Tuttle Publishing - Amazing Origami: Traditional Japanese Folding Papers and Projects: Easy Origami for Beginners Kit: Downloadable Origami Papers Included

Origami Symbols Key Origami Techniques Recognizing Symbols By making this simple flower bud you will learn how to recognize the following origami diagram symbols: Valley fold
Mountain fold
Follow this spot
Rotate symbol
Fold and unfold arrow
Fold in front arrow
Fold behind arrow 1. Begin with a square piece of paper, plain side up if you are using origami paper. Fold the paper in half, bottom corner to the top corner, and then unfold. Here you see what the valley fold (dashed line) is and what the fold and unfold arrow looks like. Next, notice the rotate symbol next to the diagram. 2. 2.

By now, you should have rotated your paper so that the crease made in step 1 is running from the top corner to the bottom corner. Now lift up the bottom corner to make a fold, but do not lift it all the way to the top. See the X, follow this spot, at the bottom corner. You need to look ahead to step 3 to see where the X should go. 3. Fold up the left and right sides.

Here there is no X on the left and right sides. Even without the X, it is a good habit to look ahead to the next step, so you will be able to see what the paper should look like. 4. Fold the bottom corner to the back. Here you will see the mountain fold indication (a broken dashed line) and the arrow meaning fold behind. 5.

Now you have the finished flower bud! Make several tiny buds from two-inch square papers and paste them onto the front of a handmade card, or save them to decorate another project. Practicing Neat Folding Neatness is important when you are folding. This simple exercise will help you practice matching edgesa straightforward task but a common problem for many beginners who do not realize how important it will become later on. 1. Begin with a square of paper, plain side up if you are using origami paper. Fold it in half, corner to corner, and then unfold.

Be sure to match the corners and the edges of the square carefully before you press the paper flat to commit the crease. 2. Fold the two bottom edges to meet at the crease in the center. For neatness, fold only one side at a time. Leave approximately a one-millimeter gap between the two folded flap edges (to facilitate the fold in step 3), but be sure that the edges of the paper align with the crease exactly before you press the paper flat. This shape is often called the kite base.

Many origami designs begin from this basic shape. 3. Fold the kite base in half, from left side to right. This is a good way to check for neatness. Do all of the edges match? Are the corners neat? 4. Make several of these and use them to practice inside-reverse folding, as explained in the next section, where you will make an origami duck! How did you do? If your shape is not very good, try to figure out what went wrong.

Perhaps your paper is the problem. Check to see if it is really square. If the paper is square, perhaps your first fold, from step 1, was done poorlyevery fold counts! Try again. Practice will help you improve your basic folding skills. Teaching others what you have learned will improve these skills, too. Learning the Inside-Reverse Fold In this section you will practice the inside-reverse fold.

This is an important origami technique that, with a little practice, will allow you to complete many origami designs. The inside-reverse fold is most often used to make bends in the paper for the joints of the limbs, neck and head of an origami animal. 1. Begin with a kite base folded in half (see the previous section for the folding method). Here you see a typical drawing of an inside-reverse fold instruction. Look at step 4 to see what the paper should look like once it has been inside-reverse folded.

Notice that the corner has been bent inside itself. 2. Begin the fold by opening the kite base from underneath. Now you can easily push the narrow end downward. Notice that only part of the kite base will be valley folded, from the bend in the middle to the end of the point. 3.

Once the valley fold portion of the fold is started, you can begin to fold the shape flat (in half) again. You can push the bent point to any angle you want. 4. This is what a completed inside-reverse fold should look like. 5. Try adding two more inside-reverse folds, one at the left end and another at the end of the first point.

Notice the turn paper over symbol, which tells you that after you make the inside-reverse folds, you should turn the paper over so that it looks similar to the next drawing. 6. This is your finished duck! Make many of them to become an expert at inside-reverse folding.

Introduction The idea of folding paper is practically as old as paper itself. Think of the advantages to early folders: Folding a message written on paper kept its contents from prying eyes. Food, medicine or gifts wrapped in paper stayed clean and fresh.