Geometry, Thinking Skills, Fractions, Problem Solving, Fun Science,
Bonus: Just Plain Fun!
Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding, where “Ori” is the Japanese word for folding, and “kami” is the Japanese word for paper. “Ori” and “kami” change to “origami” when pronounced together.
When two parts of these words are separated they are different from when they are combined. This is known in Japanese as “Rendaku”, meaning “Sequential Voicing”.
The basic folds are listed below:
- Valley fold
- Mountain fold
- Petal fold
- Rabbit Ear fold
- Squash fold
- Sink fold
- Inside Reverse fold
- Outside Reverse fold
- Crimp fold
Types of Origami:
- Action Origami: origami models that “move”.
- Pure & Pureland Origami: origami models that are folded from a single sheet of paper without using tape or glue (or any other tools). Pureland origami are pure origami models, with only mountain and valley folds used in the folding process.
- Business Card Origami: an interesting fact is that the replica of the Union Station (Worcester, MA) was built using tens of thousand of business cards.
- Modular origami: these models are built using units and require more than one piece of paper, like Golden Venture Folding and 3D Origami.
- Strip Folding: a combination of paper folding and weaving (for example the lucky star, dream star, wishing star, and simple origami star). It is also called “origami fringe”.
- Candy Wrapper Origami: origami models folded using candy wrappers.
- Origami Quilts: the quilts are constituted of many units.
- Crease patterns: can be a mystery! Crease Patterns are the lines on a piece of paper when you unfold an origami model. Origami designers use crease patterns to help create new origami models. The process involves folding the necessary creases and then collapsing the paper into the final model.
- Origami Tessellations: the interesting fact about tessellation is that they are made of units, but each one is made with one single sheet of paper.
- Wet Folding Origami: developed by origami master Akira Yoshizawa; Wet-folding is a relatively new way of folding paper that involves moistening the paper before folding it.
- Dollar Bill Origami: using money instead of traditional paper for folding.
- Palm Weaving: palm leaves are used instead of paper. The models usually are made religiously, mostly during Easter time.
- Toilet Paper Origami: the origami-style folding of toilet paper 🙂
World’s Smallest Origami Crane – folded from a 0.1 x 0.1 mm square. Naito Akira of Japan folded the tiny crane using a microscope and special tools which he made himself.
World’s Largest Origami Crane: – has a wingspan of 258 feet and 9 inches and is 215 feet high. On August 29, 2009, 800 people worked together to fold this crane during the Peace Piece Project at the Hiroshima Shudo University, (Hiroshima, Japan).