how did you start origami?

[origamifreak_1.6180339889]

there has been alot of topics about what you have folded recently, what are peoples reactions to your origami, but i pose this question to you. how did you get into origami? for me, i started when i was 4. my neighbor had a short booklet on origami that contained traditional figures like the crane and waterbomb and she gave it to me for my birthday. ive been folding and advancing ever since
_________________
http://www.flickr.com/photos/origamifreak64/

-nick

[M Deutsch]

In Grade 7 or 8 there was a unit on Japan in my school. We all got topics to present on, I got bonsai. Someone else got origami. I saw theirs and thought it was awesome. Started folding. Took a break and then I started folding a lot more.
_________________
- Matthew

[nonkelgans]

I think my introduction to Origami is the strangest of all here. I first got in contact with Origami trough a Comic Book called The Sandman Mystery Theatre, this dealt with a man who fought crime while wearing a gasmask (and this is where I became fascinated with gasmasks too, Now about 300 different models in the collection ). Also central in the story is a police detective (called Burke) who utterly hates the guts of the Sandman because he considers the Sandman to be a vigilante. When the Sandman got the bad guy(s) he folds a piece of origami that resembles the bad guy(s) in a way (like there is an episode called "The Scorpion" and then he left a folded Scorpion on the scene ) and leaves it for Burke to find as a kind of calling card. Before this I had never heard of Origami but a trip to the library soon all changed that. I never stopped folding after that. The Sandman Mystery Theatre ran for 70 issues, got them all 70 but it was tough to get them all, especially the last one was a nightmare to get hold of.

[plastgeek]

A long time ago, there was a show called Jackie Chan Adventures. I miss the show. Anyways, in the first season, one of the episodes is about a criminal called Origami, who could turn into origami figures! (primarily an origami man, a flying thing, and he could turn his hads into various objects) I was fascinated by the different things he could do with paper. Then, when I was at Barnes&Nobles, I saw Lang's Origami in Action on display, and had my mom buy it for me (I was in first grade at the time), and I was hooked ever since

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

When I was 9 years old i saw a short film on a children's television network about an asian boy who moved to a predominantly white neighborhood. He was mostly shunned, until one day during class he made an origami jumping frog. The kids all got really excited. At the end of the film, the boy moves away, but as he is getting in the car, he hands one of the little boys an origami camera which pops open when the shutter is pressed to reveal a photo of the little asian boy. I just loved this film, so when I saw one of those beginner books for offer in a book order I just had to have it. I think it was by Florence Temko... (I'm not sure if this is done internationally, but essentially in elementary school, children are given small catalogs of books, they take them home,and then the parents can film them out and the kids get the books delivered some weeks later to the classrooms...I imagine this was done to increase literacy back before the abundance of bookstores)
_________________
My Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51033679@N07/

[Ragnorax]

[orion119net]

When I was 4 or 5 my grandpa showed me how to make the flapping bird. After I got that down I started messing with the bird base and later started poking around on the internet and getting books from the library. Been a folder ever since.

[insaneorigami]

8 years old, sister showed me a flapping crane, and I was hooked. I got Jeremy Shafer's Origami to Astonish and Amuse, and loved it. Once I could fold everything from my Montroll books, I got some Lang books, and folded the easier models. Since then, I have come a looonnngg way... Ryu Jin 3.5 now!
_________________
My Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slipknotorigami/

[fold-it-all]

When my sister gave me a fortune teller, she wouldnt tell me how, so I unfolded it. When I had it unfolded, I reversed what i had remembered and folded it again memorizing those steps. The following christmas my grandma got me "origami paperfolding fun" by Eric Kenneway. I lost interest for 3 years and in middle school I started again when I learned the throwing stars the same way I had learned the fortune teller. Ever since middle school, I have been folding passionately and patiently.
_________________
Laugh alone, and the world thinks you're an idiot.

[Gerardo]

I remember my parents and cousins teaching me a couple of airplanes, the boat, a boat based puppet since I was three I guess. Then, at some point like when maybe six, I thought paper airplanes where so fun that I started inventing my own; I've forgetten most of them now. But I also remember, about the same time, my brother bringing an old looking fat origami pocket book from the school library; also with the classics like in origamifreak...'s case. I fell in love with it more than what my brother did, although probably not as much as you .

[origamifreak_1.6180339889]

there are some very interesting beginnings here. especially nonkelgans. and my second origami book also came through a school book order, just like frumious. and ironically, my first advanced origami book was origami in action.
_________________
http://www.flickr.com/photos/origamifreak64/

-nick

[plastgeek]

It seems that Origami in Action was alot of people's starting points. Who would've guessed. Oddly enough, even though it's my first, it's one of the only ones I have not completed; the later models get too thick for my tastes

[origamifreak_1.6180339889]

wow, apparently my first origami was when i was 2. as my grandma informed. apparently she taught me the crane.
_________________
http://www.flickr.com/photos/origamifreak64/

-nick

[Origamiboy97]

I started about four years ago, when I was eight. I was at a daycamp and one of the people working that day had some shiny paper (now I know that it was foil paper) so I went over to see what they were doing. I was taught how to make a bird (similar to a crane, but not exact). Other than that model and the waterbomb, I have taught myself how to fold out of books. My first origami book was The Joy of Origami by Margaret van Sicklen.[/u]
_________________
youtube.com/user/origamiboy97

[mitanei]

I first came into contact with origami, when my cousin visited my family.
It must have been when i was about 12 years old. He showed me an 8 module-based origami ring that you could push together to a star, basically it was a iris.
I became fascinated by it and started folding it, after he explained it to me. I got a origami book for beginners from my aunt sometime later, where i learned the basics from. Since then i experimented mostly with origami stars and boxes and even tried to create my own dinosaurs from simple bases (and with a little help from scissors ). The first professional origami book that i got was "Origami from Anglefish to Zen" from Peter Engel.