FIGURES WILD. Anyi | ; e Ws e * Origami The complete, fully illustrated quide to the folded paper arts:prweransre vREWNTOUE Se “| Valley tod fat onthe able. The atew sh BASIC FOLDS | stesmcccn: Usual ate, meaning you fold to pee Point edge or crease. 5 fold can be made wiv ‘A the heart of origami, there are ony two. fl vali fl anda moun fd, You abe hem ot on oppose sides of te i ue Papa) hee! you make» crease i Tle or aan iueon ee Hk, fpett thee symbols that show you exactly whete the i a Got youn lo poesia eee heel en ene a ‘figami, you need to recognize all the Bree) sans stots Thre oon mary, a pati Iba sr ass So thom slehy Vale fold and unfold ke aay a 50 can follow diagrams written in any Ries, Janguage. The symbols themselves should Be). provide all the basic information you need, ‘However, if there is text, you should also | i out paper ! D> o Teal il Always tead ahead’ ~ look at the | ‘et step So you can see what you are | Metetnceases aiming ot.neem Mountain fold The caper fos underneath in some way s0the fot must | Mountain fold and unfold Complete «meuntan fl then unk he emo wt De pet‘ hea” Noe the aaa eh apr t is rg poston Girt he vat fo aoe, A mountain a can be farmed by trnng te paper unde down and making a valley fo insted Repeat fold sissy te repeat | Fold point to point ny tous oat | Fold equal amounts Thee oat be ape ‘ow (in hs ce, taking a comme othe ‘hve a cla ration (such as a ester or Indicates that he creases are to ie he cere) sad beeen amatirg | ntereton ace) oft as they ae (paper into equal hinds ~athough it doesnt ‘comee ot side Each notch onthe arow made. In these cases, smal dots ae used fo ‘actual tell you Row to do this see cing indicates a single repeat. Ths symbol is Indicate the start and end ot a fol | square into this, page 35), Note te ‘yplaly ed 1 keep a diagram fom ternative fold ard unl symbol er wes becoming too busy oF o avoid extra ‘iagams. Always check the net diagram if you ate in doubt where to repeat an indiate quarters, sts or ns. -SREASEDUAA Hong kong Publ LiarsPleat on top A saquence The ube ayer per Part ofthe paper Hidden fold Sorin ois made on layers papar hidden inside the mode! Inthis case acted or rey line Used to Inca where the fold takes place t's za Important to rend the txt arty at ths stage J Pleat underneath Cleary. this she same asthe pevius fold, but from a diferent perspective. Very ote, you will se the pleat arrow and be ‘expected to figure out where the paper goes yourselt Aways check the next sep if you're in doubt Fold with feeling tske spe Pull out paper Sone pape is se tom es ‘iin underneath he med Oen, sent, The symbol was inspired y Home degree of unfokiing is necessary to do the late American folder Michael PS trcare ia erect ‘Shall, who always insisted that we should Yd with einCHANGING ORIENTATION ‘with many steps, life is mage easier if you alter the positon of the paper. This may ean turning it over (lke tossing a pancake) oF rotating to a new position Turn over paper Lift the paper up and turn it ‘over rom it to Itt or Welt 0 ight. the ‘arrow is rotated through 90 degrees, i Ineates a tur from top to bottom or vice ves. Rotate paper 90 degrees ths aio Rotate paper 180 degre: show the lection in which the paper fs Stow oe in toe oat be jotted, an an YOU Babe th re Scale increase As a sequence of flds progresses, the model usually gots smaller, In order to make the diagrams easy to read, at some stages the ‘est step wil be shown proportionally larger. Some diagrams simply do this ‘without indicating, while others use a matching scale increase’ symbol where appropriate C> ll—__—_i REVERSE FOLDING fuses beginners to origami, but if you analyse it careful, I fs “The nameé comes from the fact that a section of the paper reverses vice versa. It is perhaps used most equently to form feet or The process of adding necessary creases betore This technique often co perfectly straightforward, from valley to mountain oF beaks, but also has many other uses. making a fold is known as ‘pre-creasing Inside reverse Wethod 1 Inside reverse Wethod 2 Make vere the ee fold wl te Make a pre-crease ‘where the reverse fold will be. Press the pointes end ‘ofthe paper gent so Carefully push the it reverses direction, ‘comer between the Using the creases, layers ‘made in Step 1 as ‘mountain creases or completed fl, 3 The completed foldOutside reverse Peet apa son te ese tune Double reverse Rev nest eh tonal ace i Form a pleat to mark the Sue the point inside piston ie vores tele 4 “The compete fold 2 Unfold the pleat,ruepeancerreennraves Girection paper moves fold and unfold again, fold and Unfold again, repeat once repeat three times {old point to point pustipress pleat fold > = TD le behind tur over rotate 90 degrees totate 180 degrees Si = pal out paper <7 equal distances valley fold mountain fold hidden fold existing crease fod with feeling _ ESSENTIAL SEQUENCES Certain sequences of folds occur regularly throughout origam) and have been given names to make life easier. They allow us 0 give broad instructions that save time and detail. To break these instructions (and ‘other techniques) down into individual steps every time they were used would mean that origami diagrams would be much longer. By re can Using this form of ‘shorthand! present a lot of information in a few words. Jtis important not only that you can. perform these sequences, but also that you understand exactly what is happening. To ‘achieve this, you should unfold and refold ‘each sequence until you are clear exactly how the paper is behaving, which flaps ‘move to where and if you need to take extra care at any stage. Some sequences put stress on the paper and careless folding can cause a rip! RABBIT'S EAR This sequence folds two adjacent tie, pinching the comer into a flap that flattened to either side. It doesn't resemble the ear of a rabbit, but th called, The move appears in various forms throughout origami and is a very useful technique Here, itis shown formed from one square. If you perform the move on both sides of the paper, you will create a fish base (see atts ide of a page 30), ‘Start with a square, creased on both diagonals. Fold the lower left edge to meet the horizontal diagonal. Crease and unfold Repeat the fold on the lower ight edge. TESS ‘creases need only be made as far as the vets) diagonal, but are shown here complete for ea5= of folding.Now fold in both sides together, forming a vale fold in the centre. The small mountain fold fms iself as you stat to flatten the point later, Here isthe move in progess: the triangular fap is beingfatened tothe let. Bem Matened the completed rabbit's ear eee Hest DOUBLE RABBIT'S EAR This is an elegant sequence that narrows part of a flap while at the same tine changing its angle. This fold doesn't at first seem related to the rabbit's ear, but if you open after performing the technique, you'l see rabbit’s-ear ereases on either si i the flap <4 T 4 5 you refold the valley crease on the layer, add 1 This is how the move is usualy shown (without an explanation of how to doit) tuck the top end ofthe first layer inside. Start with a st Inside reverse, ‘One side complete Repeat on the flap undemeath, 6™ move ls complete. 3° the flap in hal——— I CRIMP ! ‘crimp atows you to ! ‘ost inthe fold les either inside or outside the rest of the pap ‘an inside or outside crimp. Once you Into the paper, bu ‘a mountain and valley fold as shown. reverse the directions of half the creases anyway. Inside crimp <= azn This is how the crimp is, represented in shorthand rotation, The paper on the right willbe folded within the paper on the elt, The pattern ‘of creases is identical on the layer undemeath, Here, the creases are being, ‘put into place on both sides of the paper, 3 The completed crimp. create a change of angle in a strip or pointed flap. The paper that is er, determining whether itis understand the procedure, crimps can be made directly for accuracy itis usual to pre-crease them. To do this, fold all layers with {t doesn't matter which is which, since you need to Outside crimp Cee << This is how the crimp is Tepresented in shorthand notation. This i the epposte to the inside crimp, Here, 35, You would expect, the pape: moves outside. The pate ‘teases is identical onthe Jayer undemeath, 2 Here, the creases are being put into place on bath sides of the paper ayy ‘completed erimp.PETAL Cone of the classic sequences in origami, a petal involves folding several creases at the same time to produce a neat and unexpected result, While experienced folders Ean make a petal {old directly into the pape, i's much easier if you add the necessary pre-creases fis. oe ‘now have all the creases you need to make the petal fold. Squash the flap symmetrically in halt This example beens from a ‘waterbomb base (see page 29), Fold the bottomeft commer tothe top comer Bysshe noel cet Using the horizontal crease as ‘2 hinge, swing the lower point Upwards. The lower raw edges il start to fold inwards. Fold the top two shorter edges 4o the centre crease, then unfold back to Step 1 And completed, Unfold and efold until you understand ‘what is happening, Ifyou do this to each ofthe lps, you wil form a frog base.TT ! SINK jsink is typiealy applied toa ‘closed! comer “The section of paper above the sink fine point (ie. one formed with folded edges onl). disappears completely Into the paper. Like reverse fein, this isa technique tat often confuses beginners, but it shouldn't present a problem if'you pre-crease accurately and fod careful. The Nar sink tole neaty f you are folding fll paper. this can id partis to get the creases inside the be almost impossible. (You may be jueky enough to come across a double sin, where the paper BOeS IN then comes partially cout again!) v it This is the way a sink is ‘usualy indicated Pre-crease a val valleys, where ne ink line’ will be. Open the paper out to the white side, Change al similar creases to Ass the paper into a 3-D shape, turing it upside down, Stat to press in the centre, Whether 3 ‘crease on the ousie is valley of a mount, ‘make sure that itis the ‘opposite on the inside So, fr example, the ‘outside section fom the comeris a ‘mountain, but asit passes the sink line becomes a vale. FS ‘carefully and dont fe the paper ley where the “Ox Gr the sink, wecessary.OSE: SQUASH This term describes the technique of iting a double layer of paper and squashing the ayers apait 3s you atten them. If you can't See anything to tine up withthe fold, you may need to tum the paper upside down before the final fatten. You should intallypre-crease bern creases involved (te mounain crease can go either way during pre-creasng, bu the valley crease should be pre-reased as a valley). With practice, you can sometimes form squashes jut pre-creasing, No method of forming a squash is better than another directly, depends entirely on what the origami design requires Method 2 ae Is almost the same as the frst example, ie i's applied to a shorter fap of paper (De fold in progress. Qe ecompne Method 1 a This is how the squash is shown, Swing the ‘paper over on the valley, while pressing the ‘comer shown. 2 The fold in progress. With luck, the paper will settle in this Position, Method 3 This fooks quite diferent to the other two squash examples, but the same principles apply in this instance you may only want to pte-crease the valley fold, since you're not sure where the other crease wil i The fold in progress. The completed fold.fold and unfold again fold and unfold again AA repeat once tt, repeat three ‘old point to point pustypress pleat fold fold behind tum over rotate 90 degrees rotate 180 degrees ld aD qO* AY O —", pull out paper valley fold ‘mountain fold hidden fold existing crease fold with feeling BASES When creative people began to analyse origami in the early part of the last century, they noticed that several designs began with ‘an identical sequence of folds. These came to be known as bases and were given names that usually reflected a design ‘commonly made from them, Thus a base that could be made into a fish was called a fish base and so forth, One exception is the preliminary base, so-called because it is a starting point for many different designs. The beauty of a base is that it forms a starting point for you to be creative. Faced with a plain square, people often find it difficult to progress, but given (for example) a bird base, they can play with the many possiblities and perhaps come up with 2 new design. Needless to say, 2 thorough ‘grounding in traditional bases will help you towards success in origami KITE BASE Probably the set oar es om gg Slope Busta unerslc en aetechnabithandianisiAihowh gh pee simple base, it still needs folding eaivsily and accurately. It's interesting fo see hove developed into a fish base (see page 20) base i BLINTZ BASE This base is formed by folding each comer ofa square to the centre, To find the centre, ada any two of the ‘union jack’ creases (diagonal or side to-opposite creases). However, folding to the centre can sometimes lead to inaccuracies: it's always easier to fold to an edge rather than 3 crease line. The method opposite is an excellent way of folding a very clean (minimally creased) blintz base. The word blintz itself comes from 2 ‘way of folding Jewish pastryDOVY af Crease a diagonal Oe ‘ne of the sides to He Qe on the other side, qm completed ito base oe the diagonal Die ‘wo shorter edges to ae ‘one of ‘meet the top edge the sides, Fold a square in halt, Tum over for the completed lint base 3 ‘Turn the paper over and repeat the last step,——_—_—_— PRELIMINARY BASE This is called the proliminary base because Its the starting position for many origam| desis. Its well worth studying this base how a precise carefully 0 you can see ‘combination of valley and mountain creases {s needed to form it. If any of these creases ‘are made incorrectly, It simply won't work. This base also exemplifies an origami technique that produces many points where there were few. The four corners of the square produce nine (count them!) points with which you can’ work Method 1 Fold square in half from side to side, crease and untold, 1 Dew the square in hall from bottom to top, Fold the bottom-tight corner to the top entre. Turn over and repeat the fold on the ther side (showin here as a mountain fold), 3 Aces the layers evenly and press the sides together, in effect squashing the model in hal, Bs preliminary base is formed. Method 2 4 Boe the paper through ‘An identical preliminary base. 5 degrees. Use lapse the pape.WATERBOMB BASE Its hard to see at first, but the crease pattern for the preliminary base is the same one heeded forthe waterbomb base. This means you can take a preliminary base and tip it | inside out to form a waterbomb base. However, the two methods shown forthe preliminary pase ean also be easily adapted to form the waterbomt base directly Method 1 Fold a square from corner to opposite comme, crease and unfold oO Inhalt from bottom to top. EE Seer b _ iS Fold the bottom-right comer to the top senite. Turn over and repeat the fold on the other side (shown here as. ‘mountain fold), ‘Open the layers evenly and press the sides together, in efect squashing in hal. Method 2. i o 3 Use only existing creases 10 collapse the paper An identical wwaterbomt base 5 ‘A waterbomb base is formedFISH BASE ‘This base produces an extended diamond shape with two smaller flaps at the centre. jt ‘commonly folded in half to form a kite shape with two layers. The tips of these layers car easily be folded over to form the fins of a simple fish 3 1] ‘Crease both diagonals from the white sie. Fold the two lower raw edges tothe vertical centre crease This is th result Now tum the paper over. “OO Fold the lower ‘comer to meet the top comer, Tumn the paper over and carefully pull out the figinal right-hand corner to form a point. The right raw edge will move to the contre vertical crease, Repeat he rove o he tate Jism dona Esha Qrreconen fish baseBIRD BASE Aid base is socalled duo tothe number of birds tht can fosiy be foe rom it. The bird base has four narow prints atone end and a blunter one atthe opposite end, Its erease patter (right) shows a perfect and peautitul symmetry. L cutwards. Fold two outer flaps into the vertical centre cease. Stat with a preliminary base, coloured side Paull the side laps out from beneath the top flap, Lift the comer of the first layer of paper at the bottom and swing it upwards, using the top of the triangular flap as a hinge. ‘bid heres Bites the move i ogress; (Stops 4 to 5 ate an eampie of 8 petal fold) all the steps | on the flap behind. pe is one completed form ofthe bird base, but, very often, the two upper points are folded downwards Ora Horm of theSTS MULTIFORM BASE ust by playing with the existing creases, this base can be used 10 create quite a few simple models. Its ‘also known as a windmill base, {Or ‘obvious reasons! Two methods for making a multform base are shown there. The frst allows you to be very iin all the creases you precise and put need in advance, while the second is ‘more of a scenic route, Use whichever ‘approach you enjoy most Start with 2 squate with both diagonal and Ds each side in tot side-to-side creases, Fold each corner fo the and untold ne, eas centre, (Note the use of the repeat arrow) Method 2 2 Fold the left-hand edge to the centre Allow the paper to refold neatly ‘Start with a square, creased side-to-side bbe a natural movemer both ways. Fold opposite sides in to the centre, Be the two corners shown to the centre of the leftchand edge. Carefully separate the layers of paper ont ‘corner shawn and ease the lower lavet = dont fore it.RS Arenas au geen — Aver ea "ou can now extend the flap downwards, Repeat on the upper left commer, then repeat all steps on the right-hand end, 6 ‘One comer ‘completed. Repeat ‘Steps 4 and 5 on the ather corne Then repeat Steps 2 10 5 fn the right-hand edge 10 form the multiform base.ONAL BASES 4 22, 5-degree Beometty ngles of 60 dearees (and ‘AWAY FROM TRADITI Most origami makes use of 90°, 45: 21 folding techniques, itis easy ro create 2 frees you from tradtfonal bases and ™2 genuinely New. 5 Mothod 1 Folding 60-degree angles il Fold a square in halt from side to side, Starting your crease at the pottom-eft comer, fld the bottom-right comer to meet the vertical crease. 2 “The fold should fook like this. Now unfold again You have ied he totonet coment 30- and 60 angles. he es it more likely that you will achiev By using a few ingenious hence 30 and 15), This e something Folding 60-degree angles Method 2 reas ae {old should look like this Now unfold again. 3 [pera ntiones ‘add a vertical quate crease, Passing. the horizontal se through the centre ofthe paper, make its rightshand end Nie somewhere on the vertical quarter crease. The 30- and 60-deeree angles now lie at the cede of the paper.jing a square into thirds Method 1 ‘sort with a square, folded in half, Fold the fetlomiit comer tothe top centre.