Basic Origami Bases

Series Summary

Origami, a form of visual representation defined by the folding of paper, originated in Japan in the 1600s. Since then, this ancient art has become a popular hobby for many around the globe. Western societies have been practicing origami since the early 1900s, but did you know that the first published origami book, Hiden Senbazuru Orikata (which translated to English means Secret of 1,000 Cranes Origami), was published in 1797?

Origami is regarded as a complicated and delicate art form, but in this free how-to video clip series, our expert will give step-by-step easy origami instructions on how to fold paper. Our expert will show you how to make paper flowers, how to fold paper into a cup, how to make an origami bat and even how to make an envelope. These free video clips are useful guides for beginners and for those more advanced in the art of origami.

Video Transcript

"Hi! I am Michael Webb on behalf of ExpertVillage.com. Right now I want to take a second just to show you a couple of basic bases that you are going to find. A lot of times in origami you will start with a standard base and work from there out. There is a lot of bases that you are going to find, I am going to cover two, which are the kite base and the preliminary base. We will go ahead and start with a kite base. In order to do this you are going to make a valley fold along the center and make a good crease for a reference line. Open it back up and you are going to take each edge here and bring it along until it meets your center baseline, which you have just made with your crease. You are going to do that for both sides. And that is the kite base, which obviously is named because it looks similar to a kite, and is one of the most common bases that you will find in origami. Another one is what is called the preliminary base, which involves a little bit of some finesse. What you want to do is take your paper and you’ll fold it four times along all edges and all points, some good creases in there. Now just fold it diagonally as well. Now this part can be a bit of a trick, but what you want to do is grab here right along these two crease lines that you have just made and you are just going to bring this in until it makes sort of a pyramid shape and you will fold it down. This is preliminary base. "