Origami for beginners: basic folds, diagram symbols and choosing paper

TUREFF• •0

Origami needs nothing but a sheet of paper, and the first few models can be folded in minutes. What makes the difference between a crisp model and a crumpled one is learning a handful of basic folds and how to read the diagrams. This guide covers both, plus what paper to buy.

Choosing paper

Kami: the standard origami paper, thin, cheap and coloured on one side, usually sold in squares of 15 cm. It is ideal for learning.
Size: start with 15 cm squares or larger. Small paper makes beginners' folds harder to line up.
Duo paper: coloured on both sides, useful when both faces of the paper show in the finished model.
Foil paper: holds a shape very well, but it shows every mistaken crease.
Thicker art papers: for later, and for wet-folding.

You can cut squares from printer paper too: fold one corner across to the opposite edge to make a triangle, and cut off the leftover strip. Printer paper is a bit thick for complicated models but fine for practice.

Good folding habits

Fold on a hard, flat surface.
Line up corners and edges exactly before creasing.
Hold the paper in place, then crease from the centre outwards.
Run a fingernail along each crease to make it sharp.
Neat early folds matter most, because every small error grows later on.

The basic folds

Valley fold: fold the paper towards you, so the crease sinks like a valley. This is the most common fold of all.
Mountain fold: fold the paper away from you, so the crease rises like a ridge. It is a valley fold seen from the other side; many people simply turn the paper over and make a valley fold instead.
Pre-crease: fold and unfold to make a crease line you will use later.
Squash fold: lift a flap so it stands upright, open it out, and press it down flat so it spreads symmetrically on both sides of the old crease.
Inside reverse fold: push a point, such as a neck or a beak, inwards between its own layers so it changes direction. Pre-creasing first makes it much easier.
Outside reverse fold: the opposite, wrapping the point around the outside of itself.
Petal fold: lift a single layer and fold its sides in so it rises into a long diamond. It is the key move in the bird base, used for the crane.
Rabbit ear: fold two sides of a triangle in at once so a small flap stands up and is then folded to one side.

Bases

Many models begin from the same few starting shapes, called bases. The most common are the kite base, the preliminary base (also called the square base), the waterbomb base, the fish base and the bird base. Once you can fold these from memory, a lot of diagrams become much shorter.

Reading origami diagrams

Most diagrams use the same set of symbols, known as the Yoshizawa-Randlett system. It grew out of the notation the Japanese master Akira Yoshizawa used in the 1950s, later adopted and extended by Samuel Randlett and Robert Harbin, and it is now the standard used in most origami books. The main symbols:

Dashed line: a valley fold.
Dash-dot line (dashes with dots between them): a mountain fold.
Thin solid line: an existing crease.
Arrow with a full head: fold in this direction.
Arrow with a half head: fold behind.
Arrow that goes out and back: fold and unfold.
Looped arrow: turn the paper over.
Hollow arrow pointing at the paper: push or sink here.
Circle with arrows: rotate the model.

Each diagram shows the result of the previous step and what to do next. Always look at the following picture before folding, so you know what the step is supposed to produce.

Good first models

a cup, a fortune teller and a simple boat
a jumping frog
a crane, once you are comfortable with squash folds
a simple box

If you get stuck, unfold back to the last step that looked right and try again. Most experienced folders still do this. Which fold or symbol gave you trouble when you started, or which model are you stuck on? Ask in the comments and someone will help you work through it.