All models

How to fold an origami black cat

Crease and snip a triangle to free a little head, cut its top and fold up the ears, then round the body with scissors. A band along the bottom, snipped loose at one end, swings up as a curly tail, and the cat stands up on its own.

You need: 1 square sheet, black on one side, small scissors and a white gel pen. Hard, 13 steps, about 12 minutes.

Steps

  1. Make a triangle. Fold the bottom corner up to the top corner.
  2. Fold the top down. Fold the top point down to the middle of the bottom edge. Crease it firmly: you will cut along this crease.
  3. Open it again. Unfold the top point. The part above the crease will be the head.
  4. Fold up a band. Fold the bottom edge up until it sits halfway to the crease, making a band along the bottom.
  5. Snip the head free. Cut the crease from each side, leaving a 1 cm neck. Cut the head's top flat, a third up its sides. Slit the band's fold ⅔ in from the right.
  6. Fold up the ears. Fold the head's bottom corners up behind, creasing from each neck cut to the corner of the top cut, so they stand up as ears.
  7. Sides behind. Fold the right side behind on an upright crease through the end of the band cut, leaving the loose band out. Fold the left side to match.
  8. Round it off. Cut the shoulders round through all the layers, from the neck down to the side folds just above the band. Snip each cheek round.
  9. Legs and tail. Cut each flap behind into a triangle leg, from the top of its fold to near the middle. Trim the band's cut edge from halfway to a blunt tip.
  10. Swing up the tail. Fold the loose band up behind on a crease from the body's bottom corner to its top edge, 1½ band-heights along, so the tail rises.
  11. Fold the tip down. Fold the tip of the tail down over itself, creasing straight across the tail a third of the way from the top.
  12. Curl the tip. Fold the tip back up on a crease from the same spot on the outer edge, running lower across, so it curls back over the cat.
  13. Stand it up. Stand the cat on its bottom edge and open the two legs out behind. Tip the head back a little so it looks up, and ease the tail back.

Here, kitty!

Draw two almond eyes in white gel pen with a black slit down each, then a little white nose and whiskers.

How to display it

  1. Stand it on a windowsill or the front step, tail curling out, to greet trick-or-treaters.
  2. Fold a few and line them up along a shelf, each with a different curl to its tail.
  3. Set one beside each plate at a Halloween party, with a name written on the band.

What to fold next