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How to fold an origami pegasus

Fold the horse from one triangle: reverse-fold the neck, cut out the legs, fold out a white mane, crimp the head and hang a white tail. Cut a scalloped wing from a folded strip.

You need: A 15 cm square, pale blue on one side, a 9 × 3.5 cm pale blue strip for the wing, small scissors, a ruler and glue. Hard, 26 steps, about 35 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. White side up, fold the top corner down to the bottom corner. The long fold at the top is the horse's back.
  2. Crease the middle. Fold the triangle in half, right point onto the left point, and crease it hard. This crease marks the back of the front legs.
  3. Open it. Unfold it back into the triangle.
  4. Crease the hind legs. Fold the left point over on an upright crease 3 cm left of the middle crease. This crease marks the front of the hind legs.
  5. Open it. Unfold it again.
  6. Neck back. Outside-reverse-fold the right end back over the body, on an upright crease 1.5 cm right of the middle crease. Each layer wraps round the outside.
  7. Cut the legs. Cut the bottom point off level, 6 cm below the top fold. Cut up both leg creases to 2.5 cm below the top, and straight across between them.
  8. Cut the neck. Cut up the neck fold to 2.25 cm below the top. From there cut the neck flaps to 1.5 cm deep at their tip, and snip the tip off square 1 cm in.
  9. Lift the neck. Outside-reverse-fold the neck up on a crease from its bottom corner, so it stands up and leans forward over the front legs.
  10. Snip the folds. Cut along the neck's back fold to the nose, and 1 cm down the crease at its base. Cut 5 cm along the top fold from the left point.
  11. Mane out. Fold the back edge of each neck layer out, 1 cm wide at the base and tapering to nothing 2.5 cm from the nose, so a white mane shows.
  12. Head back. Fold the top 2.5 cm of each neck layer back over the mane, on a crease from the top of the mane slanting down to the front edge.
  13. Head out. Fold the head back up on a crease from the same corner, so it points forward and down. Glue the two head layers together.
  14. Tail down. Fold each layer of the left point down and back on a crease from the end of the cut, so it hangs as a white tail.
  15. Shape the rump. Cut up the tail crease from below, leaving its top 1.5 cm. Cut the rump from there, curving in to the back of the hind hooves. Trim the tail slimmer.
  16. Wing: new sheet. Set the body aside. Lay the pale blue strip blue side up, long side across.
  17. Wing: in half. Fold the right half over onto the left half.
  18. Wing: and again. Fold the right half over onto the left again.
  19. Wing: once more. Fold it in half once more the same way, to a stack about 1 cm wide. Crease it hard.
  20. Wing: cut the feathers. Round off both top corners of the stack, so its top edge is one smooth hump.
  21. Wing: open it. Unfold the last fold.
  22. Wing: open again. Unfold the next fold.
  23. Wing: open flat. Unfold it flat. Eight feathers run along the top edge.
  24. Wing: shape it. Cut the bottom right corner off on a slant up to the feathers, for the wing tip. Snip the top left corner off too, so the root is narrower.
  25. Wing: turn it. Turn the wing so the tip points up and the feathers face back.
  26. Glue on the wing. Glue the root of the wing onto the back, just behind the neck, so it rises up with its scalloped feathers facing the tail.

Fly, Pegasus!

Draw a sleepy eye with lashes, a nostril and strands in the mane and tail. Fold a second wing to glue on the far side.

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