Origami Butterfly

“Origami lets the mind be free and calms a person down. It is a good way to explain something without using words”. Origami, or the art of paper folding, is an ancient Japanese art that has developed into a modern art form because of the ease and creativity with which paper can be folded into patterns without the use of scissors or glue. Did you know that the oldest origami butterflies, ‘Mecho’ and ‘Pecho’, can still be found on sake bottles at weddings? Butterflies are the prettiest and most varied kind of creatures that one can play around with, and the best part is that origami butterflies don’t fly away! They look good when stitched onto purses, on table tops, pinned to dresses or hats, stuck on greeting cards, or even the walls of your house etc. It can also serve as a way to entertain and keep your kids busy during those long summer vacations. All you need is a piece of paper, either colored or plain, and your hands to work with. You can always start with plain printer paper and later move onto handmade or coloured paper. Here is the right method to make your own origami butterfly.

Instructions On Making An Origami Butterfly
There are a few easy steps that you need to follow to fold paper into butterflies. These steps serve both beginners and advanced practitioners of origami.

• Take a 4 x 6 cm sized piece of paper, either colored, plain, or printed on both sides. This will produce a butterfly about 3 x 4 cm in size, but you can make it according to the size that you like just by using bigger or smaller paper.
• Use origami paper or any light weight paper as it is easy to fold these papers.
• Hold the piece of paper firmly with one side facing upwards.
• Fold the top half to meet the bottom and crease the paper with your nails. These are the long sides on the top and bottom
• Open the fold and do the same by rotating the paper to face the other side. This time the short sides are the top and bottom.
• Fold the paper from the top to the bottom and crease the paper. It might look complicated at this point with a lot of creases, but it is already half done by now.
• Now, hold the left side of the paper with your hand and bring the right side of the paper up to the vertical crease in the centre.
• Open the edges so you can look into the centre and squash fold it. This means that you need to push the top fold towards you; where your right index finger should be when you hold the paper.
• You should now see a triangle. Again, crease the edges tightly.
• Flip the paper over and lift the right side to the centre and squash fold it again. Another triangle is formed.
• Keep creasing the edges and soon there will be a triangle formed on both sides.
• Turn the triangle, so that the peak faces you (the triangle is at the bottom of the paper now).
• There will be a small rectangle now at the top. Fold the inner top corners of this on the left and right and crease them.
• This is a slightly difficult part. You need to open the layers on the top of the paper and push the edges into the same creases as you made earlier. This is called a reverse crease.
• This has to be done on either sides of the paper – left and right. Do not flip the paper over while doing this!
• What you have just made will look like the wings. Now you have to fold the wings in from the top. This has to be done on either sides of the paper since butterflies have two wings.