The Valley & Mountain Origami Folds

Video Transcript

"Most origami symbols are self-explanatory. They are mostly arrows or geometric symbols such as these arrows, this backward arrow, that means fold and unfold. Or this swivel, squiggly line arrow, that means turn over. Or a line with a pair of scissors on the end. That means cut along the sign. These symbols are all self-explanatory and they are all explained at the beginning of all Origami books. Most basic folds in origami are the valley and the mountain fold. The valley fold is symbolized by a dashed line. Fold it this way. Now in origami we are trying to get a crease at a very specific place. So even before we fold the paper, we want to align the paper properly, in this case point to point, edges flush. Bring your hand down the center and just crease out. This is a valley fold. It is a concave or inside crease. A mountain fold is just the opposite. It is symbolize by a dash-dot-dash-dot-line. It is folded under, sorry, folded under. It is a convex or an outside crease. Now this may be a little confusing but keep in mind that most diagrams, you'll have an arrow that you which direction the fold should go. It is just a way for diagrams to symbolize folds that should be folded in opposite directions."