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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 goal of origami, both today and a thousand years ago, is to use geometric folds to create some sort of shape or figure out of a piece of paper. It is also crucial that all this is done without cutting or gluing paper together. An example of a traditional Japanese origami piece is the origami crane. Today, the origami crane is still probably one of the most popular and well known origami pieces.

There are two basic uses of origami- for fun and craft in younger children and for the curious, and for those who want to make a truly remarkable piece of art that can withstand the tests of time.

Many people enjoy origami as a fun craft. For this reason, pretty much everyone has tried making origami or has at least seen it. Beginner’s origami pieces are usually things like the origami flower, origami stars, and origami balls and boxes. Probably, one of the best beginner’s origami pieces to learn how to make is the origami ball. At the bottom of this article you will find some sites with origami guides, such as for the origami ball.

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.

Closing Comments

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!