Science of Origami

In these days, origami has been not only used as toys for kids, but also applied to science.

And it seems many people accept the benefitial facts of origami to their brains after a study had proven: origami lessens the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease because it constantly uses the tip of fingers stimulate the sensors not to degrade. There are alot more studies proving the benefits of origami convince some of parents to teach origami to their children for the better brain development. Besides, the science fields have found various places to apply origami to their technology.

Science Daily reported the comments on origami use; "Science, technology, space, automotive, medicine -- all these different fields have benefited from origami," said Dr. Lang. He has written many books on how to make paper planes and animals and has found the best way to stow a car's airbag.

The invention of the air bags in the car is originated from the folds of paper insects. "An algorithm that origami artists had come up with for the design of insects was the right algorithm to give the creases for flattening an airbag," Dr. Lang said. "So that has now been adopted into airbag simulation code, and presumably automotive engineers are now using those codes to design airbags."

Also, astronomers use origami to compute the optimum configuration of space telescope lenses. "One key challenge facing all large space telescope designs is that they must be packed into fairly small payload compartments for launch into space," Hyde, a space scientist, said. "Origami can be very useful for an Eyeglass telescope by providing a compact way to fold it up for launch." And Lang has succeeded in folding 100-meter sheet of plastic into the rockets that are 3 to 5 meters in diameter using paper-folding method.

Moreover, origami is used in the study of mathematics explaining and applying to scientific theories.

People also use the techniques of origami to design games, puzzles, and magic tricks.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0910-science_of_origami.htm

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/origami_design_020220-1.html

Dancing Octopus - level 1

Dancing Octopus is the one of the simplest paperfoldings for kids. It involves simple cuts and paste as well. To start our journey to become a paperfolding master, dancing octopus will be a good practice for you and for your younger siblings and cousins.

1. Fold bottom edge up to top edge.

2. Place folded edge downward as shown.

3. Cut folded edge seven times vertically to mid-section for the octopus legs.

4. Bring the two edges together and tape two top layers from each ends to form a cylinder. Then draw an octopus face!!!

5. Slide two layers of octopus with your two fingers.

6. Your octopus will dance with legs moving.

Octopus should not be hard, but has to follow the steps correctly as shown. Cutting the wrong edge taping over outer and inner layers with one tape will fail you. So please be careful with those steps!^^

A Rectangle to a Square

Most of paper-folding art work use squared paper. But it is easier to find rectangular papers around us. Since paper-folding follows the symmetric rules often, it is better to have an exact square if necessary. Here is the direction how to make a square out of rectangle without using a ruler and a pencil.





1. Get ready with a rectangular piece of paper vertically as shown.





2. Fold top-right corner to left edge as shown. Make sure left edge lines up.

3. Cut out the leftover area that does not overlap as shown. Now you have a square!!

This method is usful in many ways, but you must start with an exact rectangular sheet of paper which has right-angled corners.

Paper Folding Experience

Introduced by my aunt, I started to fold paper with paper folding books. My first complishment was a crane with a help of my mom. I borrowed books from my aunt and learned new folds. For couple of my birthdays, my parents bought me the origami books for the gifts which I asked for. Paper folding has been my best friend for more than a decade.

With my interest and skills I used to make dolls, cases and etc as birthday gifts for my friends, and families. I also taught my friends how to make roses, birds and ornaments when they asked me for the instructions.


During the high school life, I could have From my high school, one of my school faculty suggested me to teach other students for an art credit. So I had Origami Class for two years sharing my skills and producing tissue case, dolls, Christmas ornaments, cases, and etc. Some were located in the school exhibitions for other people to get fascinated.



I also got a chance to work with kindergarteners and elementary students for volunteer. I felt great joy while my fellows enjoy making things.



Besides, I published a book called " Paper Toys for Beginners" as a high school capstone project in 2009 using a publishing website, Blurb. While organizing material for the book, I found how easy and close origami was to us!

How to make Paper

Since 105A.D. by Ts'ai Lun in China, the method of making paper had spread out to the world. By 751, Chinese prisoners introduced the methods to the West; Baghdad, Egypt, Damascus, and Morocco. Also, the papermaking skills were passed on to the East; Korea around the 4th century, then to Japan in 610.

Papyrus strips were used in Egypt, and wood pulp, cotton and textiles were used in East Asian countries. These days, most paper is made of wood pulp by machines. However, many people still continue their traditional methods of making paper by hands.

One of the oldest papermaking countries, Korea has developed its own way to make its traditional paper, called Hanji.

The Traditional Method of Making Paper

1. Koreans use mulberry pulp.

2. The branches of Mulberry are steamed and the outer layerof the bark is peeled to be dried in the sun.

3. This bark skin is socked in cold water for a day and is scraped with a knife to get rid of the black cuticle getting white bark.

4. The white bark is boiled in lye-ashes made from burnt bean stalks, buckwheat straw, pepper stalks, cotton stalks- for 6-7 hours.

5. The boiled fibers are washed to remove the lye and left in the sun.

6. The wet fibers are placed on a flat surface and beatten into a pulp.

7. Then the beatten pulp is mixed with clean water and Takpul, an annual grass used as a gluing agent.

8. The mixed fibers are strained through a bamboo screen, which is shaken back and forth to create a crisscross pattern of fibers for extraordinary resiliency.

9. The wet paper is lifted off the screen and laid onto a wooden plate. Stones are placed to press out the extra moisture.

10. Each sheet of paper is placed on the drying board and left to dry in the sun.

11. The dried sheets of paper are pounded until they lie flat and smooth.

Cho, Eunah. Cho Eun Art. http://www.choeunart.com/Page/2864/0-1/Hanji+(%ED%95%9C%EC%A7%80).aspx

Yum, Hyejung. Traditional Korean Papermaking: analytical examination of historic Korean papers and research into history, materials and techniques of traditional papermaking of Korea. 2003. http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/publications/koreanpapermaking.html

Earliest form of Paper Folding in Europe

The history of paper folding in European countries is very scanty compared to other branches of paper art. However, the earliest paper folding is 50 years younger than the Catherine of Cleves manuscript. Also the childhood mainstay of a simple folded paper boat is found in the late 15th century.





Cassell’s Book of Indoor Amusements, which was published in 1881, contains designs dating from 19th century to mordern time. However, because paper is cut, not many mordern paperfolders favor the recreations and crafts from the book.

With various folds following the diagram, a box can be created from a squared piece of paper, like in origami.

Cultural exchange between the East and the West hardly occured in early centuries, but amazingly enough, similar art branches had evolved from paper.

Serena da Riva, Donna. Paper Folding in 15th Century Europe. http://www.loggiaserena.com/Resume/Documentation/PaperFoldingDoc.pdf

History of Paper Folding

Papermaking is considered to be one of the four great inventions of Ancient China. The technique of papermaking was brought to Korea and Japan. Later on, these Northeast Asian countries developed different styles and traditions of paper folding.
Korea accepted paper not only for writing, but also for making windows, wallpaper, and furniture. Koreans lived with papers for more than a thousand years.
Japan produced quality paper and developed independent paper folding. The Japanese also published the first books on paper folding (Origami).

Today, paper folding is used in various occasions, People apply paper folding to design architectural models such as space stations and to make clothing. Studies
have found that paper folding helps brain development, creative ability, concentrating ability, and geometrical understanding making paper folding a favorite children activity for learning mathematic skills.