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How to fold an origami knight

Slits and slanted folds swing out the arms, a pleat makes the belt, and cuts shape the helmet and legs. Add a fringed red plume, a pointed shield and a sword.

You need: A 15 cm silver square, a 7 cm blue square, a 5 × 8 cm red rectangle, a 3 × 12 cm grey strip, a 3 × 4 cm gold strip, scissors, glue and a black pen. Hard, 23 steps, about 40 minutes.

Steps

  1. Body: crease the middle. Silver side up. Fold the left edge onto the right edge.
  2. Body: open it. Unfold it, so a crease runs down the middle.
  3. Body: sides behind. Fold the left and right edges behind to meet at the middle crease.
  4. Body: snip the arms free. Snip down both side folds from the top edge, 5.6 cm long.
  5. Body: swing out the arms. At the back, fold the top of each side flap out on a slant from the end of the snip, so it sticks straight out as an arm.
  6. Body: pleat the belt. Fold the bottom of the body up on a level crease 5 cm above the bottom edge. Leave the arms out.
  7. Body: fold it back down. Fold it back down on a crease 6 mm higher, leaving a step across the waist for the belt.
  8. Body: cut the legs. Snip up the middle crease 2.1 cm from the bottom, then cut a slim V from its end to make two legs. Snip the outer corners of the feet.
  9. Body: shape the helmet. Cut the head a little narrower towards the top, from each shoulder up to 7.5 mm in, then snip the top corners off for a helmet.
  10. Body: round the hands. Snip the corners off the end of each arm, so the gloves are round.
  11. Shield: new sheet. Set the knight aside. Take the blue square, blue side up.
  12. Shield: fold the point. Fold the two bottom corners behind on slants from 4 cm down each side to the middle of the bottom edge.
  13. Sword: new sheet. Set the shield aside. Take the grey strip upright, white side up.
  14. Sword: fold in half. Fold the strip in half lengthwise, right edge onto left.
  15. Sword: fold it thin. Fold it in half lengthwise again, to make the blade.
  16. Sword: cut the point. Cut the top to a point: two snips from 1 cm down each side to the middle of the top.
  17. Guard: new sheet. Set the blade aside. Take the gold strip, long side level, white side up.
  18. Guard: fold in half. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge.
  19. Guard: fold again. Fold it in half the same way once more, so it is a thin gold bar.
  20. Plume: new sheet. Set the guard aside. Take the red rectangle upright, white side up.
  21. Plume: fold in half. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The fold on top is the plume's crest.
  22. Plume: round and fringe it. Round off both top corners in a curve. Then snip down from the fold every 6 mm, stopping 1.5 cm above the bottom, for a feathery fringe.
  23. Arm the knight. Glue the plume behind the top of the helmet. Glue the shield on his left arm, the blade in his right hand and the gold guard across it.

For the kingdom!

Draw the visor slit and breathing holes, a belt with a white buckle, knee plates and fringe lines on the plume. Add a white cross to the shield.

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