A paperfolding paradise

The website of writer and paperfolding designer David Mitchell

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Paper Crabs

There is a design for a Crab made from a square partially divided into four smaller squares by cuts in the Kan No Mado, which is usually dated to 1845.

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'La Nature' of 28th September 1889 contained an article headed 'Recreation Scientifiques' and subheaded 'La Grenouille Japonaise en Papier' (The Japanese Paper Frog) which mentions the Paris Exposition of 1889 and states (here in translation) 'We also noticed in the exhibition other designs among which were the crab from red paper, the junk and the hat of Daimios (demon), the parrot etc.,' Presumably this would have been the crab from the Kan No Mado.

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'La Nature' of 8th January 1931 contained an article headed 'Les Pliages de Papier' and subheaded 'Le Crabe'.

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Diagrams for a design similar to the crab from the Kan No Mado appear in 'Origami (Part 1)' by Isao Honda, which was first published in Japan in 1931.

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A crab made from a frog base (the legs are separated using cuts) appears in Booklet 4 of 'Images a Plier', a series of 6 booklets published by Librairie Larousse in Paris in 1932.

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'El Mundo de Papel' by Dr Nemesio Montero, which was published by G Miranda in Edicions Infancia in Valladolid in 1939, contains diagrams for a crab, 'El cangrejo del mar' which is essentially similar to the design in 'Images de Plier'.

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Paper Lobsters

There is a design for a Lobster made from a square partially divided into four smaller squares by cuts in the Kan No Mado, which is usually dated to 1845.

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