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How to fold an origami seal

A long diamond folded in half and laid on its side. A pleat tips the head up, and a snip splits the tail into two flippers that fan apart.

You need: 1 square sheet, 15 × 15 cm, and small scissors. Medium, 10 steps, about 8 minutes.

Steps

  1. Crease the diagonal. Fold the left corner to the right corner, crease, and unfold.
  2. Make a kite. Fold the two lower edges in to lie along the centre crease.
  3. Long diamond. Fold the two upper edges in to the centre crease too, making a long diamond with a point at each end.
  4. Blunt the nose. Fold the top point down about 3 cm. This end will be the seal's nose.
  5. Fold in half. Fold the left half behind the right half.
  6. Lay it down. Turn it so the long fold is at the bottom and the blunt nose points left.
  7. Head back. Fold the whole front end over onto the body, toward you, on a crease from the bottom edge 1 cm in front of the hump, leaning a little forward.
  8. Head up. Fold it forward again on a crease from the same spot that stands almost straight up, so the head sticks up and out at a slant.
  9. Snip the tail. Cut along the bottom fold from the tail point, about 7 cm in, so the tail splits into a front and a back layer.
  10. Fan the flippers. Fold the front layer of the tail up at a slant from the end of the cut. Fold the back layer up behind, just a little, so the flippers fan apart.

Arf arf!

Draw an eye, a black nose at the tip of the snout and a few whiskers.

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