How to fold an origami viking longship
Fold one long brown sheet into a strip. Reverse-fold both ends up into a tall dragon prow and a curling stern, then glue on a red sail with a white stripe.
You need: Brown paper 45 × 9 cm, red paper 15 × 14 cm, glue and a white pen. Hard, 12 steps, about 35 minutes.
Steps
- Edges to the middle. Start white side up. Fold the top and bottom edges in to meet along the middle.
- Fold in half. Mountain-fold it in half along the middle, so the top half goes behind. Now it is a long strip, brown on both sides: the hull.
- Pleat: fold up. Fold the bottom edge up a little way on the front, and the same on the back.
- Pleat: fold down. Fold the edges back down, half as far, on both sides. The pleat makes a ridge along the hull, like the planks of a real ship.
- Prow. Outside-reverse-fold the right end up on a slant from the bottom edge, so it climbs steeply forward.
- Dragon head. High up, fold the end of the prow forward on a long slant, through all the layers, so it points out over the sea like a dragon's head.
- Stern. Outside-reverse-fold the left end up on a slant from the bottom edge, so it climbs steeply backward.
- Curl the tail. High up, fold the end of the stern forward on a long slant, through all the layers, so it curls in over the deck.
- Sail: new sheet. Set the ship aside. Take the red paper, white side up.
- Stripe. Fold the left and right edges in, leaving a white stripe down the middle between them.
- Billow. Fold the two bottom corners behind on a slant, so the sail swells out at the top like it's full of wind.
- Raise the sail. Glue the sail behind the middle of the ship, its bottom hidden behind the hull.
Row, row!
Draw a row of round white shields along the side. Sail off to find new lands!