Learn the Art of Origami

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Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding, usually using a square piece of paper. The paper is usually coloured on one side.

My love of origami started when I was a little boy. My mother likes origami and bought a few books on simple fun origami for children. However, she is a working mother and had no time to teach my sister and me the art. Our family maid ended up being our teacher.

Candy Box was one of the first models she did for us to put our lollies in. Instructions on how to fold the box are given in diagrams.



Another of our favourites was the Jumping Frog. You pressed its back and it will leap. My sister and I used to see whose frog can jump further.



Origami master John Montroll is one of my favourite authors. My collection of his books includes Origami Sea Life, Origami Sculptures, Prehistoric Origami and Origami Inside-Out. The three-headed dragon is the most complex project in his book, Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami.



Five Intersecting Tetrahedra by Tom Hull is one of the most complex projects that I have completed. This design uses 30 strips of rectangular paper. It involves constructing 30 individual units and then interweaving them to form the tetrahedra.



At the moment, I'm into designs by Satoshi Kamiya. His designs are very complex and use large sheets of paper. This phoenix was done using a 50cm square piece of brown paper and took me about four hours to complete.



The basic origami paper is 15cm square and can be purchased from book stores and craft shops. These are plain coloured on one side. Paper with more fancy patterns can be bought online. However, any square piece of paper will do. I have completed projects using square memo paper, remnants from printers cut into squares, wrapping paper and brown paper.



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