Introduction: Shrimp Oragami

This Instructable will show you how to make a shrimp out of paper! You will learn how to tear like a pro, what the differnce between mouantin and valley folds are and the basics fo oragami.

What is Origami

'Origami is the Japanese word for paper folding. ORI means to fold and KAMI means paper. Together, they form the word, "origami." It is an art form that has been handed down from parent to child through many generations. Origami involves the creation of paper forms usually entirely by folding. Animals, birds, fish, geometric shapes, puppets, toys and masks are among the models that [Everyone can make]' 

http://www.origamiwithrachelkatz.com/origami/origami.asp

Step 1: What You Will Need

For this introduction to oragami you will need the following: A peice of A4 paper (or a peice of square oragami paper) and a pair of scissors to cut.

Step 2: How to Tear Like a Pro

This step is for those who have a4 paper. To tear like a pro you will need to fold a right angle triangle out of the a4 paper so that it lines up with one edge. Theb fold the rectangle upwards and crease it with your nails, do this in both directions to make it easier to tear. Then un fold everything and tear it with a hand on both sides of the fold an pull both hands away from each other. DONE.

Step 3: Lets Start Folding

Lay the diamond in front of you and start by folding the 2 edges into the center line as shown in the picture. Then do it again to form a isosceles triangle with a  bit hanging off at the end (the hanging off part should in fact look like a right angled triangle).
After you have finished that you can fold both of the corners on the side (which are helpfully labeled on the image) to the center crease to form another right angle triangle on the top. Now grab the small tip and make a mountain fold, a mountain fold is if a fold goes on top, it is a bit hard to explain so take a look at the last picture which shows a mountain fold. A valley fold is the exact opposite of a mountain fold, in the valley fold the triangle comes from below not above.  Now you have the basic shape of the shrimp. 

Step 4: More Folding

Now that you have the basic shape of the shrimp you can make it into the actual shrimp. We will now need to use our scissors and cut along the lines as shown in the second image below. Once finished cutting your shrimp should look like the second picture. After you have completed this put the two 'antennas' through the top whole and it should start to take its shape.

Step 5: Final Folds

We are now up to the final folds and we will have to do lots of them. 
Make about 8 mountain folds and leave some space for the tail. After you have completed that task you may fold the shrimp in half as shown in picture 2. Now comes the fun part, slowly pull out every mountain fold that it is still folded but that it curls up like an actual shrimp. Then you may add color if you want to but otherwise you are done.

Please remember to check out my other Instructables, subscribe and favorite if you liked this one.
There will be a number of origami Instructables coming up in the next few weeks.

Special Thanks to:
Matthew (Kiddo) Jones

Michael Schmid