Origami is the ancient art of paper folding to make intricate designs and models. People of all ages and demographics find joy in learning to make fun projects like origami flowers, animals, and much more. There are projects that offer a challenge to a wide range of skill levels, making origami one of those rare hobbies that can cater to young children and adults. If there is one drawback to origami, it's the difficulty in finding good, comprehensive instructions that are easy to follow.
Often times, origami books will give you a beginning section that outlines several preliminary folds that serve as the foundation of many models. This sounds like a great idea and is usually indeed a really helpful reference. The trouble is, publishers then usually skips these steps on the pages of the actually origami designs themselves. Rather than showing you how to make a "bird base" in the instructions of a model that requires one, they'll simply tell you to begin with that fold already done. You then have to flip back to the beginning of the book and find how to make this base before going back to the model's instructions and continuing. Since no one gets really fired up about learning preliminary folds first, this usually makes learning a new model tiresome until you become familiar with all those preliminary folds.
As with many things in life, learning origami is much more intuitive and enjoyable if you can watch someone do the folds and follow along. The usual issue with this is that you're watching a mirrored image of the folds, which can make learning the design confusing.
One of the best ways to learn origami, and keep it fun, is to merge the positive aspects of a live demonstration with the great vantage points that illustrations from books offer. This is accomplished through the use of first person videos. This way, you get the benefit of seeing the folds done with human hands but you also see them done as if you're the one holding the paper. You can then emulate exactly what you see and learn the folds without the frustrations that other mediums have.
Learning origami is like learning to play an instrument. If you start trying to solo to "Freebird" on your first day, you'll likely get frustrated, lose interest and stop playing. Origami is the same way. Start with basic designs and learn the preliminary folds. In no time you'll be making more complicated models and perhaps even conjuring your own designs.
About the Author
Eric Pratt has been practicing origami as a hobby for several years and runs a free website devoted to helping others learn. To watch free, first person, how-to origami videos visit his site here: Origami Folding Instructions.
Often times, origami books will give you a beginning section that outlines several preliminary folds that serve as the foundation of many models. This sounds like a great idea and is usually indeed a really helpful reference. The trouble is, publishers then usually skips these steps on the pages of the actually origami designs themselves. Rather than showing you how to make a "bird base" in the instructions of a model that requires one, they'll simply tell you to begin with that fold already done. You then have to flip back to the beginning of the book and find how to make this base before going back to the model's instructions and continuing. Since no one gets really fired up about learning preliminary folds first, this usually makes learning a new model tiresome until you become familiar with all those preliminary folds.
As with many things in life, learning origami is much more intuitive and enjoyable if you can watch someone do the folds and follow along. The usual issue with this is that you're watching a mirrored image of the folds, which can make learning the design confusing.
One of the best ways to learn origami, and keep it fun, is to merge the positive aspects of a live demonstration with the great vantage points that illustrations from books offer. This is accomplished through the use of first person videos. This way, you get the benefit of seeing the folds done with human hands but you also see them done as if you're the one holding the paper. You can then emulate exactly what you see and learn the folds without the frustrations that other mediums have.
Learning origami is like learning to play an instrument. If you start trying to solo to "Freebird" on your first day, you'll likely get frustrated, lose interest and stop playing. Origami is the same way. Start with basic designs and learn the preliminary folds. In no time you'll be making more complicated models and perhaps even conjuring your own designs.
About the Author
Eric Pratt has been practicing origami as a hobby for several years and runs a free website devoted to helping others learn. To watch free, first person, how-to origami videos visit his site here: Origami Folding Instructions.
1 comment:
I love origami-making from paper crafts.
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