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So these are the instructions for making an origami flapping crane.
For the origami flapping crane, we're going to start with a sheet of paper with the color
side up. We're going to begin with a diagonal fold. So the diagonal fold, we're going to
take the bottom corner. We're going to fold it all the way up to the top, and make sure
that it lines up so that the points are right on each other instead of having one a little
bit off to the side either way. Just make sure it's nice and exact, and hold it down
with one finger, and then slide down to the bottom so that it's nice and flat. Hold it
in place with your thumb, and then slide out to one corner, and then slide out to the other
corner. And that should give you nice, sharp corners for a diagonal fold. Open it up, and
then we're going to do one more diagonal fold in the opposite direction, like that.
Next, flip the paper over. We're going to take the bottom edge, and we're going to fold
it up to the top edge. This is called a book fold. So with this book fold, again, we want
to be as precise as we can before we make a nice crease. Open it back up, and then we're
going to do the other book fold as well. And after we get that last book fold, go ahead
and pick up the model. Leave that book fold there. We're going to pinch right on the top
point next to these diagonal lines right here. We're going to hold it, pinch it right there,
and then we're going to rotate the model up so that all four corners touch each other
at the same spot.
And once that happens, go ahead and flatten the model down. This is called a square base,
or a preliminary base, in origami. We haven't made any new folds on that at all. We've just
reorganized the ones we've already made. So go ahead and flatten that down, and find the
spot that's got the extra flaps, like this. There's one spot that's going to be locked
in, and that's the top of the model. We want to look at where the bottom is with the open
flaps and have that towards you.
Then we're going to make two kite folds. We're going to take this edge right here and this
edge right here, and we're going to fold both of those into the middle of the paper, right
up against that middle line, on the left side, also the right side. It should terminate right
down to a nice point right here at the bottom. Right there. And fold the top point all the
way down over the top of them, just like that.
We're going to rotate. We're going to turn the entire model over. And now we're going
to fold these two kite folds into the middle here, as well. So again, both of these going
into the middle line but not overlapping like that.
Now, all those folds that we just made, those are preliminary folds so that we can do what's
called a petal fold. So unfold these two flaps, and what we're doing is we're going to try
and isolate this one flap of paper, just the one sheet right here, and I'm going to use
my other finger to sort of lock the other two down on the table, on the flat surface.
And we're going to pick up this flap all the way up to the top. And as you watch when I
do that, these two outside edges naturally want to move in, which is good, because we've
already made this crease right here, so we have a crease for them to just fall naturally
into.
And when this happens, we can flatten the whole model while stretching this top flap
all the way up so it lies flat on the table. This is again called a petal fold, and it
starts down here like this, and we pick the whole thing up and then flatten the model
down. And we're going to do this petal fold also on the back, so flip it over. Pick up
that triangle. Open up these two flaps, and fold the flap back down. And then pick up
just one sheet of paper, and pick it all the way up to the top, again, stretching it all
the way up until the other two sides want to come in and flatten down. And this is called
the bird base that we've got right here. It's got these two open spots. This is going to
be our head and our tail for the crane.
So this right here is the bird base. What we're going to do is, now I'm going to fold
one flap from the right hand side all the way over to the left hand side. Just like
that. You'll see now this triangle shows up here in the middle. After we do that, we flip
the whole thing over and then do it one more time. So we take one flap from the right.
We fold it all the way over to the left, and that's going to give us these two flaps here
at the top, and then two flaps on either side on the bottom.
Next step, I'm going to pinch right here on the model, so that I can isolate this flap.
And see how I can get that to move back and forth a little bit, and it rotates all the
way across? I'm going to pinch this, and I'm going to rotate it over just so that it lines
up along this line. So it'll line up right here with the bottom of the wing. So I go
ahead and pinch on this side now. I'm going to do the same thing over here. I'm going
to rotate this over, and when I get it right where I want it to be, I'm going to flatten
it down. So I had it up here at the top, and then I've rotated it down and squished it
flat.
Next, I'm going to pick up both of the wings. So I pick one up on the front side, and then
flip it over and pick one up on the back side, like that. Next, I'm going to pick one side
to be the head and one side to be the tail.
On this model, I think I want to use this side as the head, so what I'm going to do
is I'm going to take my thumb, I'm going to open it up. There's two flaps in there. I'm
going to open it up, and I'm going to push down until it goes all the way through to
the bottom and reverses the fold. That's called an inside reverse crease. So I'm going to
push it down. It comes all the way down, just like that. So that's the entire base for the
flapping crane.
Next, we're going to curl the wings, and the really important part is when we take the
wing, we want to curl it towards the head. So don't curl it just straight down. Try to
curl it over to the side towards the wing. So I just pinch the wing right here, and I
twist it over towards the head, and I sort of pull it over towards the head. Don't go
farther than this point right here, or else you might rip it a little bit. But it'll have
just a nice little light gentle curve towards the head, and I want to do that on the front
and also on the back. So both of these wings will have a curl towards the head. And if
you look at it from the head on, you can see how it's go the wings just a little lightly
curled towards the head.
After that, I'm going to pinch right here where at the base of the head and the neck,
and it's going to have a little bit of a wing pinched right there. I'm going to grab the
tail. Now, in order to make this work, you might have to pull a little bit harder than
you think you want to, and it might feel like you will rip the paper, but if you do it really
carefully, you shouldn't rip the paper.
So in order to make the crane flap, what we're going to do is, we're going to pinch right
at the base of the head where the wings are curved towards, and then we're going to grab
the tail, and I'm going to pull the tail out of it's socket this direction. It's not just
going to rotate up and down. We're actually going to pull it out of it's socket. And you
may feel like you might rip the paper, but do it as slow as you can and really careful
until it establishes itself, and then the paper will be fine.
Just go ahead and take this and pull it just a little bit, just like that, and see how
it popped out? And then after, make some tiny adjustments. And then after that, you can
pull it up as much as you want, and you have a flapping crane.