How to fold an origami quail
A kite folded in half makes a round, plump body. A pleat stands up the long point as the neck, an outside reverse fold turns the head, and its tip folds back as the topknot.
You need: 1 square sheet, 15 × 15 cm, grey-brown on one side; a black pen and a white pen. Hard, 13 steps, about 20 minutes.
Steps
- Turn it. White side up. Turn the square so a corner points up, like a diamond.
- Crease the diagonal. Fold the left corner over to the right corner, crease, and unfold.
- Make a kite. Fold the two lower edges in to lie along the centre crease.
- Fold in half. Fold the left half over onto the right half along the crease, so the flaps go inside and the colour is outside.
- Lay it down. Turn it so the fold runs along the bottom, the long point on the right.
- Short tail. Fold the tip of the wide left corner behind on an upright crease 3 cm from the tip.
- Round the back. Fold the top corner behind on a slant, about 2.5 cm down, so the back is round.
- Round the rump. Fold the bottom left corner behind on a slant, about 1.6 cm each way, so the rump is round.
- Neck: fold in. Fold the long point over to the left on a crease from the bottom, 10.6 cm from its tip, leaning well to the right.
- Neck: fold out. Fold it back to the right from the same point, on a crease leaning a little to the left. The neck stands straight up.
- Head. 3.9 cm below the tip, outside-reverse-fold the tip forward, pointing a little up: each layer wraps round the outside.
- Topknot. 1.9 cm from the end, fold the tip straight back up through both layers: the topknot. The fold in front is the beak.
- Curl the plume. Fold the last 8 mm of the topknot forward, so it droops over the beak like a quail's plume.
Ka-kaa-ko!
Draw a black eye, colour a black bib under the beak and add a few white streaks along the flank.