30 Jan 2011 4 Comments
Paper Crane & Twin birds – Lesson 1
When you google “origami,” one of the first products that appears is a paper crane. I didn’t want to give you just a plain crane, but also one of many variations that you can make with cranes – twin cranes.
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How to make a basic Paper Crane
What you need:
- 1 sheet of plain square paper (preferably thinner origami paper with no pattern on it)
Instructions:
1. Lay the paper back side up.
2. Fold in half diagonally
3. Fold in half again
4. Take RED corner to BLUE point, inflating the double arrow and fold down
5. Flip it up-side-down and take the RED corner to the BLUE point, inflating the double arrow
6. Make sure the part that is The Connecting Corner is on your left and fold in along the center diagonal line
7. Fold the connecting corner in
8. Flip it and do the same thing – make sure the connecting corner is on your left
10. Fold along the crease you made in step 6-8
14. Take one flap and fold up – it’ll be the neck or tail
15. Fold some angles so that they look like the neck and tail
16. Decide whichever you’d like to make it as a neck, and fold in as picture shows
17. Now it’s the fun time – puff up the belly! Take white corners and then yellow corners, use your commonsense and don’t rip the poor crane. If it’s not enough, you can pull the wings to make a nice puff.
How to make Twin Cranes
What you need:
- 1 sheet of plain paper cut in half (preferably thinner origami paper with no pattern on it)
Instructions:
1. Cut a paper into half
2. Fold and crease the half line
3. Mark the half way, and cut the RED line
4. Make cranes as explained above
* Some points to note
It’ll be a bit difficult during the processes when folding cranes, since they are connected. When you get confused with which direction it was, remember that the two birds are connected at their wings, but not their tails.
When you successfully finish the first bird, it should look like this.
Good luck! Please let me know if you have questions and don’t forget to send me pictures of your cranes!
(hayrowkitty@usefulorigami.com)
Feb 28, 2011 @ 00:24:43
I once made about 100 of these cranes for one of my kids grade schools. They were reading the book 100 Paper Cranes. It was such a great project for both parents and kids alike.
Feb 28, 2011 @ 00:44:19
Dear Mrs. Seguin,
That’s great! Our elementary school teacher had us (30 students in class) write a short message on the back side of origami paper in the class and we made 10 cranes each to encourage the student that had been sick in a hospital bed! I like how origami products can be something more than just paper crafts.
May 09, 2011 @ 15:23:58
Hiromi, I really love this blog. I actually learned how to make a paper crane when I was in the 3rd grade, after reading the book “1000 Paper Cranes” – my class even made 1,000 to give to another teacher in our school that had open-heart surgery. Anyway, all the pictures and directions you include are really clear and helpful, even though the actual folding can be confusing sometimes. Great job!
May 09, 2011 @ 18:41:30
Joel -
Thank you for your encouragement! It’s great to hear your opinion and story. It is surprising that so many people know of the story, too!