Origami: Traditional Creations

For this blog, I decided to create an origami design that was designed and created a long time ago. "This creation has a long tradition, and their creators were surely imagiros" (Kasahara 31). Imagiro is a play on word of "origami" written backwards to mean a person with imagination and a friend (Kasahara 32). The traditional origami I decided to create was an origami whale. This design was simple and had basic steps to create it. I found it easy and was good for any beginner to learn with the origami crane. This design started with a different origami base called the fish base, which was simple, but I had to go back to the front of the book in order to learn this base.

As I created this design, I had learned a new concept of cutting. The Japanese word "to fold" could be pronounced differently to mean, "to cut" (Kasahara 30). I had to cut half of the whale's tail in order to create a huge difference in the design, making it look a lot better. It shows how even a little cut can have a huge impact on a design. Overall, this design has taught me its tradition and beauty behind it and a lot about cutting.

Question: Do you like to learn about traditional origami? Why or why not?

Kasahara, Kunihiko. Extreme Origami. New York: Sterling Pub., 2002. Print.

Origami Dragonfly

Today I decided to create an origami dragonfly. The steps for this design was pretty simple, but was still fun to create. It was a unique design with many folds I have never tried before. the origami dragonfly began with the basic bird base, which was the same starting base for a paper crane.

After that, there were many steps that required you to fold the corners into small pockets in order to create a different shape for the wings (Kasahara 32). One of the steps stated "Roll up [the triangle] to create its head" (Kasahara 32). These folds were unique to me and it has allowed me to learn some techniques that may be helpful when I create other origami designs. The origami dragonfly was different from other creations I have made before because of how it has depth in its folds. Overall, this origami design was very fun to make and has taught me new folds that will be useful in the future.

Question: Have you learned new folds through making origami? Which one and from which origami design?

Kasahara, Kunihiko. Extreme Origami. New York: Sterling Pub., 2002. Print.

Origami: Keep it Simple

Sometimes, origami should be kept simple. Not every origami is meant to be complex and look detailed with hundreds of folds, some can just be small and beautiful with its own aspects and simplicity. Today, I decided to create an origami Orizuru, commonly know as the original crane. It was one of the first origami designs I began to become interested in origami. The design is very simple and is one of the designs that represent origami to others. "This beautiful, traditional design has been known since 1797, the year of the book Senbazuru-Orikata (A Thousand Origami Cranes) was published" (Kasahara 31).

I began my crane with a normal piece of square paper and followed the basic steps to create the basic bird base. The steps were very clear and did not require too much thinking, perfect for beginners.
From the bird base, there were a few more instructions that included a lot of creasing and unfolding (Kasahara 41). These steps were very helpful as it made it very easy to fold up many folds that would have taken more time, or even ruin the clean and crisp look of the crane. The origami crane was finished off by spreading and curving the wings out to give it a 3D shape. The outcome turned out great and looked like the cranes in the book. Overall, I had learned that making every required crease can help out and save a lot more time than skipping the small tedious steps.

Question: Is creating complex origami that requires a lot more time and effort worth it or is making simple origami a lot better?

Kasahara, Kunihiko. Extreme Origami. New York: Sterling Pub., 2002. Print.

Possibilities in Origami

For this month's blog, I decided to do something that had to do with the season. I decided to create an origami snowflake that was shown in the book and expanded my ideas on it by creating different versions, which allowed me to create a variety of snowflakes from just one model. Stated by Kunihiko Kasahara, "The Snowflake reveals a new and multidimensional beauty... a wide field for additional design possibilities" (Kasahara 43).

For this snowflake, it took me many tries and redoes for me to get the paper folds correct. The pictures were easy to read, but the process to reach the pictures were very unclear with only small arrows that overlapped. I decided to go back to the key for the symbols used, which allowed me to see which ones were valley folds and which ones were mountain folds. The directions said to keep into account the marking folds as I made the folds (Kasahara 43). This really helped me as i started to create the folds in the snowflakes because the marking folds allowed me to keep me from being confused of where the folds should be made and the location of the reverse folds.

From this origami snowflake I have learned that you can create many diverse versions of one model and that the arrows shown throughout every picture and marking folds should be taken with a lot of considerations in order to make it look like the correct design. Overall, the origami snowflakes was really fun to make, even with multiple mistakes, I was able to finish and create three different and unique snowflakes.

What's your opinion: Do you like to stick with the original directions or do you experiment to create different version of the original directions and why?




Kasahara, Kunihiko. Extreme Origami. New York: Sterling Pub., 2002. Print.

Modular Origami

Modular origami is an origami technique that requires two or more pieces of paper that builds into a single unit. It is something I have never done before, but have always wanted to try it out. It takes a lot of time and effort to create one module, but takes even more time and precision to put the entire piece together. The author says that origami is enjoying the creation and the exploration of new possibilities and inventions (Kasahara 60). This shows how origami is the practice of inventing new things, and how creativity can bring out different forms in them. Origami is very difficult, but always completes itself with the feeling of joy and accomplishment.

I spent most of my time trying to figure out the instructions, as they were very complicated with different types of arrows and lines. Once I understood the meanings, I was easily able to create my modules that came out pretty clean and identical to one another.

As I was creating the modules, it had stated, "Make sure to crease the valley fold through all the layers" (Kasahara 63). This meant that I should make sure the fold I had made was very indented, making it easy to keep its shape and had a line on the module. This advice had helped me immensely when I had to put the modules into one single piece. The folds had allowed me to easily fit each end into the pockets required, making the origami take its shape to look clean.

What's your opinion: Do you prefer single piece origami or modular origami and why?

Kasahara, Kunihiko. Extreme Origami. New York: Sterling Pub., 2002. Print.