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How to fold an origami sea serpent

An outside reverse fold turns the neck into a smiling head. Cut two humps and a forked tail from folded squares, and cut a whole row of waves at once from a folded strip.

You need: A 13.5 × 21 cm green strip, 9, 7.5 and 7 cm green squares, a 5 cm light green square, a 4 × 29 cm blue strip, scissors, glue, black and white pens. Hard, 28 steps, about 40 minutes.

Steps

  1. Neck: edges to the middle. White side up, long side upright. Fold the left and right edges in to meet on the middle line.
  2. Neck: fold in half. Fold the right half over onto the left, so it is green inside and out. The fold on the right is the serpent's throat.
  3. Neck: reverse-fold the head. Outside-reverse-fold the top 5.5 cm down to the right on a slanted crease, wrapping it round the outside, so the head faces right.
  4. Neck: round the head. Snip the corners off the end of the head, a big snip on top and a small one under the chin, for a round, friendly snout.
  5. Fin: new sheet. Set the neck aside. Take the light green square, white side up.
  6. Fin: fold a triangle. Fold the bottom right corner up to the top left corner.
  7. Fin: shape it. Snip the square corner off in a small slant, so the fin's tip is round.
  8. Hump 1: new sheet. Set it aside. Take the 9 cm green square, green side up.
  9. Hump 1: fold in half. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge.
  10. Hump 1: cut it. Round off the top corner away from the fold. Then cut a long slant off the bottom corner at the fold, from a quarter of the way down.
  11. Hump 1: open it. Unfold it: a round hump with a pointed arch under it.
  12. Hump 2: new sheet. Set it aside. Take the 7.5 cm green square, green side up.
  13. Hump 2: fold in half. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge.
  14. Hump 2: cut it. Round off the top corner away from the fold. Then cut a long slant off the bottom corner at the fold, from a quarter of the way down.
  15. Hump 2: open it. Unfold it: a round hump with a pointed arch under it.
  16. Tail: new sheet. Set the humps aside. Take the last green square, green side up.
  17. Tail: fold in half. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge.
  18. Tail: cut the fluke. Cut a slant from the bottom of the fold up to 1 cm below the top right corner. Snip that corner, then cut a V notch at the top of the fold.
  19. Tail: open it. Unfold it: a forked tail fin.
  20. Waves: new sheet. Set the tail aside. Take the blue strip, long side level, blue side up.
  21. Waves: fold in half. Fold the right end over onto the left end.
  22. Waves: in half again. Fold the right end of the stack over onto the left end again.
  23. Waves: and again. Fold the right end of the stack over onto the left end again.
  24. Waves: cut a crest. Cut through the whole stack: a round bump across the top, from 1.5 cm down each side up to the middle of the top edge.
  25. Waves: unfold. Unfold the top fold of the stack.
  26. Waves: unfold. Unfold the top fold of the stack.
  27. Waves: open it all. Open the last fold: a whole row of eight round waves.
  28. Out of the sea. Glue the neck, humps and tail behind the waves, as if one long serpent dips in and out. Glue the fin's long edge along the back of the head.

Hello from the deep!

Draw a big eye with a white shine, a wide smile and a nostril, a few lines on the fin, and white spots on the humps.

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