The Ultimate Paper Crafts: Origami Crafts

Origami Crafts, wonders out of paper...

Origami are paper crafts...made out of, well, paper. Origami is the art of crafting and creating peculiar shapes out of paper.

It has a long tradition dating back to the 1st century China, which is believed to be the birthplace of Origami. The popularity of the art pulled it afar and in Japan, the craft became a huge success. Origami Crafts is very crucial to the Shinto religion and its rituals.

The word 'origami' itself is Japanese. "Ori" means folding and "gami" means paper.

Paper production was not very prolific in those days. So only the rich ones could afford the luxury of the paper folding art. With the passage of time, paper ceased to be exorbitant and ordinary people began enjoying this wonderful leisure pursuit.

However, the scarcity did well to the Japanese ultimately. They can make unbelievable configurations out of a tiny piece of paper to avoid wastage. The manuals of Origami Crafts were not published until late seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century. Till then the tradition of paper folding was strictly oral.

The reason was not merely illiteracy but also that the families had a sense of prestige around the art. So they kept it a secret and thus many incredible specimens were lost in the process. Cranes and frogs were very popular patterns in Origami paper crafts. They were wrapped up with the sentiment of the local people.

The cross culture effects of Origami Crafts
The Arabs took Origami Crafts with them to the North Africa and in 8th century the moors brought along the art to Spain. The irony is that they could not create figures because they were stanch Muslims. So they satisfied themselves with geometric shapes. In the twentieth century Akira Yoshizawa became famous for his creations in Origami Crafts. Japan remained the inspiration behind the art and its models like that of the crane have gained international acclamation. It has also become a symbol for peace movement in the post Second World War phase.

Origami Crafts and other schools
Geometry and Origami share a 'strange' relation together. It's 'strange' in the sense that you don't realize it very often that an origami creation is full of geometric patterns. If this interests you, unfold a specimen and look into the various triangles and undecipherable shapes. Another factor, which perhaps makes Origami more endearing, is its underscore of a personal philosophy. With no cuts or foreign bodies pasted onto it, an origami creation is absolutely a marvel. There are "good" and "bad" designs of Origami Crafts. A sturdy outline of the craftwork, finishing mold, lovely to the eye and economic usage of paper are some of the basic rules that make an origami outstanding.

There's a diagramming system proposed by Akira Yoshizawa, which helps in making the form of the craftwork. Samuel Randlett (US) and Robert Harbin (UK) are some other pioneers who have made some programming for Origami. These programming are like the computer programming and requires similar methodical imitation. Origami Crafts are mostly practiced without knowing that they have a long history to tell. Now, when you know the tale, you can pass it over your friends. Thank God, Origami is no longer a secret!

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