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How to fold an origami swordfish leap

A kite with a silver belly folded in half. Snip and swing up a tall fin, lift the tail and split it into a fork, tip it into a leap and add a folded sword.

You need: 1 square sheet (15 cm), blue on one side and white on the other, a 6 cm dark grey square, scissors, glue and a black pen. Hard, 17 steps, about 30 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 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. Round the head. Fold the top front corner of the head behind on a long slant, then the chin corner, so the head tapers to the nose.
  6. Fold the back behind. Fold the top of the back behind through all layers on a level crease 3 cm above the belly.
  7. Snip the fin free. Snip along the new fold from the back tip of the hidden strip forward, about 5 cm, to the middle of the body.
  8. Swing up the fin. Fold the snipped end of the strip up behind on a low slant from the end of the snip, so it sweeps up and back like a sickle.
  9. Tail up. Fold the tail up through all layers on a crease from 8.5 cm before its tip, slanting up toward the tip.
  10. Snip the tail. Snip 3.5 cm along the tail's folded edge from the tip, so its front and back layers come apart.
  11. Fork the tail. Fold the front tip down and back from the end of the snip. The back tip stays up, so the tail is a deep fork.
  12. Leap!. Tip the fish nose-up, so it arcs out of the water.
  13. The sword. Set the fish aside. Take the 6 cm dark square, white side up, turned like a diamond with a corner pointing at the fish's nose.
  14. Sword: make a kite. Fold the two edges beside the front point in to the middle, so the front point is long.
  15. Sword: narrow it. Fold the new edges in to the middle again, so the point is long and thin.
  16. Sword: fold in half. Fold it in half along its length, so the sword is a slim spike.
  17. Add the sword. Glue the wide end of the sword behind the head, so the spike sticks straight out from the nose.

Splash!

Draw a big eye just behind the sword and a curved gill line.

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