Origami Facts a Paper Sculptor Should Know

The term 'Origami' is derived from two Japanese words: ori, which means to fold, and kami, which means paper. Origami is, in fact, the Japanese art of folding paper. It is very simple art that produces magnificent paper sculpture. Origami, now, is not limited to Japan only. It has many followers in North America, Europe and in other places all around the world.


The Origin of Origami
Although the popular paper craft of origami has Japanese origin, the art was invented in China in the 1st century itself. However, Japan took on the craft of origami around 600AD and made it popular worldwide. As paper was invented around this time only and was a very costly luxurious material, only the rich people in Japan practiced the art of folding paper into shapes.


Importance of Shapes in Origami
The shapes created by paper in origami had special meanings. The shapes added special meaning to what the paper held on it or in it. It was also used for love notes, where it got all the more important. Firstly, the shape itself could represent a message and the choice of color and shape helped convey the emotions of the writer. Secondly, as origami is an intricate art, if the love note went in the wrong hands, it was unlikely that the reader could perfectly refold the shape. So, the origami love notes were extremely safe as they could not be read by wrong persons without the recipient knowing about it.
 

How to Select Origami Paper?
Probably, origami is the only art which needs mere paper and no other art and craft supplies. Origami paper can be easily found at any crafts supply store. The special origami paper is square in shape having various colors, patterns, sizes and textures. It is fairly thin so that folding becomes convenient. However, origami models can be made from rectangular shaped paper also. Most interestingly, if you so desire, you can avoid buying special origami paper and use whatever paper you can get hold of- loose-leaf paper, gift wrapping paper, old magazines, candy wrappers, wallpapers and so on. Sometimes the origami model that you intend to make will dictate the type of paper that can be used. Generally, thin paper should be used when making a complex model that has many folds. Heavy paper should be used only when making a large-scale model.


The Art of Origami
Origami can be learned by anyone starting with the basic structures like paper animals, houses, boats, decorative boxes, hats, balloons etc. Origami architecture ranges from very simple to highly complex models. Once comfortable with the basic folds, one can move on to make complex structures as well. Perfection, as in other arts, comes with practice. After learning the basics and practicing a little, one can even make many three-dimensional geometric shapes such as cubes, triangles, polyhedra,etc. However, in order to learn origami, one must become comfortable with some basic folds, symbols, and terms which have been presented in the following chart.

In traditional origami, models are made using a single sheet of colored paper that is usually square but there's no compulsion of shape to be square only. In modular origami, many individual "units," made out of a single sheet of paper, are joined to form a complex structure. With the help of modular origami, many mathematical shapes can also be folded.

The most basic folds in origami are that of mountain and valley. In mountain fold, a peak is formed, while in a valley fold a trough is formed.