Origami foundations: the bases every model is built on

Nearly every traditional origami model starts from one of a handful of bases. Learn them and diagrams stop looking like hieroglyphics.

Paper

Start with 15cm kami, thin and crisp. Printer paper cut square works for practice. Fold on a hard table with clean hands; every crease should be made once, firmly, with a fingernail.

The folds

• Valley fold: the paper folds towards you, making a V.
• Mountain fold: away from you, making a ridge.
• Squash, petal, reverse folds: you'll meet these inside the bases below.

The four bases

1. Kite base: fold diagonally, then fold two edges to the centre line. Fish, simple birds, swans.
2. Waterbomb base: crease both diagonals, then fold in half and collapse into a triangle. Balloons, lilies, the classic frog.
3. Preliminary (square) base: the same creases but collapsed the other way, into a small square. The start of the crane.
4. Bird base: from the preliminary base, petal-fold front and back. The crane, flapping bird and dozens of others.

Reading diagrams

Dashed lines are valley folds, dash-dot lines are mountain folds. An arrow with a loop means turn over. Look at the next step to see what the current one should produce.

First models to try

The crane, a jumping frog, a simple box (masu), and a modular sonobe cube from six units.

Fold a crane a day for a week and watch them get sharper. Post day one and day seven side by side.

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