Origami Masters: Bugs

Book excerpt: DIVIn the early 1990s, members of the Origami Tanteidan Convention in Japan began a unique competition devoted to insects and other arthropods as, over a period of years, artists attempted to one-up each other, successively adding legs, antennae, wings, and more. Each year, the models became increasingly complex, as origami enthusiasts from around the world joined the fray. Beetles became winged beetles. Winged beetles became winged spotted beetles. And so on.Models went from 30 or 40 steps to hundreds of steps. As a result, origami artists developed a range of design techniques that ultimately changed the entire art of origami folding.Bugs continue today to be a favorite subject for origami artists, and this book both describes the original challenges that stretched the art and also includes 12 original contemporary bugs (including one master-level project) designed by some of the most talented origami artists today from around the world—with detailed step-by-step instructions to make them./div