All models

How to fold an origami stork

A strip cut free along the back stretches out as the neck, and the bottom point is cut and folded up behind as one wing. A folded wing, red legs and bill and a bundle are glued on.

You need: Two 15 cm squares, pale grey on one side and white on the other; red strips 0.8 × 16.5 cm and 1.6 × 3.2 cm; a pale blue 4.2 cm square; scissors, glue. Hard, 19 steps, about 30 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. Grey square, white side up, turned like a diamond. Fold the top corner down to the bottom corner. The long fold on top is the back.
  2. Crease a strip. Fold the top edge down 1.2 cm along its whole length, through all the layers, and crease it hard.
  3. Open it. Unfold the strip again. You will cut along its crease to free a long neck.
  4. Neck and body. Cut along the crease from the right edge to 3 cm right of the middle, then straight down to the bottom point. Round the chest; snip the tail square.
  5. Free the far wing. Cut the front layer only along a line 3 cm below the back. Throw the bottom piece away; the back layer's point stays.
  6. Far wing up. Fold the back layer's point up behind along the cut edge: the far wing rises behind the back.
  7. Bill: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take the short red strip.
  8. Fold the bill. Fold it in half lengthwise so it is red on both sides.
  9. Point the bill. Cut it from one corner of the end to the other end of the fold: a long pointed bill.
  10. Wing: new sheet. Set the bill aside. Take the second grey square and cut a rectangle 11 × 6.3 cm. Lay it white side up, slanting as shown.
  11. Fold the wing. Fold it in half lengthwise, the right long edge over onto the left one. The fold is the front of the wing.
  12. Round the tip. Round off the top end in three short cuts, from 3 cm below the end on the open edges to just below the end on the fold.
  13. Bundle: new sheet. Set the wing aside. Take the blue square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  14. Fold the bundle. Fold the bottom corner up to the top corner.
  15. Tie the knot. Fold the left and right corners up beside the top point, from just either side of the middle of the bottom fold: a little cloth bundle.
  16. Legs: new sheet. Set the bundle aside. Take the long red strip, lying flat.
  17. Fold the strip. Fold it in half lengthwise, the bottom edge up onto the top edge, so it is red on both sides.
  18. Two legs. Fold the right half back over the left on a crease across the middle, slanting a little, so the two legs trail behind in a narrow V.
  19. Glue it together. Glue the body over the legs' fold so they trail back. Glue the bill on the neck's tip, the wing over the back, and hang the bundle from the bill.

Special delivery!

Ink the back edge of the big wing and the tip of the far wing black, draw an eye, and a thread from the bill's tip to the bundle's knot.

What to fold next