When I chose the awesome-looking craft book Star Wars Origami to review, I squealed like a Jawa on the wrong end of a blaster. I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was a toddler (thanks, parents!), and although no origami expert, I have fond memories of making dozens of paper cats and frogs as a kid. I figured Chris Alexander’s Star Wars Origami would be much the same: follow the instructions carefully, fold the paper, and — ta-da! — you have something amazing.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. Maybe I just don’t have the necessary midi-chlorians to be a Jedi Knight (or just fold one), but the instructions were so confusing they might as well have been written in Huttese. The book is helpfully divided into different levels of difficulty – Youngling, Padawan, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Master – but I couldn’t even master the most basic lightsaber. It’s enough to make a girl want to turn to the Dark Side.
I handed it off to my roommate, a fellow Star Wars fan who’s folded her fair share of paper cranes, and she was just as unsuccessful. After hours of trying, all we had to show for our hard work were a dozen taped-together “lightsabers,” a scrunched-up Yoda, and a few unrecognizable Han Solos (Sorry, Han. We should have left you frozen in carbonite – er, unfolded in the back of the book).
The pictures in the book and the pre-printed origami paper in the back make Star Wars Origami look amazing, promising origami droids, Jedi, and spaceships. But you’ll need to use the Force to turn those papers into something recognizable. Do not attempt unless you’re already a Jedi (or origami) Master.
Images from thinkgeek.com
