Origami, the art of paper folding, is an ancient art created in China but made popular in Japan of the 6th century. Back then, only the rich and powerful could afford to practice this art because making paper was time consuming and expensive and the average person could not afford it. Now, with paper being something that is easily and inexpensively produced, anyone can take to paper folding.

When it comes to the paper used to make origami, whatever you can get your hands on will work. Whether it be regular printer paper, a dollar bill or ever the wrapper from gum, if you can fold it, you can make origami out of it. There are plenty of sites, which list different things you can make from almost any piece of paper.

One incredible piece of origami is the Origami Man. This is a 2 and a half foot tall man folded from one massive 4 foot by 6 foot piece of paper. The size of this paper, as well as the complex shape took the artist over a month to design and fold. There are even individual fingers on each hand.

In science there are things called geodesic domes, which are, spherical shells made up a large number of circles or repeated patterns on the dome. Many people have made Origami versions of these domes and some are even large enough that a person, or two, can stand inside them. Some of these are not made from one sheet of paper; rather, they are made from many, even hundreds, of sheets.

Now, when most people think about origami, you think of cranes, birds, flowers and things of this nature. You can make anything out of Origami from domes, to dinosaurs, to planes to people and even while armies at a time. The options are only limited by your imagination, patience and skill and for this reason origami is a great way to learn to think outside the box.

When choosing the type of paper you want to use you have to take into account how intricate your piece will be because the more folds you make, the smaller the piece may become. You also don’t want a paper that can be easily torn because origami is about folding and definitely not about cutting.

The thickness of the paper will have an effect on the folds and how tight they can be so you want to choose paper that is thick enough to support itself while being thin enough for ease of folding. If you were making something you wanted to last a long time, a heavier paper would be best because it will last the longest.

No matter what size, color or thickness you use, any paper is fine for origami as long as you don’t cut it. The art of paper folding is a time-honored art that takes quite a bit of time to learn and with the right paper; you can make anything you can imagine.

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