>Susan Schoen asked: >"Question for the origami community: Would you consider scoring the >paper "cheating" - like using scissors, tape and/or glue?"
I've been following this discussion with interest. To address whether something is "cheating", it would help to clarify what "cheating" actually means. If it means doing something morally wrong, then I'd say scoring isn't cheating; what would be cheating is claiming you're doing something that you're not (like, claiming you don't use tools if you actually do). If it means doing something inconsistent with historical custom, then I'd have to say scoring is not cheating, and neither is using scissors or glue, because there's ample evidence that historical origami used cuts and glue, and Yoshizawa, who probably did more than anyone to define the modern art, at various times used multiple sheets, glue, and hand tools (don't recall if he used cuts; perhaps one of our readers can point out examples). I'd have trouble accepting a claim that scoring (without further qualification) is bad; I can't see why using your hands to make a fold by pinching is OK but using your hands to make a fold by running your nail along it (scoring) is not. Thought I suspect the questioner had in mind not just scoring per se, but "scoring using an external tool." But then again, I have trouble seeing why some tools (scoring) are bad, but others (folding surface, eyeglasses) are not. Of course, I'm biased; I like seeing what new tools can bring to origami, including scoring tools (like lasers and plotters). Also, of course, intellectual tools, like design algorithms. As with many other arts, tools themselves neither make art good nor bad; it all depends on what you do with them. Robert
