How to do Origami

I am your typical enthusiastic student when it comes to origami. I absolutely love finding new projects to do and share them with people that want to learn how to do origami.

Did you know that when you start out with origami you will use a square piece of paper 99% of the time? Just a little bit of useless information. Use it, don't use it.

Origami Paper

The type of paper that you will be using is important. You will most likely be using normal printing paper at first. This is sufficient when you are learning how to do origami.

The more experienced origami enthusiast normally uses commercial origami paper. You should be able to find it at any craft shop. Commercial origami paper is thinner, lighter and more durable than normal paper. It also comes in dual color, which is perfect for designing or building dual colored pieces. You can make more folds with origami paper than normal printing paper. This is very useful once you start making complex origami objects.

Origami Drawback

Take note. One of the drawbacks to origami is that it is very difficult to find good, comprehensive instructions that are easy to follow. You will find that most instruction books will cover the basic folds and bases in the beginning of the book. This is good, but they do not repeat it again, when you get into the actual origami project. They always assume that you already know the basic folds and base and will refer you to the beginning of the book. This normally puts me off from completing the origami piece. I personally find it difficult to follow when I need to go back to a previous exercise, just to complete an origami piece.

One book that I think is very helpful and have clear origami directions instructions are the "Easy Origami" book. This book will show you how to do origami in the quickest possible way. The book focuses on the basic folding techniques that you need to know and it will give you the confidence to take on more advanced projects.

Remember there are a few basic folds that you need to know and master. These folds get used repeatedly in most patters. Once you know the folds it becomes real easy to do origami.

Two of the most common folds are:
The Mountain fold: (A mountain fold is formed by folding the paper away from you.)

and

The Valley Fold: (The valley fold is formed by folding the paper towards you.)

You will use the folds to create a base. Once the base is shaped, other folds are added to create almost any shape that you want. Some of the most common origami bases are the kite, bird and frog.

Origami Bird Base

The origami bird base, for example, can be used as a starting point to make the famous origami crane. It is interesting to note that the bird base consist of a square base, which is made from two mountain folds and two valley folds. Another 10 folds are required to complete the bird base. This sounds all very difficult, but you will see once you get to know the basic folds.

Watch this short little video from "Dave TheOrigamiFolder" and follow the instructions step by step to see how it gets done:

Origami Bird Base video

Did you watch the video? Was it easy to follow?

As you can see there are lots to learn if you want to know how to do origami. Start with the basics and soon you will find that all your effort was worth the trouble.