The Best Way to Learn Origami by Eric Pratt

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.

Card model

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Card models, also sometimes called paper models, are models of real-world objects made usually of heavy paper or card stock as a hobby, or sometimes as a craft for children. They are generally more popular in Europe and Japan than in the United States.
Printed card models became common in magazines in the early part of the 20th century. The popularity of card modeling boomed during World War II, when paper was one of the few items whose use and production was not heavily regulated. Micromodels, designed and published in England from 1941 were very popular with 100 different models of architecture, ships, aircraft... But as plastic model kits became more commonly available, interest in paper decreased. The availability of numerous models on the Internet at little or no cost, which can then be downloaded and printed on inexpensive inkjet printers has caused its popularity to increase worldwide. Home printing also allows models to be scaled up or down easily (for example, in order to make two models from different authors, in different scales, match each other in size), although the paper weight must also be adjusted in the same ratio.
Kits can also be purchased inexpensively, and experienced hobbyists often scratchbuild, either by drawing their models by hand, or, increasingly, with software such as Adobe Illustrator. Software also exists to convert 3D computer models into two-dimensional printable models that can then be cut out and assembled. Because of this, there is no practical limit to the variety of models available. Automobiles, aircraft, spacecraft (both real and fictional), buildings, and animals are common.

Paper model of Mount Vernon
Sometimes the models can be punched out, but more frequently must be cut out with a hobby knife. Experienced hobbyists recommend cutting models out on a cutting mat and guiding the knife with a cork-backed ruler, scoring any edges to be folded with a blunt instrument such as the non-cutting edge of the hobby knife, and then gluing the pieces together with a thin coat of polyvinyl acetate glue ("white glue" "PVA") applied with a small paint brush. One of the features of this kind of modeling is that the models are usually pre-painted. When you have finished assembling the model, it is displayable, without the need for painting, although many people do customize their models with paint and added detailing.
To combat paper's tendency to warp, card modelers may seal the finished model. Reinforcing corners and long straight edges with pieces of wood is also common practice.