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How to fold an origami pig

Fold a pink square in half, crease and cut short legs, round a fat ham and chin, and curl the tail with three reverse folds. Glue on a floppy ear and a round snout.

You need: A 15 cm square, pink on one side; darker pink scraps for the ear and snout; scissors and glue. Hard, 20 steps, about 35 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. White side up, fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The fold at the top is the pig's back.
  2. Crease the legs. Fold the left end over on an upright crease 6.2 cm from the left edge, and the right end behind on an upright crease 4.6 cm from the right edge.
  3. Open them. Unfold both ends again. The two creases mark the inside edges of the legs.
  4. Crease the chin. Fold the right end behind on an upright crease 2.6 cm from the right edge. This marks the front of the front legs.
  5. Open it. Unfold the right end again. The part in front of this crease is the head.
  6. Tail end back. Outside-reverse-fold the left end back over the body 3.2 cm from the left edge. Each layer wraps round the outside.
  7. Cut the tail. Cut up the end fold, leaving 5 mm at the top. Trim the flap to a 5 mm strip and snip its end off, so the tail strip is 2.4 cm long.
  8. Cut the legs. Cut up all three creases to 5 cm below the top fold. Cut the belly between the legs in a shallow curve, 5.3 cm down in the middle.
  9. Round the head. Cut the chin round, from 2.5 cm below the top fold at the front down to the front leg. Snip the top front corner round too, through both layers.
  10. Round the ham. Cut the back of the body in a curve: from 2.1 cm below the top fold, bulging out, down to 1.9 cm in from the back at the bottom. A fat ham!
  11. Slim the legs. Trim the legs narrower toward the trotters: slant the inside edges in 3 mm at the bottom and the front of the front leg in 5 mm.
  12. Tail up. Outside-reverse-fold the tail strip up on a crease from its bottom corner, so it sticks up from the rump.
  13. Curl the tail. Outside-reverse-fold the tail 1 cm up from the body, so the tip bends forward and down over the back.
  14. Curl it more. Outside-reverse-fold the tip again, 7 mm along, so it bends back up. Now the tail makes a little curl.
  15. Ear: new sheet. Set the pig aside. Take a 2.4 cm square of darker pink, white side up.
  16. Ear: fold a triangle. Fold it in half corner to corner, bottom left onto top right, making a triangle.
  17. Ear: flop the tip. Fold the square corner of the triangle down toward the long folded edge, 8 mm in, so the ear flops over.
  18. Snout: new sheet. Set the ear aside. Take a darker pink piece 1.2 cm wide and 1.6 cm tall, pink side up.
  19. Snout: round it. Snip the four corners off, 4 mm each way, so the snout is a little oval.
  20. Glue it together. Glue the pig behind the snout so half the snout sticks out in front of the face. Glue the ear on top of the head, its flopped corner up.

Oink!

Draw two nostrils on the snout, an eye, a smile under the snout and dark trotters. Stand it on its four short legs.

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