How to fold an origami princess carriage
A big magical build. Fold, pleat and trim a round pink coach with a window, add a gold band, a crown, four gold wheels and sparkle stars, then fold a white horse, harness it and stand the scene up.
You need: 13 pieces: pink, gold, yellow, white and lilac paper (sizes in each step). Scissors, ruler, glue stick, black pen, white gel pen.. Challenge, 68 steps, about 60 minutes.
Steps
- Coach: top and bottom bands. Start with the coach: an 18 × 12 cm pink piece, white side up, long side across. Fold the top edge down 1.8 cm and the bottom edge up 2.7 cm.
- Coach: sides in. Fold the left and right edges in 3.6 cm. The white gap left in the middle is the window.
- Coach: pleat the ribs. Fold each side in on an upright crease 3.8 cm from the middle, through all the layers.
- Coach: pleat back out. Fold each side back out on a crease 4 mm nearer the middle. The pleats leave a raised rib down each side, like a pumpkin.
- Coach: round it. Round the coach: snip each top corner off in three small cuts and each bottom corner in two, through all the layers.
- Crown: new sheet. Set the coach aside. Take a 4 cm gold square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Crown: fold in half. Fold the bottom corner up to the top corner. The middle point of the crown stands up.
- Crown: side points up. Fold the left and right corners up on slants starting 5 mm either side of the middle, so they stand up as two more points.
- Back wheel: new sheet. Set the crown aside. Now the wheels: take a 7 cm gold square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Back wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to the middle point. It is a smaller gold square now.
- Back wheel: tips back out. Fold the tip of each flap back out a little, so a white hub with four white spokes shows in the middle.
- Back wheel: round it. Snip the four corners off, then the eight little corners that are left, so the wheel is nearly round.
- Second back wheel: new sheet. Set it aside. Take a 7 cm gold square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Second back wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to the middle point. It is a smaller gold square now.
- Second back wheel: tips back out. Fold each tip back out a little for the white hub and spokes.
- Second back wheel: round it. Snip the corners off the same way, so it is nearly round.
- Front wheel: new sheet. Set it aside. Take a 5 cm gold square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Front wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to the middle point. It is a smaller gold square now.
- Front wheel: tips back out. Fold each tip back out a little for the white hub and spokes.
- Front wheel: round it. Snip the corners off the same way, so it is nearly round.
- Second front wheel: new sheet. Set it aside. Take a 5 cm gold square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Second front wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to the middle point. It is a smaller gold square now.
- Second front wheel: tips back out. Fold each tip back out a little for the white hub and spokes.
- Second front wheel: round it. Snip the corners off the same way, so it is nearly round.
- Big star: new sheet. Set the wheels aside. Now a sparkle: take a 3.4 cm yellow square, yellow side up.
- Big star: in half. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge.
- Big star: in half again. Fold the right edge over to the left edge. The corner where the two folds meet is the middle of the star.
- Big star: on the slant. Fold it in half on the slant through that middle corner, the right folded edge onto the top folded edge: a small triangle.
- Big star: cut the points. Make one cut: from the top fold, just short of its far end, to the slanted fold, close to the middle corner.
- Big star: open it. Unfold the slanted fold.
- Big star: open it again. Unfold the right half.
- Big star: open it flat. Unfold the first fold. A four-point sparkle star!
- Little star: new sheet. Set it aside. Take a 2.6 cm yellow square, yellow side up.
- Little star: in half. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge.
- Little star: in half again. Fold the right edge over to the left edge. The corner where the two folds meet is the middle of the star.
- Little star: on the slant. Fold it in half on the slant through that middle corner, the right folded edge onto the top folded edge: a small triangle.
- Little star: cut the points. Make the same single cut, from near the end of the top fold to near the middle corner.
- Little star: open it. Unfold the slanted fold.
- Little star: open it again. Unfold the right half.
- Little star: open it flat. Unfold it flat. Another sparkle!
- Gold band: new sheet. Set the star aside. Take a 9 × 3 cm gold strip, white side up.
- Gold band: fold in half. Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge.
- Gold band: in half again. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge, so the band is 7.5 mm wide and gold on both sides.
- Build the coach. Glue the band across the coach under the window, the crown behind the top. Glue on a big and a small wheel, the other two behind them, and the stars.
- Harness: new sheet. Set the coach aside. Take a 12 × 2 cm gold strip, white side up.
- Harness: fold in half. Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge.
- Harness: in half again. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge, so it is a 5 mm gold band.
- Mane: new sheet. Set the harness aside. Take a 5 × 2 cm lilac strip, white side up.
- Mane: fold in half. Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge, lengthwise.
- Mane: taper it. Cut the mane on a slant so it narrows to the right end, and snip the left corner round. Snip a fringe into the open edge.
- Tail: new sheet. Set the mane aside. Take a 4 cm lilac square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Tail: kite. Fold the two lower edges in to meet on the middle line, making a long kite.
- Tail: in half. Fold the kite in half, left side onto the right. A slim lilac tail.
- Horse: new sheet. Set the tail aside. Last, the horse: a 15 cm white square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
- Horse: fold in half. Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner. The long fold at the top is the horse's back.
- Horse: crease the middle. Fold the right point over onto the left point and crease hard. This marks the back of the front legs.
- Horse: open it. Unfold it back into the triangle.
- Horse: crease the hind legs. Fold the left point over on an upright crease 3 cm left of the middle crease. This marks the front of the hind legs.
- Horse: open it. Unfold it again.
- Horse: neck back. Outside-reverse-fold the right end back over the body, on an upright crease 1.5 cm right of the middle crease.
- Horse: 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.
- Horse: cut the neck. Cut up the neck fold to 2.25 cm below the top. From there cut the neck to 1.5 cm deep at its tip, and snip the tip off square 1 cm in.
- Horse: lift the neck. Outside-reverse-fold the neck up on a crease from its bottom corner, so it stands up and leans forward.
- Horse: head back. Fold the top 3.5 cm of each neck layer back down, on a crease slanting from the back edge to the front edge.
- Horse: 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.
- Horse: round the rump. Cut the left point away in a curve: from the top fold 4 cm in from the point, round and down to the back of the hind hooves.
- Hitch up the horse. Glue the mane along the neck and the tail behind the rump. Stand the coach behind the horse, bottoms in line, and glue the harness from coach to chest.
- Stand it up. Bend the harness gently in the gap behind the horse, horse towards you, and stand the whole carriage on its wheels and hooves.
Off to the ball!
Draw window panes and a white heart on the door, jewels on the crown, white spokes on the wheels, the horse's eye and lashes, mane strands and harness hearts.