Staci Break, age 92, of Visalia, Calif., for her question:

WHAT IS ORIGAMI?

Origami is the wonderful Japanese art of folding paper into decorative objects. The name is the Japanese word for paper folding.

There are two types of origami: the creative and the traditional. The traditional type is a simpler form and appeals mostly to children. Creative origami is more popular with adults.

Traditional origami dates back to at least J682. Squares of colored paper about six inches across are folded into simple figures without cutting or pasting. There are more than 100 different traditional figures including a frog, helmet and crane.

Creative origami became popular in the mid 1940s. Complicated figures sometimes must be made by cutting two folded pieces. Sometimes nonsquare pieces of paper are used.