GOLDEN VENTURE FOLDING 3 D origami is a special type of origami In traditional origami one sheet of paper is folded to create a model In 3 D origami many paper triangles are connected to create a model These triangles are called units or modules Modules interlock to create 3 D origami 3 D origami is often called Golden Venture folding This is because the Chinese immigrants who made 3 D origami popular traveled to the United States on a ship called the Golden Venture In 1993 the Golden Venture sailed from China to the United States with 286 men women and children aboard These people wanted to enter the country illegally However the ship ran aground before it reached shore Some of the Chinese immigrants died trying to escape Others were arrested by US officials
The surviving Golden Venture immigrants applied for political asylum During this process they were kept in prison To pass the time the immigrants made elaborate 3 D origami models The immigrants sold some of the models to raise money for legal fees They gave other models as gifts to the people who helped them The Golden Venture immigrants made 3 D origami popular in the United States
MODULES To make 3 D origami models you first have to make the paper modules Origami paper is a good option for making modules because it is thin and easy to fold But other materials could work well too Some origami artists use materials such as old newspapers magazines and junk mail to avoid waste To make 3 D origami models you'll need a lot of small paper rectangles The length of each rectangle should be one and one half times its width For example you could make them each 3 inches 7 5 cm long and 2 inches 5 cm wide Try stacking several sheets of paper and drawing the size rectangle you want on the top sheet Then cut through all the sheets together to make several rectangles at once
Making one module doesn't take long But you'll need many of them to create most models So be prepared to spend some time making modules You could ask friends and family members to help so that the process goes more quickly You can also buy packs of already folded modules online This could save time especially if you need enough modules to create large 3 D origami models
