Paper folding

[Karl]

i have no clue how to do oragami but i would love to, but i'm a little too lazy to go to the library and get a book on it

[Sasquatch]

I can fold paper in half nine times.

[Leeza]

I really did try folding that elephant, but had to give up after <i>fold like an airplane</i>. I find that the instructions for most of these projects are not very user friendly.

[Old Manus]

Remember that TV show about origami from the 70s

[Dr Unne]

I really did try folding that elephant, but had to give up after <i>fold like an airplane</i>. I find that the instructions for most of these projects are not very user friendly.

It would be better written "valley fold the angle bisector". Often it's better if you completely ignore the words and just look at the pictures.

You always have to look at two steps at a time. First look at what they tell you to do, then look at the next step for what it's supposed to look like once you're done.

Look at my attachments, maybe it will be more clear. You can never measure paper just by looking at it, but you need to get the folds exact. To do this all you ever have to go by is INTERSECTIONS. For example a fold crossing another fold, or a fold meeting the edge of the paper, or two edges meeting at a point.

For the first fold, there are a few things that are interesting. You have the red line (which divides the paper in half). You have the green dot (an edge meeting another edge, to form a point). You have the yellow dot (that's where the red line meets the edge of the paper). Together, the green and yellow dots also form a LINE, namely the purple line, and that line runs along the EDGE of the paper.

Looking at step two, the purple line is now lying on top of the red line. The green dot has moved; it's also on top of the red line. The yellow dot has not moved (not really).

Mechanically the way you get the fold we're after is to physically pick up the green dot, and move it so it touches the red line. You will notice that there are infinitely many places the green dot can touch the red line. You will also notice that the fold we're after goes through the yellow dot. There are infinitely many folds that go through the yellow dot.

It takes TWO points to form a line. There is only one fold that goes through the yellow dot, AND causes the green dot to touch the red line, both at the same time. You'll also notice that this fold places the purple line on top of the red line. That's another way you can line it up.