ORIGAMI: The Base Figures

Fishbase, Birdbase, Extended Birdbase, Waterbomb Base, etc. You've probably heard them before and got yourself thinking what to do next. I did and it happens quite often. Origami folds are essential techniques to do with the craft but there is another thing important; the Base Figures. As the name says, these figures serves as bases to most origami particularly the traditional ones. These things are like the laid out foundations of a structure; prepared and ready to be designed at will. They are rather convenient and are widely used, because they cut you a lot of slack in understanding diagrams. In origami, there are bases that are used to make complicated bases. These kinds of bases are used to make complicated origami, but we'll save that for later. Now let's get started!

Preliminary/Square Base

(precreases & finished product)

Important things to remember:
1) You first do a valley fold the paper into half
2) Then you pre-fold the paper through the middle
3) Use the precrease to squash fold on both sides

Birdbase

Important things to remember:
1) First, make a preliminary base (1st & 2nd fig.)
2) Petal fold the top layer upwards (3rd to 9th fig.)
3) Repeat step 1 on the other side (10th onwards )

Waterbomb Base

Important things to remember:
1) Valley fold the paper into half 2 times (1st fig.)
2) Flip the paper & precrease both sides along the diagonals (2nd fig.)
3) Squash fold both sides (3rd onwards)

Fishbase

Important things to remember:
1) Valley fold the paper into half 2 times (1st fig.)
2) Open the paper & valley fold both sides towards a middle fold (2nd & 3rd fig.)
3) Execute Rabbit Ear Folds with the precreases on both sides (4th onwards)

ORIGAMI: The Basic Folds

I've been studying Origami even as a kid. But even I had those years in experience, I am no expert. Why? Well I can do the traditional crane or the jumping frog.. but I don't know the first thing about the basics. Up until today I've been able to follow the diagrams but I was doing it ignoring the technical mumbo-jumbo inscribed on every picture. You can learn like that too, but take it from me, nothing beats going through the basics.

Alright! Let's get started by learning the Basic Folds. Since Origami is the art of paper folding, you will need to learn how to fold. Yeah I know, that's pretty obvious.. but all the origami, from the simple to the most complex, have their foundations laid on these folds. You'll see when you get to finish one.

Valley Fold

Mountain Fold

Important things to remember:
1) When you valley fold, you fold towards yourself.
2) When you mountain fold, you fold away from yourself.
3) When the diagram tells you to valley fold, there is a regular broken line.
4) When the diagram tells you to mountain fold, there is an irregular broken line.

Petal Fold

Important things to remember:
1) When you petal fold, you lift a point and bring it upwards so that the two edges of the point lie together.
2) Pre-fold the both layers of the paper with a valley & a mountain fold (as illustrated) first before executing the petal fold.

Rabbit Ear Fold

Important things to remember:
1) Like the previous fold, you first prefold along the three valley folds (as illustrated).
2) Then fold the two sides down to the baseline (see arrows). Fold the top point to one side to make the mountain fold. (Take care that you fold the top point to the right side where the mountain fold is set.)

Squash Fold

Important things to remember:
1) Like the previous folds, you first prefold both sheets of paper along the valley and mountain fold (as illustrated).
2) Then open the model, fold one layer of paper along the valley fold and flatten the model using the mountain fold (see arrows).

Reverse Fold

(inside)

(outside)

Important things to remember:
1) Like the previous folds, pre-fold both sheets of paper (as illustrated).
2) Then open the model a little bit and bring the top point down so that the mountain fold edge becomes a valley fold edge.
3) With the outside reverse fold, it is similar to the inside reverse fold except the layers of the paper have to be wrapped around outside the point.

Crimp Fold

Important things to remember:
1) This fold serves as a way of incorporating two reverse folds to change the direction of a flap or point.
2) By pre-creasing both folds, it is easier to make two reverse folds one after the other (as illustrated).

Sink Fold

Important things to remember:
1) The figure should first be precreased (as illustrated).
2) Then carefully open the model and tuck the point inside. Flatten the model afterwards along existing creases.
3) The sink fold is a method of blunting a point that has no open edges.

Read Me

Welcome to my Paper Kingdom!

In here, what you see is what you get. You will see blogs about origami, artworks, designs, scaled models, and novels. As the title says, all you will see revolves on the use of paper to create art. "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" The same goes for art; it varies from person to person. Some of the stuff you'll see could be my colleague's or my own work as we learn & appreciate different things in life. Of course, it's not only for us, everyone can learn from this too. So it all starts here, hope you'll stay to see the next posts