Yesterday morning, I found this wonderful post on
At the end of the post was an invitation to share origami
ideas, so this post is in response to that. While the kids
were suitably occupied this afternoon, I sat in the sunshine
on our deck and folded away. The result: two posts full
of an excessive number of photos taken in glaring
sunshine - my apologies. To make peace, at the end of
Part 2, I promise you a link to a site that will take your
breath away, not the least because the
photos there will not be blinding.
Something very simple first:
1 Paper Cup
Which, if made very large (like with newspaper) and turned upside down, also is a soldier's hat.
Start with a square and fold once
in half to form a triangle.
Fold one corner across to meet the other side of
the triangle. Ensure the top edge of this fold is
horizontal - it will form the rim of the cup.
Repeat with the other corner of the triangle.
Separate the layers of the top corner of the
triangle and fold one layer down.
It might hold water if you use wax paper but it won't
stand by itself. These little cups are useful when
sharing out snacks from a larger container (like popcorn
bought at a fair), provided my kids are willing to hold
them throughout the eating process and not set them down.
2 Classic sailing boat
Does this bring back memories from your childhood? I have children's story books (like Enid Blytons) whose illustrations feature this very same boat!
Start with a square and fold once to form a rectangle
and over a second time to form a smaller square,
with the four corners of the original big square in a stack.
Separate one of these corners and fold it down to meet
the opposite bottom corner. Take the other three corners
-in-a-stack and similarly fold them down towards
the back of the structure.
Turn upside down and stick your fingers
(thumb, for my picture) in the pocket
and pull it apart in the opposite direction to the
seams to form a new square (note how the seams
now have become the middle diagonal of the square)
Separate the two halves of the square, beginning
at the top corner and open up
Pull sides outwards and downwards and pop open
the middle pointy sail part from the bottom for stability.
3 Boat with Sun Shades
A spin-off from Filth Wizardry's paper boat - we made both versions as children, too. This one was popular because it is sweltering in Singapore - we have 95 -98% humidity all year round, so sunshades on anything was hip.
Start with a rectangular piece of paper and fold the
short sides in about a quarter to a fifth way in. The
exact ratio is not important, but don't have
the folds meet in the middle.
Turn over and fold the sides to meet at the midline.
From this point, the process is exactly like that for
the boat at Filth Wizardry, which you should head to
anyway because her photos are much better than
these here. But I'll give my own pedestrian
running commentary anyway.
So working with the lower half of the structure,
fold the corners up to meet the midline.
Then fold the folded corners up to
meet the midline one more time.
Then fold the pointy middle part up to meet the midline.
Repeat for the upper half of the structure.
Open up carefully from the midline, turn boat
inside out and pop up the sun shades.
4 Box
Start with a rectangle. I used regular 8.5" x 11" paper.
Fold in half
and half again.
Separate the first layer and open out,
so the top forms a triangle as shown.
Turn over and repeat to form a triangle
on the back side as well.
Turn over one layer (like a page of a book).
Fold in the sides of the triangle to meet the mid-line.
Turn over and repeat for the back side.
Fold up the inner corners as shown.
Separate the bottom layers and fold one layer up.
Behind this rectangular are the little folded corners,
which you can tuck into the upper triangles to secure
the rectangular flap.
Turn structure over and repeat for the other side.
Pull open the box and fill with stuff. Or make a second box
of the same size and fit them together for a base and lid.
Part 2 continues here.
Hi
ReplyDeleteIn our neck of the woods I have been using mini yogurt containers for boats, but your origami boats are so sweet and would be perfect. With your easy instuctions I should be able to whip some up and I know my little girl will love decorating them.
That T-shirt from Threadless made me laugh.
I remember my primary school days when we all made those fortune tellers. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Your Uncle Ronald is an amazing artist. All of his origami is mind boggling and that King Cobra did blow me away. What a skill to be able to make that from one piece of paper. I hope he has passed his knowledge, skills and expertise onto other family members. I also thought the dinosaurs were brilliant.
Earlier this evening I did a blog post on the cardboard cake template I downloaded from your blog. Once again, thank you for sharing this resource. We had so much fun with it and are grateful for being able to use it.
Elise.