How to fold an origami whale shark
A kite with a white belly folded in half. Keep the head blunt and wide, snip and swing up a tall fin, lift the tail and split it into a crescent, then add the spots.
You need: 1 square sheet (15 cm), dark blue-grey on one side and white on the other, scissors, a white pen and a black pen. Hard, 11 steps, about 25 minutes.
Steps
- Crease the middle. White side up, fold the top corner down to the bottom corner, crease, and unfold.
- Fold in the head. Fold the left corner in to the middle of the paper. Its straight edge will be the wide, flat front of the head.
- Make a kite. Fold the two right-hand edges in toward the middle crease, stopping short so a white wedge shows down the middle.
- Fold in half. Fold the bottom half behind along the middle crease. The fold is the white belly, the head points left.
- Fold the back down. Fold the top of the back down behind through all layers on a level crease 4 cm above the belly.
- Snip the fin free. Snip along the new fold from the back tip of the hidden strip forward, about 3 cm, to just past the middle.
- Swing up the fin. Fold the snipped end of the strip up behind on a slant from the end of the snip, so it stands tall above the back: the fin.
- Round the head. Fold just the top and bottom corners of the front behind, so the head stays wide and flat but loses its sharp corners.
- Lift the tail. Fold the tail up through all layers on a crease 7 cm before its tip, slanting up toward the tip, so the tail rises.
- Snip the tail. Snip 3 cm along the tail's folded edge from the tip, so its front and back layers come apart.
- Spread 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 tall crescent.
Gentle giant!
Dot white spots all over the back, draw a small eye, a wide mouth across the front and three gill lines.