When I was a child, I picked up a couple origami books out of curiosity from a shop in Japantown in downtown San Jose.
I was pretty interested in origami for a while, but eventually my Nintendo ended up consuming most of my time and
I lost patience in paper folding. I've since forgotten how to make everything but one design, a fish, which I will detail here.
Drop me a /msg if you run into any problems making the fish and I'll be happy to help.
Step 1: Start with a sheet of
origami paper (or any square sheet of paper) and make a
diagonal
fold across it, joining
corners (
A) and (
B).
Note: In all the diagrams below, the dots represent where the folds should be made.
(B)
+--------------------------------------+
|.. |
| .. |
| .. |
| .. |
| .. |
| .. |
| ... |
| .. |
| .. |
| .. |
| .. |
| ... |
| .. |
| .. |
| .. |
| .. |
| .. |
| ..|
+--------------------------------------+
(A)
Step 2: Next, fold points (
C) and (
D) so that they
touch (
E), forming a square.
(C)
+-
| --
| --
| --
| --
| -
| --
| -
| --
| --
|.................. --
| . --
| . --
| . --
| . --
| . --
| . --
| . --
| . --
+--------------------------------------+
(E) (D)
Step 3: Take the
flaps made by
corners (
C) and (
D) from the previous step and fold them in half, back to point (
E). (Just the
flaps, don't fold the entire
square into a
triangle)
Note: Diagrams from here on have been are blown up at a 1:4
ratio to better
illustrate the folds.
(E)
+--------------------------------------+
| .. -- |
| .. -- |
| .. -- |
| .. -- |
| .. -- |
| .. -- |
| .. -- |
| .. -- |
| ..-- |
| --.. |
| -- .. |
| -- .. |
| -- .. |
| -- .. |
| -- .. |
| -- .. |
| -- .. |
(C)| -- .. |
+--------------------------------------+
(D)
Step 4: Next, we form the
fins. Fold the same
corners,(
C) and (
D), at a 45 degree angle. The corners should end up where the "X"s are.
X
(C)
+------------------------.-------------+
| -- . -- |(D)
| -- . -- |
| -- . -- |
| -- . -- |
| -- . -- ..
| -- . -- .... |
| -- . -- .... |
| -- . -- ... |
| -.-- .... |
| --.. | X
| -- |
| -- |
| -- |
| -- |
| -- |
| -- |
| -- |
| -- |
+--------------------------------------+
Step 5: In this step, we'll make a series of small folds. Start by looking at the
diagram in the next step to get an idea of what it should end up looking like.
In the lower left corner of the square, there are two layers of paper. Take the corner of the top layer, (
F), and fold it to the 2. Then fold the 1 to the 3, and 2 to the 4, and finally 4 to the 5. These are the fish's lips.
\
|\
| \\
| \
| \
+------------------| >-------------+
| -- | / -- |
| -- | / -- |
| -- | / -- |
| -- | / -- |
|.. -- | / -- -^\
| .. -- | / -- ---- \\
| .. -- | / 5-- ----- \\
| .. -- | /-- ---- \
|.. .. -|/----- \\
| .. .. -----------------------------\
| .. .4 --- |
|. .. .. -- |
| .. .3 .. -- |
| .. . .. -- |
|. 2. .. .. -- |
| .. . .. .. -- |
| 1. .. .. .. -- |
| .. .. .. .. -- |
+--------------------------------------+
(F)
Step 6: Ok, this step is a bit harder to represent in a diagram.
Slide your finger into the
pocket at point (
H), and pull up while pushing the lower layer of paper down.
Points (
J) and (
I) will be pulled towards each other.
\
|\
| \\
| \
(I) | \
+------------------| >-------------+
| -- \\ | / -- |
| -- \\ | / -- |
| -- \\ | / -- |
| -- \\| / -- |
| -- \\ / -- -^\
| -- \\ -- ---- \\
| -- \\- ----- \\
| -- \\--- \
| - \\ \\
| (H) --- \\-----------------\
| --- \\ |
| -- \\ |
| -- \\ |
| -- \\|
| -- |
| -- |
| -- |
| -- |
+--------------------------------------+
(J)
Step 7: Cut or very carefully tear along the "X"s. Be careful not to cut off the tail!
/\
// \\
// \\
// \\
// \\
/ \\
// \\
// ----- \\
//\ ------ --- \\
\(H)\--- -- \\
\\ \-------------------- \\
\\ \\ x \\
\\ \\ xx \\
\\ \\ x \\
\ \\ xx \\
\\ \\ x \\
\\ | xx \\
\\ | x \\
\\| xx \\
\x-----------------------------------
(I,J)
Step 8: Finally, spread corners (
I) and (
J) a bit and fold the tail upward, tucking point (
K)
inside the body to the
X in the diagram.
/\
// \\
// \\
// \\
// \\
/ \\
// .\
// ----- . \\
//\ ------ -- . \
\ \---- X -- . (K) \\
\\ ---------------------. \\
\\ \\ . / \\
\\ \\ .// \\
\\ \\ / \\
\ \\ // \\
\\ \\ / \\
\\ | // \\
\\ | / \\
\\| // \\
\/-----------------------------------
(I,J)
Finished!
/\ /|
// \\ // |
// \\ // |
// \\ // |
// \\ // |
/ \\ // |
// \\ // |
// ----- \ / |
//\ ------ --- | |
\ \---- -- | |
\ --------------------- | |
\\ \\ | |
\\ \\ /- |
\\ \\ // -- |
\ \\ // -- |
\\ \\ // -- |
\\ | / -- |
\\ | // -- |
\\| // -- |
\/ -|