and every one of us can support the creators - not just by buying the book.
You can read it at OrigamiUSA's The Fold: http://www.origami-usa.org/thefold005_publicizing_books_online
And a big thank you to all authors and creators for all the work they put into publishing books!

Happy reading,

-- Sara

Making of Printer Paper

by Ilan Garibi, edited by Sara Adams


The new paper package cover featuring my elephant model (image and design of cover by Igal Feuerstein)

07:15. My alarm clock goes off. It's the start of an exciting day. I go over my checklist to make sure I am ready for this trip:

  • one camera, fully charged;
  • one framed tessellation, a gift for my host;
  • some paper samples, for the laboratory tests.

I'm all set!

Hadera Paper Mill

Today I am going to visit the Paper Mill at Hadera, Israel, a town 10 km south of my home. I had folded models for the new cover design of the copy paper packages. As a gift, I received an invitation to visit the mill. Three hours later, I am by the gate. My host, Shalom, greets me and presents me with the necessary security pass.

Hadera Paper Mill has several factories and employs 800 people in total. It is a huge place. I am going to see the white paper machine. "Machine" may be an understatement since the hangar that houses it is 350 meters (382 yards) long! The Machine itself is 200 meters (218 yards) long, 4 stories high and costs around 150 million Euros (approximately 217 million USD).

Printer Paper Review

6 June 2011 - 3:52pm — Ilan
Authored by Ilan Garibi and Gadi Vishne
Weight (gsm) Sizes Color Palette Texture Aging
50 up to and exceeding 120 (80 tested) A0-A7, B and C equivalents, ANSI. Many others Mainly white, but many colors smooth and dull A few years
Attributes:
Wear and Tear Memory Forgiveness Tensile Strength Bending Restistance
n/a 7 / 10 9 / 10 4 / 10 4 / 10
Model Suitability:
Classic Action Tess. Complex Modular 3D Wet Folding
7.5 / 10 7.5 / 10 6 / 10 5 / 10 6 / 10 6.5 / 10 n/a
Final score: 6 out of 10
Paper type: 
Printer Paper

Copy paper is cheap, it's available almost everywhere, and yet few consider it a "real" origami paper. We decided to review it not because of any special origami related properties, but simply because it's there! As such, it can be used as a benchmark with which to compare the other reviews and values of properties.

On a personal note: I got Harbin's book "Origami 1" in 1976 and back then no other paper types were available in my home town, or indeed in all of Israel! I had never seen kami or any other origami paper. The only paper I had was printer paper, so my whole origami collection was white as snow. For me it was the only origami paper for years.

Paper production


One of the drums used in the paper making process in Hadera Paper Mill, Israel

The process of making this paper is fundamental in understanding some of its properties. The pulp is ground, diluted with water, spread over a felt belt, pressed to drain the water, and then spread on a net to be dried and rolled. A more detailed description of this process is also published here, see The Making of Printer Paper.

Copy paper is made for office and home use. The main goal is to enable printing at high quality. Faxes, homework, and monthly reports all require the ink to seep into the paper just far enough. The ink should not blot, but we all want the printed letters to have sharp borders. Colors should stay true when printing pictures. In the USA alone 85 million tons of paper are used every year for this purpose. But is it worth folding?

Related images

as selected by Sara Adams