How to fold an origami castle
Eleven pieces of paper make a whole castle. The wall is folded in half three times and cut once for a row of battlements, with a gate that folds open, and the keep's corners are snipped while it is folded in four. Two towers and the keep roll into square tubes, two red squares curl into tall spires with yellow pennants, and the wall stands behind a blue moat with a brown drawbridge across it.
You need: Grey, red, yellow, brown, blue and green paper (sizes in each part's first step), scissors, a ruler, a glue stick and sticky tape. Challenge, 46 steps, about 75 minutes.
Steps
- Wall: fold in half. Start with the hard part, the wall: a 15 x 7.5 cm grey rectangle, coloured side up, long sides at top and bottom. Fold the left edge over to the right edge.
- Wall: in half again. Fold the right edges over to the left fold.
- Wall: and again. Fold it in half once more, the same way.
- Wall: crease a guide. Fold it in half one last time, the same way, and crease it hard.
- Wall: open the guide. Open that last fold again. Its crease shows where to cut.
- Wall: cut the battlements. Through all the layers, cut down the guide crease 1.5 cm from the top, then straight across to the right edge. Throw the little block away.
- Wall: open it. Unfold one fold.
- Wall: open again. Unfold the next fold.
- Wall: open flat. Open it flat. Gaps and teeth now run all along the top: the battlements.
- Wall: cut the gate. The middle tooth is over the gate. Cut up both of its creases from the bottom edge to halfway up the wall.
- Wall: open the gate. Fold the gate flap up behind the wall, creasing it level with the cut ends. Fold the rest of the bottom edge behind 1 cm: the tab the wall stands on.
- Keep: new sheet. Set the wall aside. The keep is a 21 x 19.5 cm grey rectangle, coloured side up, the 21 cm sides at top and bottom.
- Keep: hem the top. Fold the top edge down behind by 4.5 cm. This lines the top of the keep, so it is grey inside where you can see in.
- Keep: fold in half. Fold the left edge over to the right edge.
- Keep: in half again. Fold the right edges over to the left fold. Each layer is now one side of the keep.
- Keep: snip the corners. Through all the layers, snip both top corners off in a slant, 1 cm along the top and 2 cm down the side. Opened, every corner of the keep gets a V-shaped gap.
- Keep: open it. Unfold one fold.
- Keep: open flat. Open it flat: a wide battlement on each of its four sides, and three creases to roll it up on.
- Tall tower: new sheet. Set the keep aside. Now two towers, one taller. Take a 15 x 12 cm grey rectangle, coloured side up, long sides at top and bottom.
- Tall tower: crease in half. Fold the left edge over to the right edge, crease, and open it again.
- Tall tower: crease quarters. Fold both side edges in to the middle crease and open them again: four equal panels, the four sides of the tower.
- Short tower: new sheet. Set it aside. Take a 15 x 9 cm grey rectangle, coloured side up, for the shorter tower.
- Short tower: crease in half. Fold the left edge over to the right edge, crease, and open it again.
- Short tower: crease quarters. Fold both side edges in to the middle crease and open them again: four panels.
- Spire 1: new sheet. Set the towers aside. Each tower gets a red spire. Take an 11 cm red square, white side up. Its bottom left corner will be the spire's tip.
- Spire 1: crease the diagonal. Fold the top left corner onto the bottom right corner, crease, and open it again.
- Spire 1: crease a kite. Fold the bottom edge and the left edge onto the diagonal crease, crease them, and open them again. Four thin wedges now fan out from the tip corner.
- Spire 1: trim the corner. Mark each crease 11 cm from the tip corner. Cut straight from mark to mark, from the top left corner round to the bottom right one.
- Spire 2: new sheet. Set it aside and take the second 11 cm red square, white side up.
- Spire 2: crease the diagonal. Fold the top left corner onto the bottom right corner, crease, and open it again.
- Spire 2: crease a kite. Fold the bottom and left edges onto the diagonal, crease, and open them again.
- Spire 2: trim the corner. Mark each crease 11 cm from the tip and cut from mark to mark, corner to corner.
- Flag 1: new sheet. Set the roofs aside. Take a 5 x 4.5 cm yellow rectangle, coloured side up, the 4.5 cm sides at left and right.
- Flag 1: fold the pole. Fold the left edge over 1 cm and crease it hard: this strip is the flagpole.
- Flag 1: cut the pennant. Cut up the pole's fold from the bottom, stopping 2 cm from the top. Cut the yellow beside it away, and trim the top into a point: a pennant.
- Flag 2: new sheet. Set it aside and take the second 5 x 4.5 cm yellow rectangle, coloured side up.
- Flag 2: fold the pole. Fold the left edge over 1 cm and crease it hard: this strip is the flagpole.
- Flag 2: cut the pennant. Cut up the pole's fold to 2 cm from the top, cut the yellow beside it away and trim a point.
- Drawbridge: new sheet. Set the flags aside. Take a 4.5 x 6 cm brown rectangle, white side up, short sides at top and bottom.
- Drawbridge: sides in. Fold the left and right edges in to meet in the middle: a strong brown plank.
- Moat: new sheet. Set the drawbridge aside. Cut a 4 cm strip off the long side of a blue A4 sheet and lay it coloured side up.
- Ground: new sheet. Set the moat aside. The castle stands on a green A4 sheet: lay it coloured side up, long sides at top and bottom.
- Lay it all out. Glue the moat along the front of the ground and the drawbridge across its middle. Lay the other parts round the ground, ready to build.
- Wall: stand it up. Glue the wall's tab on the ground just behind the moat, the gate at the drawbridge's end, and fold the wall straight up.
- Keep and towers. Roll the keep and each tower into a square tube along its creases and tape the seam. Glue the keep behind the gate and a tower behind each end of the wall.
- Spires and flags. Curl each red square into a spire along its creases, white inside, and tape the seam. Glue one on each tower and tape a flag inside each tip.
The castle is ready!
Draw the dark gateway and its arch, stones on the wall, slit windows on the towers, a window on the keep, planks on the drawbridge and ripples in the moat.