Origami Oasis
What is origami?
What is origami?
Origami is the art of paper-folding.
Origami is the art of paper-folding.
Its name comes from the Japanese words ori (“folding”) and kami (“paper”).
Its name comes from the Japanese words ori (“folding”) and kami (“paper”).
Traditional origami consists of folding a single sheet of square paper (often with a colored side) into a sculpture without cutting, gluing, taping, or even marking it.
Traditional origami consists of folding a single sheet of square paper (often with a colored side) into a sculpture without cutting, gluing, taping, or even marking it.
Introductory Activities
Introductory Activities
Origami is done with basic materials:
Origami is done with basic materials:
- Usually the paper is thin and crisp. It can be colorful, patterned, plain or even recycled. Here is some traditional Japanese origami paper and some non-traditional paper used for origami.
Origami is precise.
Origami is precise.
- Directions shown in the videos need to be followed EXACTLY. If you are unclear, stop the video and watch again.
- Practice the model several times. You will understand it better each time. Try to memorize the directions so you can do it without the video.
Try this easy heart model to practice following directions in the video and to make perfectly crisp folds.
Try this easy heart model to practice following directions in the video and to make perfectly crisp folds.
Here is another easy model to practice.
Here is another easy model to practice.
Now you are ready to develop your origami skill:
Now you are ready to develop your origami skill:
- Get a stack of square-shaped origami paper. You can buy it or cut it yourself. If you cut it yourself, it MUST be perfectly square.
- Visit the Beginner Origami , Advancing Origami or Master Origami pages for increasingly difficult models. Post your creations in the Student Origami Gallery.
- Visit the Origami Extensions page to view the work of some amazing authors and origami artists.