Talking Bird - This is the model that started me on the path to do the book. I once saw Robert teaching kids to make a simple talking bird with a single cut in a folded in half sheet, and I wondered if it could be done without cuts, using origami techniques. This is the result.

Masked Superhero - I expanded on the Talking Bird by adding a horizontal pleat, but still subdividing the model vertically into 4 sections. By adding a few diagonal creases and folding the far right and left quarter sections behind, I ended up with this model.

Singer - By adding more horizontal and vertical subdivisions to the grid, I discovered additional flaps that could be turned into facial features.

African Mask - This model is the most complex of the series, using overlapping horizontal pleats (the extra folds under the eyes), along with diagonal creases that cross multiple pleats (the nose). It came about by doodling--I was pleating the paper at irregular intervals, and then noticed a mask within the doodle.

Panda - I "discovered" this model while doodling during a meeting (notice a theme here?), and it was the starting point for half the models in the book. It achieves its dimensionality and movement from a simple V-fold that causes the snout to pop out when the model is closed. It can be either a panda or a bear, depending on the markings you put on the face.

Elephant - Other origami elephants have similar-looking ears and trunk, but this one has two movements when the model is closed. The first was by design--a V-fold causes the trunk to lift; the second was discovered by accident--a series of parallel creases along the trunk cause the tip to curl.

Baboon - In designing an animal face, I try to identify the one characteristic that, more than any other, suggests that animal. With the baboon it was the eyes. I used a horizonal pleat that juts out away from the plane of the face to give it a menacing look.

Wolf - I really got lucky with this model. Once I was satisfied with the shape, I held it up to a window and noticed that the light shone through precisely where the eyes were, since the model was only one layer thick there.

Monkey - Though the monkey uses the same V-fold as the other animal faces, it took me a long time to get the angle just right. Until I found the exact location of the apex of the angle, the model didn't possess the cuteness we normally associate with the animal.