Origami Butterfly

Everyone knows that the art of paper-folding has been around for a long time; probably over a 1000 years. But, did you know that two of the oldest examples of recreational origami are butterflies called "Mecho" and "Ocho"? Mecho (female) and Ocho (male) are two paper butterflies that adorn sake wine bottles during Japanese wedding ceremonies. These ancient arts and traditions are all but lost: ocho and mecho may look like this or this, no one is exactly sure. Read more from Lister's List.

A butterfly attracts our attention because of its beautiful, showy wings. But how can you appreciate it if it flutters away? And if it landed on you, you will quickly discover that under those angelic wings - it is just a bug.

An origami butterfly:
      • beautiful,                     • will not fly away,
      • is not creepy crawly,     • won't die on you
in other words: it's perfect. If you can fold it, it's yours forever!

Diagrams

A Butterfly for Alice Gray (M LaFosse) Australian Butterfly (S Aoyagi) Boaz's Butterfly (B Shuval) Big Squash Butterfly (C Santee) Butterfly (H Birkeland) Butterfly (R Katz) Butterfly (A Yoshizawa) Butterfly (F Granadeiro) Butterfly (M Kirschenbaum) Butterfly (TP Kong) Butterfly (D Abbey) Butterfly (fabricorigami.com) Butterfly (the Art of Japan) Butterfly (R Donachie) Butterfly (origamicalendar.com) Butterfly (C Weber) Butterfly/Farfalla Pg 1, 2 (D Derudas) Butterfly Heart Card (J Shafer) Butterfly Origami (T Yee) Butterfly Ring (S Kase) Cabbage butterfly (origami-club) Flapping Butterfly (P Bailey) Flapping Butterfly (L Woodrow) Flapping Butterflies (d farrelly) Janneke's Vlinder (R Donachie) Mariposa/Butterfly (DF Naranjo V) Origami Butterfly (K Kasahara) Origami Butterfly (J Aston) Origami Butterfly (enchantedlearning.com) Pureland Butterfly (J Smith) Snout Butterfly (AF Barbour) Spotted Butterfly (A Guinta) Traditional Butterfly (D Petty) $Butterfly (M LaFosse) $Butterfly (S Hecht) $Butterfly (C Randall) $Butterfly (J Gilardi) $Butterfly Ring (C Edison) Butterfly $ Tips (Kathy) Ed's $Butterfly (E Halley) $Fluttering Butterfly (J Andrisan) $Fluttering Butterfly (R Neale) $Stand Up Butterfly (A Anselmo)

Books

Origami Butterflies by LaFosse, Alexander, Mudarri

See books with origami insects in:
USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France

See International Origami Butterfly Competition and Exhibition

These origami models are made available by the origami community at large. If you have a model that you would like to share, or if you see your model here and would like it removed, please Contact Us. Diagrams are intended for personal use. Copyright of the models lie with the origami creators and designers. Please contact the designer and/or creator directly for non-private usage of a model and/or artwork.