Welcome to an introduction on how to do origami.

I am assuming that you are a beginner to origami and want to try a few quick things before investing in a decent book on origami (see later for some ideas). Before we begin lets have a little inspiration of what you can acheive.

Don't panic... these are expert projects from people who have have lots of practice.

Below are a few more realistic projects that you might undertake as a beginner

Origami is a whole lot of fun and has many variations that you can branch out into once you have got the basics worked out. For example money folding or folding other sources of paper. Some of the money folding is particularly cool.

Your First Folds

First you need some quick terminlogy. Origami instruction is often giving in the form of diagrams. The diagrams often refer to two basic folds. The valley fold which is folding the paper to form a V shape and a mountain fold which is the other way up. Simple so far.

Base Patterns

A large number of origami patterns start the same way, with the same steps before creating a unique creation. Often a pattern will say start with a kite base pattern to avoid repeating the same simple steps each time. You need to master some patterns using these base patterns and learn the base patterns as you go along.

Where to go next?

If you are a junior looking to start I suggest visiting http://tammyyee.com/origami.html

If you are an adult I would suggest

http://www.folds.net/tutorial/index.html

Origami for the Enthusiast: Step-by-Step Instructions in over 700 Diagrams

by John. Montroll, Lillian Oppenheimer, Montroll

Complete Book of Origami: Step-by-Step Instructions in over 1,000 Diagrams/48 Original Models

by Robert J.MacEy Lang, Lang, Robin Macey (Photographer)