As a girl in Shanghai, China, Nancy Bjorge kept her fingers busy folding tiny paper boats. The shapes signified ingots, she says, and her grandmother pressed her to produce them by the hundreds.

SNOHOMISH — A tantrum in a toy store was Kim Crane’s introduction to the gentle art of Japanese paper folding. When her mother refused to buy her an origami kit, 6-year-old Kim began tearing up the ...

1. Take a rectangular origami paper and fold it in half. 2. Then fold it partially, to make a crease on top. 3. Fold the two upper corners to form a triangle. 4. Now fold both the bottom layers of the ...