Origami Paper Magic
Origami comes from the Japanese word "ori" which means "folding" and "kami" which means paper. This craft started in the 17th century AD and gained its popularity in the mid-1900s. The main goal of origami is to make sculpture by folding and sculpting a flat sheet of paper. It is prohibited to use scissors and glue for origami.Basically, an origami starts with small paper folds but these folds can be executed in a very intricate and unique manner so that we could come up with very elaborate designs. Japanese normally uses a square sheet of paper whose sides could have patterned designs or different colors and prints. The famous model for origami is the Japanese crane.
However, the practice of paper folding has already evolved through time and ever since the Edo era (1603-1867). They are now allowing some small cuts in the paper and to have a nonsquare base to start with your art.
Paper Used
But in professional origami, some Japanese prefer certain kinds of paper to be folded so that your origami would appear beautiful and very elegant-looking. They would normally prefer a paper that is laminated and that it should hold a crease.
The Japanese obsession to origami has led them to develop their very own origami paper which is alo referred to as "kami" or the Japanese term for paper. It is often sold in already pre-packaged squares that could have sizes ranging from 2.5 cm to 25 cm. These origami paper are normally colored on one side and white on another. But this two toned and patterned versions of origami paper is ideal for use of color-changed models. The typical kami is lighter than the typical copy paper making it apt for a wide range of sculptures.
The art of paper folding requires the right weight of the paper. It should not be way too light that by folding a particular part of the paper may cause extensive damage to it. Nor it should be too heavy that creating creases and other specialty folds would no longer be possible. Also, it adds that relatively hard paper can become even more sturdy once the sculpture is all done. This is not so good for an origami masterpiece.