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How to fold an origami red-crowned crane

A strip cut free along the back becomes a long neck, raised with outside reverse folds into a calling head and beak. Wings cut from a folded sheet open into a wide V behind it.

You need: Two 15 cm squares, pale grey on one side; a black strip 1.2 × 16.5 cm; a scrap of red; scissors, glue, black pen. Hard, 16 steps, about 35 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. Grey square, white side up, turned like a diamond. Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner. The long fold on top is the back.
  2. Crease a strip. Fold the top edge down 9 mm along its whole length, through all the layers, and crease it hard.
  3. Open it. Unfold the strip again. You will cut along its crease to free a long neck.
  4. Free the neck. Cut along the crease from the right edge to 6 mm right of the middle. Cut the strip's end to a long point. Round the body below it.
  5. Neck up. Outside-reverse-fold the strip up from the end of the cut, so it stands tall and leans a little forward.
  6. Head and beak. 3.3 cm from the tip, outside-reverse-fold the top forward and up: a small head with a long beak, calling to the sky.
  7. Legs: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take the black strip, standing tall.
  8. Fold the strip. Fold it in half lengthwise, the right edge over onto the left edge, so it is black on both sides.
  9. Two legs. Fold the top half down on a crease across the middle that rises to the right, so it swings out ahead: one leg stepping forward.
  10. Feet. Fold the last 1 cm of each leg forward along the ground.
  11. Crown: new sheet. Set the legs aside. Cut a small red circle, about 1.2 cm across.
  12. Wings: new sheet. Set the crown aside. Take a grey rectangle 14 × 11 cm, grey side up, long sides level.
  13. Fold in half. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge.
  14. Cut the wings. Cut from the fold 1.5 cm below the middle up to the top right corner. Cut from 2 cm along the bottom up to the right edge, 3.4 cm from the top. Round the tip.
  15. Open the wings. Unfold it: two long wings rising from a short stem in the middle, like a wide V.
  16. Glue it together. Glue the body over the wings' stem, then the legs' top fold behind the belly and the red circle on the crown.

Dance, crane!

Colour the neck black up to the head and ink black feathers along the inner wing edges and the tail. Draw an eye under the red crown.

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