...I've been in such a bad burnout rut with origami, lately. This is the first model that I've managed to finish ever since folding that Doberman two weeks ago, out of several other models that I've started and then failed to complete for one reason or another.
I'm just glad to have finally made something, I guess.
This was originally going to be a reply to a question from u/Traditional_Coat_275 on my last model's photo, about how I make my tissue foil now. I ended up typing out an entire damn book in response, which felt weird in my mind to leave as a reply, so I'm just kind of throwing it here in a separate post instead, just in case this ends up helping anyone else out with this process, as well.
It runs like this for me, now:
1.) Lay down the aluminum foil, and decide what side (shiny or dull; this definitely has an impact on the visuals of the final product in my eyes, so the "dominant" side will change depending on what I'm making) will be on each color of the sheet. Smooth out any creases on the foil's body and edges. I only use "standard-duty" foil, since "heavy-duty" is horribly prone to thickness/layering issues for most models. This is my top choice of foil now, since it's both standard-duty and the same size as most other heavy-duty rolls:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DPH9CNWV
2.) Get the sheets of tissue paper that I want to use, and decide on which side of them I want topside on each side of the foil. Tissue paper (from what I can tell around myself) tends to be both "smooth/kind of glossy" on one side and "textured/kind of fuzzy" on the other, so depending on what I'm making, that's how I'll decide which side to use. For example, that doberman model used both "fuzzy" sides being topside since it's a dog, or I'll use both glossy sides on the topside for a fish or dragon model, as another example.
3.) Get my two long wooden dowel rods (I found mine at Lowe's, so presumably any home improvement store like that and maybe art stores should have it, too; make sure that the two that you get are as flat as possible when you're comparing them). The ones that I use are two square dowel rods, both a half-inch in width, and three feet long. They don't need to be any wider than that; I just need to be able to carefully hold onto them for the purpose of guiding the sheets into place, without them overlapping with the foil.
4.) Tape the opposite edges of the tissue paper to the long edge of both rods using scotch tape on both ends of the sheet, with the side that's being glued down onto the aluminum foil being topside. Typically, the tissue paper that I get has tons of packaging folds going one way, and a single long, dividing crease going through the middle the other way; I tape the edges following the multiple creases to the dowels (i.e. that singular dividing crease is touching the dowels, so get the sheet down as flat and smooth on the dowels as you can get it), so that I can stretch those many creases out over the sheet and get it down as flat as possible.
5.) Use spray glue to evenly coat the aluminum foil, as wide as I need it to be to get as much of the tissue paper adhered to it as possible.
6.) Pick up those rods, flip them around (so the foil-facing side is now on the bottom), and set one rod firmly down just above the first edge of the foil. Being VERY careful with the other end (pulling too hard may rip the paper or pull the tape off), pull the tissue paper taut over the width of the foil, and guide it down flat over the entirety of the foil's surface, pressing the second rod flat against the table.
7.) Once the tissue paper's down, carefully smooth out the tissue paper over the foil. I just use my hands, since I'm scared to rip the sheet if I use a wide brush for this task (although a soft-bristled brush might work for this; I've just never tested that, yet).
8.) Get the tissue paper off of the dowel rods (I just fold the tape over onto itself, since these are free-hanging well off of the aluminum foil), and then wait a little bit for the glue to dry enough. Carefully lift and flip the sheet onto the other side.
9.) Repeat steps 4 - 7 on the other side, using the overhanging tissue paper on the first side to help with lining up the second sheet over it (this gives you as much covered foil space as possible to cut out and work with). Wait for the glue to dry a bit again.
10.) Set down a large cutting mat, and then use a quilt ruler and a rotary cutter to measure and cut out the first two edges of the square, as close to the edges of the foil as possible. I use a large 20.5"x20.5" ruler for this, and since my largest sheets of standard-duty aluminum foil are now 18" wide, I can typically get a good 17.5" sheet out of this process at the most. My choices of quilt ruler, cutting mat, and rotary cutter are these listings, respectively:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KYYHPQ
11.) Flip the sheet around, and line up the sheet with the ruler to get either a specific square measurement, or just line it up to get the biggest square that I can get out of the sheet. Cut the remaining two sides out with the rotary cutter. Process completed!
As an extra note, this is the new light box that I use for my model shots, too (the "20x20 inch" option). It comes with 12 color backdrops, 3 LED lighting options with adjustable brightness levels, and a light diffuser cloth. It worked great for me, right out of the box!
This one's a special model, serving as two different "test run" firsts for me.
Part one was testing a better way for me to neatly make the largest sheets of tissue foil that I can without it being a wrinkly mess. My original method was awful and prone to errors, but my new method worked almost flawlessly, here. This square was 17.5" all around, which is the biggest sheet that I've ever been able to create and cut out without any major setbacks (my puffer fish was roughly the same size, but the quality of that tissue foil was DEFINITELY not as good as this one was).
Part two was a test with my new LED light box (my old one that I used in this shot from years ago required external lamps to use, which I no longer have), which I got specifically for photographing my origami models. Up until now, all of my model photos were shot either on my bed in a setup of black sheets, pillows, and blankets, or between the pages of a big sketchbook for white backgrounds, all being illuminated only by my phone's flashlight. This light box comes with both of those background colors, and more. The lighting is just inherently better than what I'd been working with this whole time, too.
Both tests were great successes, in my eyes! I'm excited to see what any future advanced models will look like with this new setup.