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How to fold an origami hornbill

A black body cut round with a long white-banded tail, dropped by a pleat. The big yellow beak is a doubled strip tapered and pleated to curve down, topped with a casque.

You need: A black 15 cm square, white on the back; yellow 9.5 × 4.5 cm; a yellow-orange scrap 7 × 3 cm; a brown strip; scissors, glue, white pen. Hard, 14 steps, about 40 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. Black 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. Cut the body. Cut the right corner round for the head, 4.5 cm right of the middle. Cut a round belly, then a long tail cut square 2 cm deep, 8.5 cm left of the middle.
  3. White tail band. Fold the last 1.3 cm of the tail over to the right on the front, and behind on the back, so a white band shows on both sides.
  4. Pleat: fold in. Fold the tail over to the right on a line from the back, 3 cm left of the middle, slanting down a little to the belly.
  5. Pleat: fold out. Fold it back to the left from the same point on the back, on a line that slants more. The tail now droops down.
  6. Perch it up. Turn the bird so the head is high on the right and the long tail hangs down to the left.
  7. Beak: new sheet. Set the body aside. Cut the yellow piece 9.5 × 4.5 cm, yellow side up. Its left end is the beak's base.
  8. Fold the beak. Fold it in half lengthwise, the bottom half behind, so it is yellow on both sides. The fold along the bottom is the mouth.
  9. Taper the beak. Cut in a straight line from the top left corner to the bottom right corner, through both layers: a long pointed beak.
  10. Pleat: fold in. Halfway along, fold the tip back to the left on a line from the top edge, straight down across the beak.
  11. Pleat: fold out. Fold it back to the right from the same top point, on a line that slants a little more. The beak now curves down.
  12. Casque: new sheet. Set the beak aside. Cut the yellow-orange scrap into a long horn: low at the back, rising to a point at the front.
  13. Branch: new sheet. Set the casque aside. Take a brown strip 15 × 1 cm for the branch.
  14. Glue it together. Glue the body on the branch. Glue the beak's base over the front of the head and the casque along the top of the beak.

Hello, hornbill!

Draw a white ring round a dark eye. Colour the belly white with a white pen and draw the feet gripping the branch.

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