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How to fold an origami goose

Fold a square in half and reverse-fold both ends back into strips. Cut the body round, flick up the tail, raise the long neck, crimp the head and add an orange beak and feet.

You need: A 15 cm square, pale grey on one side; scraps of orange paper (1.8 × 1 cm and 2.6 cm square); scissors, a ruler and glue. Hard, 16 steps, about 25 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. White side up, fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The fold at the top is the goose's back.
  2. Ends back. Outside-reverse-fold the right end back over the body 6.6 cm from the right edge, and the left end 1.6 cm from the left edge.
  3. Cut the strips. Cut along both end folds, keeping 1.3 cm at the top right and 9 mm at the left, 1.6 cm down. Trim the flaps to strips, the right one 1.1 cm deep at its tip.
  4. Shape the head. Snip the bottom corner off the neck strip's tip: from 7 mm below the top fold on the tip, to the bottom edge 6 mm in.
  5. Round the body. Cut the body to a plump oval: round the top corner above the tail, and cut a deep curve from under the tail, 4.3 cm down at the belly, up to the chest.
  6. Raise the neck. Outside-reverse-fold the neck strip up on a crease from its bottom corner, so the long neck stands straight up.
  7. Tail up. Outside-reverse-fold the tail strip up on a crease from its bottom corner, so the pointed tail tips up behind.
  8. Snip the neck. Cut along the back fold of the neck from its base right up to the tip, so the two layers of the neck come apart.
  9. Head back. Fold the top of each neck layer down over the neck, on a crease from its back edge 3.5 cm up, slanting down to the front edge.
  10. Head out. Fold the head back out on a crease from the same corner, so it points straight forward. Glue the two head layers together.
  11. Beak: new sheet. Set the goose aside. Cut an orange strip 1.8 cm long and 1 cm tall, and lay it orange side up.
  12. Beak: cut a point. Cut the right end to a blunt point: snip off both right corners, leaving 3 mm of the end.
  13. Feet: new sheet. Set the beak aside. Take the 2.6 cm orange square, white side up.
  14. Feet: fold in half. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge, so you cut both feet at once.
  15. Feet: cut a foot. Cut from 4 mm right of the fold at the top, slanting out to the bottom right corner: a thin leg that widens into a webbed foot.
  16. Glue it together. Glue the feet behind the belly, one behind the other, and the beak behind the tip of the head.

Honk!

Draw a dark eye and a nostril, and colour a white wing with a dark edge and one feather line on the body. Stand it on its feet, leaning a little forward.

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