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How to fold an origami alligator snapping turtle

Reverse-fold a strip into a long tail and a huge head, then slit and reverse-fold the jaw open. Pleat a rim on a folded shell, slope it, and fold a band into stumpy legs.

You need: Grey paper: a 14 cm x 4.4 cm strip and a 10.2 cm x 4 cm strip. A 6.7 cm x 10.4 cm dark olive rectangle. Scissors and glue. Hard, 22 steps, about 40 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. White side up, long sides at the top and bottom. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The fold is the top of the turtle.
  2. Tail back. Outside-reverse-fold the left end back over the strip on an upright crease 4.2 cm from the left edge.
  3. Cut the tail. Cut up the tail fold, leaving its top 1.3 cm. Cut the tail flap to a point, from the end of that cut to its tip on the top fold.
  4. Tail out. Outside-reverse-fold the tail out again on a crease from its top corner, so the long tail trails behind, a little down.
  5. Head back. Outside-reverse-fold the right end back over the strip the same way, 3.4 cm from the right edge.
  6. Shape the head. Cut up the head fold, leaving its top 1.3 cm. Snip the end of the head flap: a long slant off its top corner, a short one off the bottom.
  7. Head out. Outside-reverse-fold the head out on a crease from the top of that cut, so the huge head juts forward.
  8. Crease the jaws. Fold the bottom of the head up, level with the top of the cut you made, and crease it hard.
  9. Open it. Unfold it again.
  10. Slit the mouth. Cut along that crease from the tip of the snout 2.1 cm back.
  11. Open the jaws. Outside-reverse-fold the lower jaw down on a slanted crease from the end of the slit, so the mouth gapes wide open.
  12. Shell: new sheet. Set the body aside. Lay the dark rectangle white side up, short sides at the top and bottom.
  13. Shell: fold in half. Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge. The fold is the bottom of the shell.
  14. Shell: pleat up. Fold the bottom fold up 1.4 cm, all layers together.
  15. Shell: pleat down. Fold the top 0.6 cm of that band back down: a thick rim along the bottom of the shell.
  16. Shell: slope it. Fold the top corners behind: a long slope down the back on the left, a steeper one at the front.
  17. Legs: new sheet. Set the shell aside. Lay the grey leg strip white side up, long sides at the top and bottom.
  18. Legs: in half. Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge.
  19. Legs: narrow. Fold the top edge down to the bottom fold: a wide band.
  20. Legs: down. Fold the ends down on slanted creases 3.2 cm from the left end and 2.4 cm from the right end: stumpy legs.
  21. Legs: feet. Fold the last 0.9 cm of each leg out on a slant: the feet.
  22. Put it together. Glue the body on the legs, then the shell over its middle, so the tail, the head and the legs poke out.

Snap!

Draw a small fierce eye and a nostril on the head, rows of bumpy ridges on the shell, notches round the rim and claws on the feet.

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