How To Create Origami

As a child I first origami I learned how to make, if it is indeed considered origami, was a paper airplane. Like the age old image in everyone's mind of misbehaving children in a classroom with pee-shooters and paper airplanes flying around the room I also learned this in a classroom. As time went on I began to learn much more about origami. When I got older I moved into more complex designs and understood much more about this old age japanese art.

Note: to see the diagrams in a larger size click on the pictures.

The very next design I created was that of a paper boat. I saw pictures of Japanese fishing boats and marveled at how similar they were to the finished design of the actual origami model. One fine day my brother and I took a hike to a nearby pond and having made more than one hundred paper boats we released them all at once into the water. We laughed and marveled at the sight of this interesting looking fleet that was pushed by the wind and eventually rushed down a nearby stream. It was incredible to see so many small boats winding this way and that in such close proximity down the twisting river.

After the origami boats I made a variation of the boat design into a paper hat. My siblings made several hats of this type over time and we often played pirates. Sometimes we would kid each other by writing silly names on the hats when the other wasn't looking. It was good fun for all.

The first more complex origami art I made was a crane. At the time we were studying about World War II in school. We were reading a story about how after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and how afterward as in remembrance of the ones that passed away in Japan two young girls began a paper crane making project. Around that time our teacher with the help of another older grade we were taught how to make cranes ourselves and I have never forgotten. The story or the ability to make cranes.

I have tried many more designs since my first introduction to origami with varying degrees of success. Some have been quite simple as the folding techniques are very similar to creating the crane others have been incredibly difficult and I will continue to work on them. I have included several diagrams throughout this article to help those of you who want to pursue the art of origami. My recommendation if you are a beginner is to start with the simpler designs and move up from there. You will also find a couple videos. One is myself creating a pig and that other creating a paper crane.

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