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How to fold an origami swordfish

A kite with a silver belly, folded in half. Swing a sickle fin up from the back, split a crescent tail, then glue a long pointed sword onto the snout.

You need: A 15 cm square and a 1.5 × 9 cm strip, blue on one side and white on the other, a 2 × 6 cm dark strip, scissors, glue and a pen. Hard, 17 steps, about 25 minutes.

Steps

  1. Crease the middle. White side up, fold the top corner down to the bottom corner, crease, and unfold.
  2. Fold in the head. Fold the left corner in to the middle of the paper.
  3. Make a kite. Fold the two right-hand edges in toward the middle crease, stopping short so a white wedge 4.5 cm wide at the left end shows down the middle.
  4. Fold in half. Fold the bottom half behind along the middle crease. The fold is the silver belly, the head points left.
  5. Fold the back down. Fold the top of the back down through all layers on a level crease 3.4 cm above the belly.
  6. Snip the fin free. Snip along the new fold from the back tip of the strip forward, about 4.5 cm, stopping a little behind the head.
  7. Swing up the fin. Fold the snipped end of the strip up and back on a low slant from the end of the snip, so it sweeps up like a sickle.
  8. Point the head. Fold the top front corner of the head behind on a slant, then the chin corner, so the head narrows to a snout.
  9. The sword. Set the fish aside. Take the 2 × 6 cm dark strip, lying the long way across.
  10. Sword: fold in half. Fold the strip in half the long way, bottom edge up to the top.
  11. Sword: and again. Fold it in half the long way again, so it's a thin stick.
  12. Sword: cut a point. Cut both long edges in to a sharp point at the left end, keeping the right end full width.
  13. The tail. Set the sword aside too. Take the 1.5 × 9 cm blue strip, blue side down, slanting up to the right.
  14. Tail: fold in half. Fold the strip in half the long way, so it's blue on both sides.
  15. Tail: fold a V. Fold the lower half back across a straight-up crease through the middle, so the two arms open into a wide V.
  16. Tail: point the tips. Cut each arm's end on a long slant, from its inner corner out to a sharp point, so the tail is a crescent.
  17. Glue it together. Glue the tip of the fish's tail over the point of the V, then glue the wide end of the sword under the snout, pointing straight forward.

En garde!

Draw a big round eye behind the sword and a line for the gill.

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