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How to fold an origami mermaid princess

Fold a kite into a teal tail, pleat it so it swishes and snip the tip to swing out a fin. Fold a red strip into arms and a red sheet into long hair around her face.

You need: A 15 cm teal square, a 9.3 × 9.7 cm red rectangle, a 14 × 1 cm red strip, scissors, glue and a black pen. Hard, 17 steps, about 35 minutes.

Steps

  1. Tail: crease the middle. Teal square, white side up, turned like a diamond. Fold the left corner over onto the right corner.
  2. Tail: open it. Open it again.
  3. Tail: fold a kite. Fold the lower edges in to meet on the middle crease.
  4. Tail: shoulders. Fold the top point of the white triangle behind, 3 cm down. The white part is her body.
  5. Tail: slim the hips. Fold each side behind on a long slant, 2.8 cm in at the top and tapering to nothing lower down, so the tail slims smoothly.
  6. Tail: fold it up. Fold the lower tail up on a level crease 6.3 cm below the side corners.
  7. Tail: swish. Fold it back down on a crease 9 mm higher, tilted a little, so the end of the tail swishes to the side.
  8. Tail: snip the tip. Cut up the middle crease from the bottom point, 6 cm.
  9. Tail: swing out the fin. Fold each half of the tip out to the side on a slanted crease from the top of the snip. The tail ends in a wide fin.
  10. Arms: new sheet. Set the tail aside. Take the long red strip, red side up.
  11. Arms: fold in half. Fold the bottom edge up onto the top edge. Now the strip is white on both sides.
  12. Arms: bend them down. 2.7 cm from the middle on each side, fold the strip down on a slanted crease so the arms reach down and out.
  13. Hair: new sheet. Set the arms aside. Take the red rectangle, white side up, standing tall.
  14. Hair: fringe. Fold the top edge down 1.4 cm: her fringe.
  15. Hair: long locks. Fold each long side in on a slight slant, 1.8 cm in at the top and 1.2 cm at the bottom. The white middle is her face.
  16. Hair: round her head. Fold the two top corners behind, 1.2 cm along each edge.
  17. Put her together. Glue the arms across the top of her body, then the hair on top, so the arms come out from under her locks.

Splash!

Draw her eyes and smile and rows of scales down her tail. Make her a friend with another colour of hair.

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