Easy Origami

Starting out

Origami is an art of paper folding, therefore all you should need is a piece of paper and you can start folding away without any problems, right? Well, almost. You might need a few other things that we will talk about in this chapter.

Aside from the materials, we are also going to show you some of the basic folds, and how to read the directions of many of the patterns that you can find.

Materials

In origami, you might not just need paper - it always depends on how far you want to take your creations. Here are some of the tools in you should have in the toolbox:

Paper

Foil Backing

Scissors or blades

Glues and paints and other craft goods

Paper

You can almost use any type of paper in any color that you want. But, in order to make your origami fun and not frustrating, it might be best to use standard printer paper. If you use thinner paper, you might tear or wear out the sheets. If you use heavier paper, it might not be the easiest to work with, and the folds get more difficult to make as the paper folds over itself.

Some of the different kinds of paper you might want to use are:

Colored bond paper (standard printer paper in a color)

Colored construction paper

Newspaper

Plain white paper

Commercial origami paper

Colored and plain white bond paper can be bought inexpensively for just a few dollars and most of your basic origami creations can be made with this paper. You can also use construction paper, but it is heavier, and you won't have a lot of luck doing wet folding.

Many experienced origami enthusiasts will use commercial origami paper. This kind of paper is slightly lighter than standard bond paper, but it is actually more durable than its bond counterpart.

One of the other advantages of using commercial origami paper is the fact that it is only colored on one side. The opposite side of this origami paper is white. This is extremely helpful if you are designing or building dual-colored pieces like a zebra, for instance.

Foil backing

This isn't a major item in origami, until you get into more intricate designs. Many experienced origami artists use foil back paper for certain items that you aren't going to be able to fold with regular paper. These items might include: antennae on insect designs, and possibly small legs on any of the other creatures that tickle your fancy.

You can usually find foil backed paper in a craft store and it can quite expensive. Some people make their own (quite inexpensively) but it can be messy, as it involves using craft glue and aluminum foil wrap along with tissue paper to give you the same kind of look.

Scissors and blades

Although traditionalists might have a problem with using scissors and blades to help cut paper, it does have to happen sometimes. With that said, it rarely has to happen when you are doing the actual design of the origami piece.

Many of the origami patterns call for a square piece of paper, and unless you get commercial origami paper, you might have to cut your own to size. A good pair of scissors or an artist's blade and a straight edge will do the trick.

Jeremy Hansen is a recognized expert on everything Origami and author of the book "Origami Secrets Revealed: Everything You Need To Know And More". For more great information like this you can check out his website at http://www.m5info.com/origamisecrets.html

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Crafts-Hobbies Information:

Related Articles

A Brief History Of Reverse Painting On Glass
Reverse painting on glass has been a form of art expression since extremely ancient times. It is difficult to precisely date a number of much more ancient artworks.
Are Your Collectibles Valuable? Heres How to Find Out
The first thing you will need to do is check out the condition of your item, be it a train, collectible Barbie doll, Disney collectible, or some other collectible item. Is it scratched, torn, clean, dirty, new, in a box, without a box? You get the idea.
Airbrush for Profit - Sell Your Services to Colleges
Colleges, schools, university and the like are one way you can make money from airbrushing. Why they are a good market is that there are plenty of students to begin with.
Collectibles: Searching for those Hard-to-Find Diecast Models
For collectors of any kind, there are always those items that are much sought after, but nearly impossible to find. If they're lucky enough to finally locate them, the price is often exorbitant or there are some other restrictions which inhibit their ability to secure them.
I Didnt Know These Are Slowly Destroying My Scrapbooks!
Once you spend your precious time and energy creating a scrapbook, make sure it lasts! There are a few simple things you can easily do to ensure that your scrapbooks look just as good as the day you finished them, for years to come.The first thing to avoid is paper that is not lignin-free.
Woodworking: The Best Wood For Beginners
Woodworking: Know Your WoodWood is made of cellulose fibers, held together with a property called lignin, and is classified as hardwood or softwood, depending on the type of tree from which it comes. In addition, sapwood or new growth wood on a tree is still alive, while heartwood refers to the part of the tree that is no longer functioning.
Build Your Own Bar Stool (In An Afternoon)
Bar stools are as important as the best wine in your bar. It is said that if you don't get a good stool to sit on, you won't enjoy the drink.
17 Tips For Getting Balloons to Last Longer in Hot Weather
In warm weather, latex balloons will typically only last outside for a day. As you know, sun, wind and heat will biodegrade the latex.
Bookmarks As Unique As You
Racks and racks of bookmarks ranging from funny to inspirational are available in most bookstores. But for a truly unique bookmark, make your own from a treasured digital photo.
Are You Making Money At Craft Shows?
If you are involved in the crafts business, and are profitable, you are among the rare breed who have successfully combined art with business. If, however, you still have yet to show a profit (or enough profit) after a show, this article may get you going in the right direction.
How to Make a Simple Gemstone Necklace
With gemstone beads, every bead is precious. Every bead is beautiful.
Family Fun on the Rails
Imagine your are five years old. As your family arrives at the train station, your hand slips free of your Mom's and you dash over to the tracks.
Photograph Mosaics and Markers in Your Scrapbooks
An attractive technique for placing photographs into scrapbooks is the photograph mosaic. Mosaics stretch photographs into an artistic rendition of the original photograph.
Working With Leather
This can be as simple & basic Or advanced & professional.There are many books, booklets, pamphlets, reprints, even articles describing how to assemble a simple article cut from a basic design which is purchased as a kit from a supplier.
Woodworking: Protection When Working With Wood - Ignoring Could Potentially Harm Your Health Or Kill
Woodworking: Basic Safety TipsWoodworking can be a dangerous undertaking if you are not careful and choose to disregard safety guidelines. A circular saw, router, or other piece of power equipment can disfigure and even kill if not used properly.
The Making of a Slipcover: A Lost Art
Today in this world of fast everything, most of us just don't have the time (nor patience) to do an all consuming job of making a slipcover. We go buy them and not always are they what we want.
Tooling Leather
Use vegetable-tanned, light-colored top-grained leather for tooling leather. If you're not sure what you have, test the leather's ability to take a pattern by wetting a corner and making lines with different objects like the edge of a coin.
Treasure Hunting - Part Two
Treasure hunting begins at home. People regularly find famous old books and valuable antiques in their attics, so get up there and look.
Collecting Depression Glass - Where to Start
Okay, so you've been bitten by the Depression Glass bug, andthose pretty patterns and pastel colors beckon you from theshelves of an antique dealer's shop, a friend's home, ormaybe you've even discovered this special glassware on theInternet. How ever it's come about that you've developed ayen for Depression Glass, you need to know where and how tostart collecting it - unless you're made of money, haveoodles of time on your hands, and don't care whether youget the real thing or not.
Pump Up Your Life with Scrapbook Pages of Certainty
If you can voice enthusiastically that scrapbooking is your passion, could you say the same thing about how you feel towards yourself?Yes, can you tell others without turning all red in the face that you are passionate about yourself and about who you are?Are you thinking what a Weird remark to make to others? Could anyone ever be passionate about themselves?But why not?Do you really want to wait a lifetime for that someone to tell you that they're passionate about you, while you can't say the same thing about yourself?As scrapbookers, you might deliberately or unknowingly be consumed with the business of scrapbooking your kids' or your loved ones' lives. And all these time neglecting to do pages on yourself.
>