All models

How to fold an origami macaw

A red long diamond with a head flap, folded in half; outside reverse folds pull out the head and hook the beak. A folded blue wing, a yellow shoulder and a branch are glued on.

You need: A red 15 cm square, a blue 9.3 cm square and a yellow 3.2 cm square, all white on the back; a brown strip 3 × 14 cm; glue, black and white pens. Hard, 19 steps, about 25 minutes.

Steps

  1. Crease the diagonal. Red square, white side up, turned like a diamond. Fold the left corner to the right corner, crease, and unfold.
  2. Make a kite. Fold the two lower edges in to lie along the centre crease.
  3. Narrow the tail. Fold the two upper edges in to lie along the centre crease too, making a long diamond. The long top point is the tail.
  4. Turn it over. Flip the diamond over.
  5. Head up. Fold the bottom point up so its tip lands 4.5 cm above the side corners. This becomes the head.
  6. Fold in half. Mountain-fold it in half along the centre crease, head on the outside.
  7. Lay it down. Turn the model so the long fold is at the bottom and the head flap's fold is on the right.
  8. Pull out the head. Outside-reverse-fold the head out to the right, tilted a little up. Start the crease at the bottom right corner.
  9. Hook the beak. Outside-reverse-fold the last 3 cm of the head down and back, so the big beak curls under.
  10. Perch it. Stand the macaw up, head at the top and the long tail pointing down.
  11. Wing: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take the blue square, white side up, turned like a diamond, and crease it from left corner to right corner.
  12. Wing: kite. Fold the two lower edges in to the centre crease, like the body.
  13. Wing: long diamond. Fold the two upper edges in to the centre crease too.
  14. Wing: in half. Fold the right half behind along the centre crease. The slim blue half diamond is the wing, with long flight feathers at the bottom.
  15. Shoulder: new sheet. Set the wing aside. Take the little yellow square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  16. Shoulder: triangle. Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner, so it is a yellow triangle.
  17. Branch: new sheet. Set it aside. Take the brown strip, white side up, lying wide.
  18. Fold the branch. Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge, so it is brown on both sides.
  19. Glue it together. Glue the macaw on the branch. Glue the wing down its side from the shoulder, and the yellow triangle over the top of the wing.

Pretty bird!

Colour a white face patch with a dark eye in it, colour the hooked beak black, and draw two dark feet gripping the branch.

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