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About Origami Techniques

To help you make sense of the lines and arrows on the drawings, you should study the explanations of a few basic techniques. It will be well worth a few minutes to learn to recognize the "Four Important Symbols" and "Three Procedures," which are international standards for origami.

Any action to be taken at each step is shown in red on the diagrams.

FOUR IMPORTANT SYMBOLS

Learn to recognize these four simple clues, which are often overlooked by beginners.

1. Valley Fold

Fold the square in half by bringing one edge of the paper toward you and matching it to the opposite edge.

A valley fold is always shown by a line of dashes. You have made a valley fold.

With this one simple fold, you have made a greeting card.

2. Mountain Fold

Fold the square in half by guiding one edge of the paper to the back and matching it to the opposite edge. A mountain fold is shown by a dash-dot-dash line and an arrow.

"You have made a mountain fold.

With this one simple fold you have made a tent.

3. Arrows

Make a valley fold.

Double arrow—Fold and unfold.

Make a mountain fold.

Curly arrow—Turn the paper over.

4. Existing Crease

An existing crease, made previously, is shown by a thin line that does not touch the edges.

Existing crease

THREE PROCEDURES

In these three procedures, which occur frequently in paperfolding, several steps are combined into one standard process.

1. Inside Reverse Fold

One of the most common procedures is called an inside reverse fold.

1. Fold a small square from corner to corner.

2. Place the paper exactly as shown. Fold the top corner over to the right, so that it peeks over the open edge.

3a. Let the paper open up and push the corner in between the two layers of paper, on the creases you made in Step 2.

3b. Close up the paper.

4. Completed inside reverse fold

The instructions for making an inside reverse fold are indicated with a dash-dot-dash line, the same as for a mountain fold, but the text states that you must make an inside reverse fold.

You may wonder why this procedure is called a reverse fold: In Step 2 you will see that the doubled paper is made up of a mountain fold on the front layer and a valley fold on the back layer. After you have pushed the corner in between the two layers of paper in Step 3, you have "reversed" the valley fold into a mountain fold.

2. Outside Reverse Fold

With an outside reverse fold, the paper is wrapped around the outside of a corner.

1. Fold a small square from corner to corner.

2. Place the paper exactly as shown. Valley fold the top corner over to the left, so that it peeks over the folded edge.

3a. Unfold Step 2.

3b. Let the paper open up and valley fold on the creases made in Step 2.

4. Completed outside reverse fold

Outside reverse folds are often used for heads, feet, and hats. The instructions for making an outside reverse fold are indicated with a dashed line, the same as for a valley fold, but the text states that you must make an outside reverse fold.

3. Rabbit's Ear

A rabbit's ear is always formed on a triangle, whenever it occurs during the folding of a model.

1. Fold a square from corner to corner.

2. You now have a triangle. Fold one of the shorter cut edges to the long folded edge. Unfold it.

3. Fold the other short cut edge to the long folded edge. Unfold it.

4. Pinch the corner between your thumb and forefinger so that it forms a valley fold that ends where the two creases made in Step 2 and Step 3 meet. The corner will stand up like a rabbit's ear.

5. Completed Rabbit's Ear

HOW TO CUT PAPER SQUARES

Many of the projects in this book begin with a square piece of paper. All its sides are of equal length and all corners are right (90-degree) angles. Paper can be squared on a board paper cutter, if available, but it's quite easy to cut any rectangular sheet into a square:

1. Fold a short edge to a long edge.

2. Cut off the extra rectangle.

3. A square

Sheets of 8¹/₂"x 11" copy and other printing papers can be cut into two sizes:

• With one cut: into squares with 8¹/₂ sides.

• With two cuts: into two squares with 5¹/₂" sides.

Copy shops will usually cut a whole ream for a small fee. A ream will provide five hundred 8¹/₂" squares or one thousand 5¹/₂ " squares.

HELPFUL TIPS

If you are having trouble with a step check the following:

1. Make sure you distinguish carefully between a valley fold (dashed line) and a mountain fold (dash-dot-dash line).

2. Be sure to observe the curly arrow asking you to turn the paper over.

3. Compare your paper to the illustrations for:

• The step you are working on

• The previous step

• The next step, which is your goal

4. Read the directions out loud.

Drawings

For the sake of clarity, the illustrations may increase in size from the beginning of the project to the end. But the angles are always consistent, and you can test your own paper against them.

Measurements

Measurements are given in inches and centimeters, but the conversion may not always be exact in order to avoid awkward fractions. In some cases specific sizes are recommended, but in most cases you may use smaller or larger pieces of paper.

ABOUT PAPER

Most fairly thin, uncoated papers with a crisp surface are suitable for origami. Check out "origami" on the Internet for suppliers of specialty papers. Once you know how to fold an origami, you may want to reproduce it with a paper in a more appropriate color or design, which can make a big difference to the end result.

The following is an overview of the papers most popular with experienced paperfolders.

Origami Paper

Ready-cut squares in varying sizes and colors are available in some art, museum, and gift stores and from catalogs. They are usually colored on one side and white on the other. I recommend 6" (15 cm) as the most versatile all-purpose size. From there you can go on to smaller and larger squares as appropriate for a particular design.