One of the oldest art forms in existence is origami, which was created by the Japanese over a thousand years ago. This centuries-old art form is a craft created by paper folding, although this art form is much more complex that it would seem.
The interesting part about origami is that rips, tears, and glue are not commonly used in the making of the shapes and objects that result from an origami session. Instead, only folds and creases may be used in order to create complex animals or objects out of a simple piece of paper. This is best seen as the crane, which is a particularly popular form of origami that most should be familiar with.
Essentially there are two types of art when concerning origami. There is the less skilled origami practiced among newcomers and younger children, and then the more complicated and intricate shapes that are made by true artists and professionals.
It is common among today’s society for children to at least have some sort of experience with origami. Although the more complex forms of origami are too advanced for children, the simpler types are great for keeping children entertained. The origami ball, for instance, is one of the easiest pieces of origami to create, making it a good choice for children to practice on making.
It is very easy for a beginner to learn how to make an origami ball, and this is why it is probably a good first origami experience. After one has learned the basic origami pieces, he / she can move on to make more difficult origami. The origami swan is a medium difficulty origami piece that is a good project for more experience origami makers or anyone who is up for a little bit of a challenge.
Origami is a fun occasional experience for most people, but a small group of artists have really taken origami to the next level. Origami was previously created by just guessing how to make folds and getting lucky when an interesting shape was created. However, in our post scientific revolution world, mathematics is now being used to design origami pieces.
Final Thoughts
Using mathematics, origami pieces can be planned out before even starting to fold the origami paper. The new age technical origami, aka. origami sekkei, has truly turned into its own art form. Crease patterns, or CP, are used to make truly amazing pieces of origami artwork. While an origami swan will have much less than a hundred folds, a technical origami piece will usually have upwards of 1,000 folds!
