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How to fold an origami unicorn

Fold the body from one triangle: reverse-fold the neck, cut out the legs, fold out a white mane, crimp the head and hang a white tail. Glue on a gold horn.

You need: A 15 cm square, lilac on one side, a 3 cm gold square for the horn, small scissors, a ruler and glue. Hard, 21 steps, about 30 minutes.

Steps

  1. Fold in half. White side up, fold the top corner down to the bottom corner. The long fold at the top is the unicorn's back.
  2. Crease the middle. Fold the triangle in half, right point onto the left point, and crease it hard. This crease marks the back of the front legs.
  3. Open it. Unfold it back into the triangle.
  4. Crease the hind legs. Fold the left point over on an upright crease 3 cm left of the middle crease. This crease marks the front of the hind legs.
  5. Open it. Unfold it again.
  6. Neck back. Outside-reverse-fold the right end back over the body, on an upright crease 1.5 cm right of the middle crease. Each layer wraps round the outside.
  7. Cut the legs. Cut the bottom point off level, 6 cm below the top fold. Cut up both leg creases to 2.5 cm below the top, and straight across between them.
  8. Cut the neck. Cut up the neck fold to 2.25 cm below the top. From there cut the neck flaps to 1.5 cm deep at their tip, and snip the tip off square 1 cm in.
  9. Lift the neck. Outside-reverse-fold the neck up on a crease from its bottom corner, so it stands up and leans forward over the front legs.
  10. Snip the folds. Cut along the neck's back fold to the nose, and 1 cm down the crease at its base. Cut 5 cm along the top fold from the left point.
  11. Mane out. Fold the back edge of each neck layer out, 1 cm wide at the base and tapering to nothing 2.5 cm from the nose, so a white mane shows.
  12. Head back. Fold the top 2.5 cm of each neck layer back over the mane, on a crease from the top of the mane slanting down to the front edge.
  13. Head out. Fold the head back up on a crease from the same corner, so it points forward and down. Glue the two head layers together.
  14. Tail down. Fold each layer of the left point down and back on a crease from the end of the cut, so it hangs as a white tail.
  15. Shape the rump. Cut up the tail crease from below, leaving its top 1.5 cm. Cut the rump from there, curving in to the back of the hind hooves. Trim the tail slimmer.
  16. Horn: new sheet. Set the body aside. Take the little gold square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  17. Horn: fold a kite. Fold the lower left and lower right edges in to meet on the middle line.
  18. Horn: slimmer. Fold the new side edges in to the middle again, from the bottom point, making a slim spike.
  19. Horn: flat end. Fold the short top point behind between the side corners. Glue the layers flat.
  20. Horn: turn it. Turn the horn round so its point aims up and to the right.
  21. Glue on the horn. Glue the flat end of the horn behind the head, just in front of the mane, so the spike points up and forward.

Magic!

Draw a sleepy eye with long lashes, a nostril, twists on the horn and strands in the mane and tail. Snip a fringe into the tail end.

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