Origami Paper Get Creative with Paper Fold and crease Fold and crease That’s origami Once you know how it’s possible to create a butterfly a bird or even a dragon from a single sheet of square paper No one knows for sure when or where people first began making small sculptures from paper One place where paper folding has been popular for centuries is Japan The word origami comes from the Japanese words ori which means folding and kami which means paper 4
One of the most famous and popular Japanese origami models is a crane In Japan these birds are thought to be holy and it is said they live for 1,000 years It’s traditional to fold 1,000 paper cranes and give them to a new baby or newly married couple for good luck The cranes are held together on strings Turn to page 6 to see the instructions for folding a lucky origami crane Paper crane In Japanese the word for a paper crane is orizuru It comes from the words ori which means folding and tsuru which means crane Top Tips Before You Get Started Read all the instructions and look at the pictures carefully before starting work on an origami project Don’t rush Work slowly and carefully You can run a plastic ruler along a crease to make it sharper If your first attempt at a model looks a bit crumpled don’t worry The more you practice the better your folding will become 5
You Will Need To make a crane you will need one sheet of square origami paper in your choice of size and color Origami Crane Try making origami cranes to give to friends as good luck gifts 1 Fold the square of paper in half and crease well 2 Fold the paper in half again and crease well 6
3 Now open up the top layer of paper on the right-hand side to create a pocket Pocket Gently squash down the pocket to make a flat square 4 Turn the model over Open out the triangle-shaped section of the model to create a pocket Open out here Pocket The open end of the model should be at the bottom Gently squash down the pocket to create a square 5 Fold in the left and right-hand sides of the model and crease hard You should only be folding the top layer of paper 6 Fold down the top point of the model and crease hard 7
