| Origami (Japanese: “Folded paper”) — is an ancient art of making figures from paper folding. The roots of “Origami” art originate from ancient China where the paper was also invented.
Initially, Origami was used in religious ceremonies. For a long time, this art form was accessible only to the representatives of higher communities, where possessing paper folding techniques was a sign of good form. Only after World War II did origami spread beyond the boundaries of the East and reached America and Europe where it found admirers at once.
Classical origami is folded from square paper.
The certain set of conventional symbols, necessary for making the folding sketch of even the most difficult items, exists.
Huge numbers of conventional symbols was put into practice in the middle of the 20th century by popular Japanese artist Akira Yoshizawa.
Classical origami prescribes the use of one square uniformly colored sheet of paper without glue or scissors. Sometimes, modern forms of art deviate from this canon.
Types and techniques of origami:
Modular origami:
One of the popular versions of origami is modular origami, in which the entire figure is made from many identical parts (modules). Each module is made according to the rules of classical origami from a single sheet of paper and then the modules are inserted in each other. The frictional force does not allow design to disintegrate. One of the most often encountered objects of modular origami is kusudama, a huge round-shaped body.
Simple Origami:
Simple origami (pureland origami) is the origami style invented by British paper folder John Smith, which is limited to the use of only mountain and valley folds. The aim is to simplify the exercises to inexperienced paper folders and also to people with restricted physical skills. The above mentioned restriction indicates the incapability of many (but not all) difficult techniques, habitual for usual origami that compels to invent new methods, giving similar effects.
Crease Origami:
Crease origami (English crease pattern; pattern of folds) is one of the diagram types of origami, which is a drawing, on which all the folds of the ready-made model are represented. Crease folding is more difficult than folding according to traditional drawing, however, the given method simply does not provide information on how to make the model but also how it has been thought up — the fact is that the crease method is used for developing new origami models. The non-availability of some diagrams for several models excepting crease origami also makes it obvious.
Wet folding is a folding technique, invented by Akira Yoshizawa and using paper, moistened with water, for lending smoothness of lines, expressiveness and also rigidity to the models. The given method is especially for such non-geometric objects, as models of animals and flowers — in this case, they look much more natural and closer to the original.
All papers are unfit for wet-folding, excepting the one, in which the water-soluble glue is added for binding the fibers during the manufacture process. As a rule, the given property is possessed by compact paper grades.
Origami is the name of Japanese paper folding art, which originated from Japanese “oru” (fold) and “kami” (paper). The finished origami figure is called a model and the method of folding the model is a design and the instructions, drawn for the model, are called a set of sketches (diagrams).
Only a sheet of paper is required for origami, which makes it one of the most accessible arts. Any paper can be used for origami but the certain standard for folding exists. Standard paper for origami should be fine, strong and should retain folds well. Usually, the paper is white on one side and colored on the other and should also be square-shaped with sides of 15 cm (6 inches). Some artists-paper folders also experiment with other materials by using cardboards, various kinds of fabrics, wire grids, metal sheets etc for folding.
The basic technique for origami is folding and the set of difficult folds were already studied. The simplest fold is the “valley” fold, when the paper is folded towards itself. When a sheet is folded, the folding line forms the valley. Inverse to the “valley” is the “mountain” fold. The four most widespread basic forms are the paper dragon, fish, bird and frog.
The names of the forms indicate that many paper folders loved to make models of animals and also all wildlife objects. Apart from models of animals, models of almost all physical objects, including people, faces, plants, transport vehicles and buildings etc were created. Some paper folders make abstract or mathematical models and others specialize in modular origami, in which huge complex structures are made using a set of combined simple parts.
Various groups of people use origami. Artists use origami as a method of expressing creativity. Scientists, architects and mathematicians investigate the geometry of origami for beauty or for practical applications. Doctors and teachers use origami to help their patients recover from illness or with a training purpose. And a huge number of people fold paper simply because it is cheerful.
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