How to fold an origami cobra
Fold a square in half and crease where the hood and coils start. Cut the head, the wide hood and the coils through both layers, pleat the coils into rings and add a forked tongue.
You need: A 15 cm brown square and a 0.5 x 2 cm red strip; scissors, a ruler and glue. Hard, 17 steps, about 25 minutes.
Steps
- Fold in half. Coloured side up, fold the right edge over to the left edge. The fold is the middle of the snake.
- Crease the head. Fold the top edge down on a level crease 2.6 cm from the top.
- Open it. Unfold it again.
- Crease the coils. Fold the bottom edge up on a level crease 7 cm from the bottom.
- Open it. Unfold it again.
- Cut the head and hood. Through both layers, round the head above the top crease, 1.5 cm out from the fold. Below it cut the hood 4.6 cm out, narrowing to a 1 cm neck.
- Cut the coils. Below the bottom crease, cut the coils in a widening curve, from 1.8 cm out at the crease to 6.8 cm out near the bottom.
- Open it out. Unfold the paper. A hooded snake stands on a wide base.
- Pleat the coils. Fold the bottom edge up on a level crease 4.4 cm from the bottom.
- And back down. Fold it back down on a crease 6 mm higher, so a ledge runs across the coils.
- Pleat again. Fold the new bottom edge up on a crease 1.9 cm from the bottom.
- And back down. Fold it back down 6 mm higher. Three coils are stacked under the hood.
- Tongue: new sheet. Set the cobra aside. Lay the red strip coloured side up, short edges at the top and bottom.
- Tongue: fold in half. Fold the right edge over to the left edge.
- Tongue: snip the fork. Cut a slant off the bottom corner at the fold, from 6 mm up the fold to the bottom corner of the open edges.
- Tongue: open. Unfold it. The tongue ends in a fork.
- Glue the tongue. Glue the top of the tongue under the middle of the head, so the fork hangs down over the hood.
Hiss!
Draw two beady eyes, bands down the front of the neck, and a curve at each end of every coil.