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How to fold an origami spider

Fold a triangle, cut it into a column and crease it into eighths, then snip a comb along the folded edge. Every strip is a doubled leg: swing four out on each side, bend a knee into each one, pleat a waist and round off a little head and a fat abdomen. A white hourglass makes it a black widow.

You need: 1 square sheet (15 cm), black on one side, small scissors, a ruler and a white gel pen for the eyes and hourglass. Hard, 17 steps, about 16 minutes.

Steps

  1. Make a triangle. Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner, black side out. Every leg will be a loop of the folded edge along the top.
  2. Cut a column. Find the middle of the folded top edge, straight above the bottom point. Cut straight down 2.25 cm either side of it, cutting off both side corners, to leave a column 4.5 cm wide above the bottom point.
  3. Fold in half. Fold the column in half, left edge onto the right edge.
  4. In half again. Fold it in half again, right edges over onto the left fold.
  5. And again. Fold it in half once more, the same way, and crease all the layers hard.
  6. Open it out. Unfold the last fold.
  7. Open again. Unfold the second fold.
  8. Open flat. Unfold the column flat. Its seven upright creases mark out eight strips.
  9. Cut the comb. Cut down every crease from the folded top edge: the middle one 5.2 cm, the next ones out 5.6 cm, then 5.8 cm, and the outer ones 6 cm.
  10. Taper the legs. Trim both long edges of every strip so its top narrows to about 2.5 mm, keeping the middle of the fold. Start at the end of each slit; on the column's sides, 1.7 cm above it.
  11. Swing out four legs. Number the strips 1 to 4 from the outside in. Fold strip 1 up and out on a crease from its slit's end to the side 1.7 cm higher. Fold strip 3 down and out behind, its crease rising 4 mm.
  12. And the other four. Fold strip 2 out over strip 1's root, its crease rising 8 mm, so it sticks out sideways. Fold strip 4 down and out behind strip 3, its crease rising just 1.5 mm.
  13. Bend the knees. 2.5 cm out along each leg, crease a long slant across it, 1.5 cm end to end, so the tip turns about 30°. Legs 1 and 2 turn towards the head, on top; 3 and 4 turn back and out, behind.
  14. Fold the body up. Fold the bottom of the body straight up on a crease 6 mm below the ends of the outer slits (where strip 1's crease starts).
  15. And back down. Fold it back down on a crease 2 mm above the last one, leaving a narrow pleat for the waist. Keep the back legs out of the pleat.
  16. Round the head. Hold the legs clear of the body. Each side, three short cuts round the head's corner, from 5 mm above the outer slit's end in to the pleat, 1.4 cm from the middle. Snip the pleat's corner off.
  17. Round the abdomen. Six cuts each side round the abdomen out to its side and down, ending in the middle about 1 cm above the bottom point.

Creepy crawly!

With the white gel pen, give it two big eyes, two little ones beside them, two fangs and an hourglass on its abdomen. Then hide it somewhere it will make someone jump.

How to display it

  1. Tape a thread to its back and dangle it from a doorway or a lampshade.
  2. Hide it on a pillow, a cereal box or inside a shoe.
  3. Fold a few in different sizes and scatter them across the Halloween table.

What to fold next