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How to fold an origami pterodactyl

Fold a triangle, tuck a band behind and swing the wings up level, then pleat the tips so they droop. Cut a strip into a beak and crest, crimp the crest up and glue on the head.

You need: A 15 cm square, rust brown on one side, and a 10 x 2.8 cm strip of the same paper; scissors and glue. Hard, 13 steps, about 25 minutes.

Steps

  1. Make a triangle. White side up, fold the bottom corner up to the top corner.
  2. Fold up a band. Fold the bottom edge up 4.5 cm, about a third of the way to the top point.
  3. Turn it over. Flip it over from side to side, keeping the point at the top.
  4. Wings up. Fold each bottom corner up on a crease from the middle of the bottom edge, until the top edge of the wing lies level.
  5. Top point behind. Fold the top point behind on a level crease 2.6 cm above the band, leaving a short, flat-topped neck between the wings.
  6. Fold the tips in. Fold the tip of each wing in, on a crease from its top edge near the tip down to the corner below it.
  7. Fold the tips out. Fold each tip back out on a crease that leans in a little more at the bottom, so the long wing tips droop.
  8. Head: new sheet. Set the body aside. Lay the 10 x 2.8 cm strip white side up, long sides at the top and bottom.
  9. Head: fold in half. Fold the top edge down to the bottom edge. The fold is the top of the head.
  10. Head: cut the beak. Cut the right end into a long, sharp beak with two slants. Cut the left end to a point on the fold, slanting from 3.6 cm in at the bottom.
  11. Crest back. Outside-reverse-fold the left point over the head, on a crease from the bottom corner of that cut, leaning left at the top.
  12. Crest up. Outside-reverse-fold it back out on a crease from the same corner, so the crest sweeps back and up. Glue the layers together.
  13. Glue on the head. Glue the head across the top of the neck, the long beak sticking out over one wing and the crest over the other.

Screech!

Draw an eye on the head, just in front of the crest. Hang it from a thread so it glides over your desk.

How to fly it

  1. Tape a thread to the back of the body, between the wings.
  2. Hang it from a lamp or shelf and blow gently to make it soar.
  3. Bend the wing tips up or down a little to change how it tilts.

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