Welcome to House of Origami

Origami comes from the Japanese words ori, meaning "folding", and kami, meaning "paper". It is the art of paper folding, associated with Japanese culture. Modern origami discourages cuts, glue, or markings, focusing instead on precise folding techniques.

FEATURED LESSON

This wonderful piece is our featured lesson for this month.

Spear-tailed Dragon

This lesson is taught by no other than the head of the Murakami House of Origami. It contains 5 mini videos on how to complete each step of the process. The Murakami House has been using ancient techniques that have been handed down within the family since the Endo period.

Lessons:

1. Making the head and neck</li>
2. Forming the body
3. Making the wings (part 1)
4. Making the wings (part 2)
5. Shaping the tail

This lesson contains bonus links to suppliers for materials used in this tutorial.

The basic origami folds can be combined in various ways to create intricate designs. The best-known origami model is the Japanese paper crane. In general, these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be of different colors, prints, or patterns. Traditional Japanese origami, which has been practiced since the Edo period (1603–1867), has often been less strict about these conventions, sometimes cutting the paper or using nonsquare shapes to start with. The principles of origami are also used in stents, packaging, and other engineering applications.