How To Guide

The most common form of origami is the Fortune Teller and the Crane. Both are fun to create for yourself or to gift to friends and family.

The Fortune Teller

The Fortune Teller is a fun game to play with friends and family. You can write in silly fortunes and fun sayings!

"Only learn to seize good fortune, for good fortune is always here. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe" by katerha is licensed under CC BY 2.0

1. Take a square sheet of paper of your choice.
2. Fold it in half (so that it looks like a rectangle). Unfold.
3. Rotate 90 degrees.
4. Fold it in half (so that it looks like a rectangle). Unfold.
5. Bring all four corners to the center. Flip over.
6. Bring all four corners to the center.
7. Fold in half (so it looks like a rectangle) and unfold. Rotate 90 degrees.
8. Fold in half (so it looks like a rectangle) and unfold.
9. Fold along the two lines you just made. The corners should be together. It may look like an X from above.
10. Gently pull out the top layer on all four sides. Your Fortune Teller should now look like the one above.
11. Enjoy your new Fortune Teller!

The Crane

The Crane is one of my personal favorites (it is also probably the one I've made the most.) because it is one of the first origami modles I've made. A Japanese legend says that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you could have a wish, or be recovered from illness or injury.

"A zillion origami cranes for peace" by Lisa Norwood is licensed under CC BY 2.0

"Origami Crane Diagram" by Tavin Origami is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

1. Take a square piece of paper. place it so that it looks like a diamond. Fold it in half (it should look like a triangle)
2. Fold it in half again.
3. Fold it in half one more time.
4. Unfold all folds.
5. Turn it so it looks like a diamond.
6. Fold the right corner to the bottom corner. It should only cover half (right side) the bottom.
7. Repeat step 6 on left side.
8. Fold top down. Your crane should now look like picture 4 on the image above.
9. Fold top layer on each side towards the middle (as shown in the 5th picture) unfold. Fold and unfold top to where those lines are.
10. Take the top layer of the bottom corner and fold up. Fold sides towards center. (image 9)
11. Flip over. Repeat steps 9 through 10. Your model should now look like image 11.
12. Fold top layer of sides (bottom half) towards the center. (image 12 and 13) Flip over and repeat on other side.
13. Now it should look like image 18. Open sides. Fold bottom up. Repeat on other side.
14. So far it should look like image 22. Fold wings down so that now it looks like image 23.
15. Decide which side will be the tail, and which will be the head. Open the side you want as the head and bring the top corner down as far as you like. Inside revers fold and... Viola! An origami Crane!

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