Folding an Origami Crane

    The objective of this lesson is to hone people's skills through practice and clear and concise instructions.

    Hello people and welcome to the last lesson that I will present you, which are instructions on making your first origami crane! But before we start, I'd like to add a little bit of information about why the Crane is so special.

    In Japan, the crane is said to live for 1,000 years, which is why people fold 1,000 of them in hopes of one of their wishes being granted. Cool right? And with this lesson, you can start with your first out of a thousand!

    Continuing from our last lesson, we will be starting off with the Bird Base that we have done before.

Step 1) The completed petal fold. At this point you also have a completed bird base. Next we’re going to fold the neck and the tail. Fold the top flap on the right to the centre along the dotted line.

Step 2) Fold the top flap on the left to the centre along the dotted line as well.

Step 3) Turn the model over, we’re going to repeat the last two steps on the other side.

Step 4) Fold the long thin section of paper on the right up along the dotted line. Crease well and unfold.

Step 5) Fold the long thin section of paper on the left up just like you did on the other side. Crease well and unfold.

Step 6) Flip the model and do the last few steps on the other side.

Step 7) Now we’re going to make an inside reverse fold along the creases you just made on the right side of the model.

Step 8) Lift the paper up inside the model along the creases you already made and flatten everything.

Step 9) Make another inside reverse fold along the creases you already made along the left side of the model and do the last few steps on this side.

Step 10) Now we’re going to fold the head. Fold the long thin section of paper on the right down along the dotted line. Fold it both ways. Crease well and unfold. Then make an inside reverse fold. The head is then folded inside the neck. 

Step 11) Fold down the wings on both sides along the dotted line.

The completed origami crane

Congratulations, you've made your first origami crane!

I hope this was a fun experience for you, because it was for me. If ever, for some reason, you haven't read the two previous lessons, then let me provide these links for you. Thank you for following along the lessons until now!

                 First Lesson                                                                         Second Lesson