ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY TOM

STAMM
DIAGRAMS BY JC NOLAN
 The designs and diagrams
contained in this volume are
the sole property of Tom
Stamm, J.C. Nolan and
Lapin Publishing
Book Copyright 2014 – J.C.
Nolan and Lapin Publishing
Models Copyright 1991-
2014 as indicated
Cover design copyright 2013
by Danijela Milanovic
(behance.net/danijela_m)
 Cover images copyright
2013 by Rui Roda
(tinyurl.com/rodaflickr) and
J.C. Nolan (jcnolan.com)
Signika font Copyright 2011
by Anna Giedryś
(ancymonic.com)
All Rights reserved under
Pan American and
International Copyright
Conventions
“Origami Dragons” first
 published in entirety in
2014 by Lapin Publishing
Flapping Dragon
Sea Serpent Dragon
 JulieAnn’s Dragon

Flapping Natasha

Multi Piece Sea Serpent

Stamm Dragon #18
 Forward by Tom Stamm
Shortly after I began folding
origami (compulsively, while
waiting for computer programs
to compile) I started thinking
about creating my own
designs. Drawing on past
experience in art I begin to
think about how to "sketch
ideas and do studies" like one
would in drawing or painting.
I soon filled several paper
grocery bags with 3-legged
dogs, wingless birds and
headless horses. I would save
the more interesting ideas
diagrammed in a notebook.
Then, I started folding just
heads or just a claw or just a
wing. My first dragon designs
were compound pieces: wing
units attached to bodies,
attached to claws... over time,
I figured out how to get
different features out of one
piece of paper.
When I was an art student in
college, I had a drawing
teacher give us an exercise to
fill 20 - 2 inch squares with 20
progressively darker shades of
grey. After turning in our
results he displayed his
version, 200 - 2 inch squares
all with different shaded areas
that he had done. The lesson I
got is that an artist can always
vary the media in many subtle
ways. In this case I always
strive to employ distinction
between a full hard crease, to
various versions of softer
creases to mere bends in the
paper and the effects you
might achieve in combining
them. My studies in dragon
wings grew precisely from
pursuing this idea.

Creating Models of Living

Things
Living things tend to be
symmetrical in structure, but
asymmetrical in form. In
origami, if I fold a human
shape or animal shape
symmetrically. It will look like
a stick figure - without life.
The trick is to vary the
position of limbs and tails,
pose the figure: it’s made of
paper - It will bend! Nature
can be random and imperfect,
when folding a flower be sure
that all the petals are not the
same, bend a shape then
"imperfectly."

Thoughts on Diagramming

My education and early career

was in cartography (map
making) so I had spent many
years before becoming a
programmer being a
draftsman. So I always viewed
diagramming as a drafting
exercise. I even used a title
block which containing names
and dates and notes and
history. Many years later my
notes come in real handy.
I also remember that someone
gave me the advice that when
you diagram, one should be
able to fold the model from
strictly looking at the diagrams
without looking at the written
instructions or by reading the
written instructions without
looking at the diagrams.
Obviously, this is just a goal.

About All the Dragons

I have about 18 different

dragon, wyrme and flying
serpent designs. For me,
dragons happen to be a
personal symbol: meaningful
to how I view spirituality and
the universe. As an "art study"
I tried to design as many
dragons from as many bases
as I could and even developed
some original bases for the
sole purpose of designing
more dragons.
I had noticed that origami
author John Montroll designed
a lot of elephants. I asked him
at an origami conference in
the early 90's if elephants had
some significant meaning to
him. He replied "No, I just like
elephants."
So for me, it was dragons –
simply an exercise in
developing different structures
and techniques with a subject
(dragons) that was meaningful
to me.

Final Word

I encourage you to try to find

many ways to do the same
thing. Pick a subject that holds
your interest and fold a lot of
them! Our tools in origami are
ideas; build up your tool set. I
have always felt that origami is
not about designing or folding
little paper animals. It is about
meeting people who like to
design or fold or receive little
paper animals.
Best to all,
Tom Stamm
 Origami Dragons

In the early heydays of the

second revolution of origami
Tom Stamm, a devoted fan
and practitioner of origami
design, went through a rich
period of exploration and
creativity in the development
of origami Dragons.
With great enthusiasm all his
models were tenaciously
documented and released in
the fan-zines “Imagiro” and
“FOLD” – long running but
very exclusive APA
publications released only to
the 20 or so members who
curated the publication.
His early works being simple
experiments and explorations
his models developed and
evolved over the years into
several and beautiful works
most of which were never
published in widespread form.
For the first time the most
memorable of these are
published here with loving re-
diagramming as well as two
small works of my own which
were inspired during the
redesign. I loved these models
as a kid and am thrilled to be a
part of making them available
again.
− JC Nolan
Notation and Techniques

Valley Fold

Mountain Fold

Turn Over
Zoom in/Zoom out

Rotate

Repeat Once
Repeat Three Times

Rabbit Ear
Inside Reverse Fold

Outside Reverse Fold

Squash fold

Petal Fold
Spread Squash

Sink Fold
Inside Crimp Folds
Outside Crimp Folds
Multi-Piece Sea Serpent
Tom Stamm (designer)
JC Nolan / Tom Stamm (diagrams)
©1991 - USA
Intermediate
Head Module
1.
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12.
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14.
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18.
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20.
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Body Module
24.

25.
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27.
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29.

30.
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32.

33.
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35.
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Tail Module
37.

38.
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45.
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47.
Variations
Arrangements
Sea Serpent Dragon
Tom Stamm (designer)
JC Nolan / Tom Stamm (diagrams)
©1992 - USA
Intermediate
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Super Accurate here... but also soft in
the creases when near the point, don’t
over stress the paper. Also, keep all
layers flat and intact.
8.

9.
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11.
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13.
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16.
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37.
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55.

56.
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57a.
58.
58a.
58b
Stamm’s Flapping
Dragon
Tom Stamm (designer)
JC Nolan / Tom Stamm (diagrams)
©1991 / 2014 - USA
Hi-Intermediate
“This model was developed on-the-fly
at a family reunion. I was making
Dragons and Flapping Birds and other
stuff. One of my young nephews asked
for a Flapping Dragon, so I quickly
dragonized a Flapping Bird and this
model was born. I had to add a sink to
facilitate the narrow dragon tail and
retain the flapping action. Like most of
my Dragons, foil seems to work best for
shaping and molding the dragon features,
but excellent result can be had with
regular paper.” - Tom Stamm, 1991
1.

2.
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7.
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10.
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13.
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17.

18.
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20.
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22.
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24.
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26.
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28.

29.
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31.

32.
Flapping Natasha (JC
Nolan)
JC Nolan (designer)
JC Nolan (diagrams)
©2014 - Sunnnyvale, CA
Hi-Intermediate
1.
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4.
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8.
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10.
11.
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14.

15.
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17.
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Squash fold the tip of the tail opening the

inner layers outward as you go.
20.

21.
22.

23.
 Pull gently the first time you fly and
allow the inner layers to align
themselves. You also can add a little
tape to make it “child proof” and it will
last for quite a long time.
JulieAnn’s Dragon (JC
Nolan)
JC Nolan (designer)
JC Nolan (diagrams)
©2014 - Sunnnyvale, CA
Hi-Intermediate
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
Sink closed on left, open on right
6.
7.
Sink closed
8.
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10.
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13.

14.
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16.
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18.
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21.
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23.
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Stamm’s Dragon #18
Tom Stamm (designer)
JC Nolan (diagrams)
©2002 Tom Stamm - Los Angeles, CA
Intermediate
1.
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3.
4.
5.
6.
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8.

9.
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11.
12.

13.
14.

~ 1/32 to blunt the nose just slightly

15.

Crimp back up on the existing creases

incorporating the blunted point.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

21.
22.
The Golden ratio is a special number
found by dividing a line into two parts
so that the longer part divided by the
smaller part is also equal to the whole
length divided by the longer part. It is
often symbolized using she symbol Φ
(phi), after the 21st letter of the Greek
alphabet. In an equation form, it looks
like this:
a/b = (a+b)/a =
1.6180339887498948420 …
As with pi (the ratio of the
circumference of a circle to its
diameter), the digits go on and on,
theoretically into infinity. Phi is usually
rounded off to 1.618. This number has
been discovered and rediscovered many
times, which is why it has so many
names — the Golden mean, the Golden
section, divine proportion, etc.
The Golden ratio also appears in all
forms of nature and science. Some
unexpected places include: Flower
petals, Seed heads, Pinecones, Tree
branches, Shells, Spiral galaxies,
Hurricanes, DNA Molecules. It also
shows up with amazing consistency in
lengths and proportions of all aspects of
biological organisms. For example the
first bone of at the base of the finger is
exactly 1 unit in length, the next bone
will be 1/Φ or .618. The next unit will
be that / Φ or .382 and the next will be
that distance again divided by Φ or .236.
In Stamm’s original design he intuitively
utilized these ratios to make beautiful
visual relationships between the
proportions of various aspects of the
model. Noting the distance from the root
of the tail to the top where it intersects
the wing, we use that height as “h” and
apply it to the multipliers.
So, if in your model this distance is 5cm,
then the distance h/Φ will be 3.09 cm,
the second tier h/Φ2 1.9cm and the third
h/Φ3 1.18. For the diagrams we assume
h=1, make adjustments as necessiarty for
your own particular model.
http://www.livescience.com/37704-phi-
golden--ratio.html
Stamm’s original notes on how to go
about “sculpting” the final form are
reproduced above but it is up to the
folder to decide on thier own how to
best shape the folds to thier own liking.

23.
Distance of lower anchour point is .618
x tail height
24.
25.
26.
All 3 distances are as from 3 steps
previous h/Φ = .618
27.
28.

29.
30. For the next crimp we apply the
golden ratio again getting original height
divided by phi squared.
31.
32.

33.
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35.
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37.

38.
39.

40.
41.
42.
Unfold the neck area. Next steps are a
cut-away view with the tip of the nose at
the top of the drawing.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
Fold back up on existing creases.
49.
50.
51.
 Stamm’s original notes on how to go
about “sculpting” the final form are
reproduced above but it is up to the
folder to decide on thier own how to
best shape the folds to thier own liking.