Origami is one of the oldest and most popular Japanese art forms that is used all over the world. This consists of paper folding techniques used to create beautiful shapes. At the same time, this technique needs the support of an origami tutorial that is easy to understand.
This time we will define some origami symbols, lines and arrows that are commonly used in origami books and diagrams. Many artists who use this technique use creative ways to describe how a piece of paper should be folded to create volume.
So in this easy origami tutorial we will start by showing you how some basic symbols are used in origami and how we have applied these in our templates to guide you in putting together our paper toys. Origami or paper folding as some people call it is an amazing activity to relax and unwind your mind. You can do it anywhere, anytime!
Origami Symbols, Lines
In the language of origami, the lines generally represent cuts or folds, the folds can be mountain or valley type, in short, they rise or sink on paper.
The basics for understanding origami folding instructions are as follows: A solid black line is used to define the edges of a sheet of paper. A gray line indicates a fold line: this is where the paper has been folded and unfolded, marking a crease. A dashed line indicates the location of a valley fold, which sinks into the paper. While a dotted-dash line (Dash-dot-dot-dash) indicates the location of a mountain fold, which rises above the paper. Check the diagram below for a better understanding.
Origami Symbols: Arrows
An arrow with a filled (black) arrowhead is generally used to show directionality in a valley fold. Some origami artists use an “open” arrowhead (letter V instead of a triangle). This type of arrow can be used with a valley fold or a mountain fold. An arrow with a hollow half arrowhead (it is white or unfilled) is used to show directionality in mountain folds. A zig-zag arrow or double-headed arrow indicates “fold and unfold”.
Symbology applied to our templates, tutorial for easy origami
We know that these instructions can be very confusing, especially for people who are just starting out in the technique, which is why we have designed a way to communicate the assembly instructions of our templates that is as simple as possible.
For the example we will use the template of the Mr. Rabbit series. First of all when you face one of our templates from the right side (the part printed in full color). The folds are all mountain type, this means that they rise towards the observer (photo 2). Except for those that are marked with dotted and dashed lines on the back (photo 3), those lines that include the arrows that indicate the direction of the fold, are mountain folds but seen from the back of the template (the part that is not printed, photo 4), this means that on the printed side these marks indicate that the are valley folds.
Following these instructions, when you face the template from the right side, once you’ve folded it, you should have mountain and valley folds, like in the last photo. To finally guide you through the numbers to paste.
