Wet Folding

Why on earth does that piece of paper have pegs on it?

A valid question, thank you for asking.

If you take a piece of paper and crease it, it will slowly start to unfold, as all the little paper fibres try to straighten. And if you crease really hard, you break fibres, and weaken the paper, which means your origami will lose its shape.

This is not good for origami, and wet folding is one solution.

This paper has had a runny solution of wallpaper applied to it. It's been allowed to dry, and then dampened with a cloth before folding, softening the paste. The paper fibres, being damp, will bend, but not break when the crease is made. When the paper dries, the fibres will stay put, aided by the paste. It's like glue. It's certainly not cheating, though, as the paper is weaker while damp. And you often need to hold the crease or creases in position until dry, or the fibres try to straighten.

Another advantage is the means to produce rounded curves. This is ideal when trying to fold a face.

I'm kind of new to it, but it's not too tricky, and the results can be spectacular.

Wet folding was developed by the Grand Master of origami, Akira Yoshizawa.

I'll to a blip about Yoshizawa Sensei one day, he was an amazing person.

I hope that made some sense... I'm pretty tired right now!