How to fold an origami shoebill
A long diamond folded in half down the chest. Outside reverse folds swing the top into a huge head and bill, blunt the bill like a clog and shorten the tail; a strip folds into the legs.
You need: A grey 15 cm square, white on the back; a dark grey strip 1.3 × 14 cm; glue, black and white pens. Hard, 13 steps, about 25 minutes.
Steps
- Crease the diagonal. Grey square, white side up, turned like a diamond. Fold the left corner to the right corner, crease, and unfold.
- Make a kite. Fold the two lower edges in to lie along the centre crease.
- Long diamond. Fold the two upper edges in to the centre crease too, making a long diamond with a point at each end.
- Fold in half. Mountain-fold the right half behind along the centre crease. The long fold on the right is the shoebill's chest.
- Big head. 6.5 cm below the top, outside-reverse-fold the top point forward and down. This wide flap is the head and its huge bill.
- Round the head. Fold the sharp back corner of the head in, through all the layers on each side, so the back of the head is round.
- Blunt the bill. Outside-reverse-fold the last 1.8 cm of the bill straight back along it, so the bill ends square and chunky like a clog.
- Short tail. Outside-reverse-fold the bottom point back up over itself, 5 cm from its tip, so the body ends in a short blunt tail.
- Legs: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take the dark grey strip, standing tall.
- Fold the strip. Fold it in half lengthwise, the right edge over onto the left edge, so it is coloured on both sides.
- Two legs. Fold the top half down on a slanted crease across the middle, so it swings out ahead: one leg stepping forward.
- Feet. Fold the last 1.1 cm of each leg forward along the ground.
- Glue on the legs. Glue the top fold of the legs behind the middle of the belly, so the shoebill stands tall on them.
Still as a statue!
Draw a pale ring with a dark dot for the eye, high on the head, and a line along the bill for its mouth.