Behold, a folded creation!

Origami (pronounced or-i-GA-me) is the Japanese art of paper folding. Learn it and you'll be able to make all kinds of paper decorations - figures of birds that you can display on a shelf, hang on a mobile, or tuck into a birthday card, for example, as a small gift.

To start you off a long and satisfying learning journey, this 2torial takes you through two relatively easy projects that will result in one decorative item and one useful item. As an added benefit, you may gain some inner peace-- origami requires you to slow down and concentrate, and bestows patience and discipline to the sincere student.

Before you begin

You may want to buy special origami paper at craft stores. It can be printed with colorful designs, or solid in color. You can also cut your own squares, if you're very careful to measure and cut precisely. (Or if you're feeling reckless, don't measure at all! Just take a clean-edged, rectangular sheet of paper and fold one corner over to the opposite edge, and cut along the resulting square edge. See the diagram above for more details.) If you do choose to make your own, use something light, like wrapping paper or magazine pages. You'll find it easier to follow origami diagrams if your paper's front and back do not match.

Origami is a lovely art, but for some folks it's frustrating before it's rewarding. It's not always easy to visualize where your careful folds are leading you--so you may not see what you're making until you reach the last step. This mystery of the folds, however, only adds to the thrill of creation!

Begin a project by setting aside some time--you'll need some peace and quiet. Be prepared to make mistakes and perhaps start all over again. Having this attitude will reduce the frustration index considerably.

Project 1: Create a bird

A crane is probably the most famous of all origami figures. In Japanese culture, the crane is a powerful symbol and people may fold a thousand of these birds for someone they wish well. However, to fold a crane takes more than thirty steps--it's hardly the place to begin origami. The bird figure presented below takes far fewer steps, but it's still completely satisfying to make. When it's done, you'll have a powerfully abstracted form, distilled into a beak and a neck, wings and a tail.