Instructions for Origami: Japanese Paper Folding
Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. Though it has been in existence for centuries, it has only been popular in the Western world within the past 60 years. Thousands of origami projects start from simple base forms. Mastering or memorizing these basic forms makes the most complex origami shapes accessible. The waterbomb base can become a lantern, a box or even a flower. The blintz base can be turned into a crown or a bowl. The preliminary base is the first step toward a traditional crane, among many other forms.
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Instructions
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Kite Base
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1
Place the paper, color-side down, with one corner pointed toward you. Bring the right corner to the left corner, folding the paper into a triangle. Crease and unfold it.
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2
Fold the lower right edge of the paper into the newly made center line, so that the right-hand point and the edge fully meet the center line. Crease the fold.
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3
Repeat the fold in step 2, bringing the lower left edge and point into the center line. Crease the fold.
Blintz Base
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4
Place the paper color-side down with one corner pointed toward you. Bring the right corner to the left corner, folding the paper in half diagonally. Crease the fold. Fold the triangle in half vertically by bringing the left corner to the right corner. Crease the fold.
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5
Unfold the entire form. Precisely bring one corner in to meet the center mark created in Step One; crease the fold.
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6
Repeat on the remaining three corners, being very careful that all corners meet exactly at the center. Crease all the folds.
Waterbomb Base
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7
Place the paper color-side up with one side facing you. Bring the bottom edge to the top edge, folding the paper in half. Crease the fold and unfold it. Repeat the half-fold vertically by bringing the left edge to the right edge. Crease and unfold it. Turn the paper over.
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8
Rotate the paper so a point is now toward you. Bring the top point to the bottom point, folding the paper in half (into a triangle). Crease the fold and unfold it. Repeat the diagonal half-fold by bringing the right point to the left point. Crease and unfold it.
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9
Place the paper color side up with a flat side toward you. Use the crease lines made in Steps 1 and 2 to bring the horizontal line on either side of the center point into itself. This forms two triangles, one on the bottom and one on the top.
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10
Press the top triangle down flat onto the bottom triangle. Crease all the edges. The closed point of the triangle form is away from you and the open edge is toward you. You'll see four layers of paper when looking into the open side.
Preliminary Base
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11
Place the paper color-side up with one point toward you. Fold it in half diagonally by bringing the bottom point to the top point. Crease and unfold it. Repeat the diagonal fold by bringing the right point to the left point. Crease and unfold it.
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12
Turn the form over so the color side faces down. Place the paper so that one flat edge is toward you. Fold it in half horizontally by bringing the top edge down to the bottom edge. Crease and unfold it. Repeat the fold vertically, by bringing the left edge to the right edge. Crease and unfold it.
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13
Rotate the paper so that a point is toward you, with the color side still down. Using pinching thumbs and pointer fingers from both hands, bring the center horizontal line on either side of the center point in to itself. As the line folds inward, you'll create a top square and a bottom square with a folded triangles in between them. Press the top square down flat on top of the rest of the form. Make sure the edges line up precisely.
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Tips & Warnings
Use a new piece of paper for each base rather than practicing with the same piece, as each fold effects the overall form.
Inexpensive copy paper and notebook paper have a similar weight and feel to origami paper. To make a square, lift the top left corner of the paper to bring the top edge directly over the right edge of the paper. Crease the fold. Use scissors to cut off the paper's leftover bottom portion. Unfolded, it will be square.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit origami 2 image by askthegeek from Fotolia.com
