Vietnamese rice paper is used mostly for wrapping spring rolls. When we were experimenting with it, we found that when dry it was incredibly brittle, far more brittle than the seaweed. Because it breaks so easily when dry, we found it was only useful to us after we wet it. Wet rice paper becomes very malleable and sticky. It holds very little form on its own but can be sculpted around things to create a mold. Because it is so sticky when damp, it doesn't need any additional adhesive to connect pieces together.
The rice paper is relatively resistant to fire. It withstands heat better than seaweed of filo pastry but does still burn under excessive heat. Rice paper was useful for creating stronger material but it was much heavier than the seaweed and often could not be sculpted into the exact shape you wanted without creating some distortion due to the water. This especially caused problems in the plane as using rice paper for the wings would lead the wings to be distorted, causing it to not glide as far.
W Y Chan
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