Origami Starter Kit

It is thin (folds without cracking), holds a crease sharply, and is colored one side (the classic kami) so the model's two-tone structure shows. Regular printer paper is too thick and white; construction paper is too fibrous. Origami paper (kami) is the medium — cheap, and the right tool for the craft.

The purist rule — a model folded from a single square, no cuts and no adhesive, is "pure" origami. Many traditional models follow it. Some complex models use cuts or multiple sheets (modular origami); the pure single-sheet is the discipline. Start with the pure traditionals (crane, frog, waterbomb) to learn the foundation folds.

The valley and mountain fold (the two basic creases), the squash fold, the petal fold, the sink — a vocabulary of moves that combine into every model. Learn the foundations from a book and the complex models decompose into them. Origami is a language; the folds are the grammar; the models are the sentences.

A smooth, hard tool (bone or Teflon) that presses a crease razor-sharp — a crisp crease is the difference between a clean model and a soft, sloppy one. A fingernail works but the bone folder is faster and crisper, especially on thicker paper or the wet-fold technique. It is the one tool of origami besides the paper.