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How to fold an origami orca

A kite with a white belly wedge, folded in half. Fold the back down, snip it and swing up a tall fin, then lift the tail, split the flukes and glue on a flipper.

You need: 1 square sheet (15 cm) and a 3 cm square, both black on one side and white on the other, scissors, glue and a white pen. Hard, 14 steps, about 25 minutes.

Steps

  1. Crease the middle. White side up, fold the top corner down to the bottom corner, crease, and unfold.
  2. Fold in the head. Fold the left corner in to the middle of the paper.
  3. Make a kite. Fold the two right-hand edges in toward the middle crease, stopping short so a white wedge 5 cm wide at the left end shows down the middle.
  4. Fold in half. Fold the bottom half behind along the middle crease. The fold is the belly, the head points left.
  5. Fold the back down. Fold the top of the back down through all layers on a level crease 3.4 cm above the belly.
  6. Snip the fin free. Snip along the new fold from the back tip of the strip forward to the middle of the body, about 4 cm.
  7. Swing up the fin. Fold the snipped end of the strip up on a slant from the end of the snip, so it stands tall above the back: the dorsal fin.
  8. Round the head. Fold the top front corner of the head behind through all layers, then the chin corner too, so the head is round.
  9. Lift the tail. Fold the tail up on a crease from 6 cm before its tip, slanting a little up toward the tip, so the tail rises.
  10. Snip the tail. Snip 1 cm along the tail's folded edge from the tip, so its front and back layers come apart.
  11. Spread the flukes. Fold the front tip forward and the back tip back from the end of the snip, so the flukes spread out flat.
  12. The flipper. Set the orca aside. Take a 3 cm square of the same paper, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  13. Flipper: fold in half. Fold the top corner down onto the bottom corner to make a black triangle.
  14. Glue on the flipper. Glue the long edge of the flipper behind the belly, just behind the head, so its point sticks down and back.

Killer whale!

Draw a small white eye just in front of the white eye patch.

What to fold next