Origami Crane Tutorial

As I was perusing Facebook the other day, I ran across a group called Paper Cranes for Japan. Intrigued, I clicked through to the group and discovered that Students Rebuild had partnered with Do Something.Org to give students a way to support the Japanese people. More information on their project can be found here: http://studentsrebuild.org/japan/.

I decided I would make a few cranes to send, and since I didn’t have any origami paper on hand, I printed up some paper from Penny’s latest whimsical scoop with Shawna Clingerman, Golden Afternoon. I just love the doodled goodness and lighthearted feel this kit has!

Very few tools are required for this project. I used one 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of plain copy paper, as presentation paper is entirely too thick to use for origami. I used my Fiskars paper cutter to cut my squares, and then used a bone folder to help crease the paper. Both of these tools are optional. You can use scissors to cut your squares and use your fingernail to make a sharp crease at each fold.

This tutorial is really photo heavy but I took a photo of every single fold I made in hopes that it would be pretty clear how to create the paper crane. Don’t be intimidated  by the number of photos – have you ever sat down and written out the steps to making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? This is pretty similar, without the sticky mess!

First I opened an 8.5″ x 11″ canvas in Photoshop CS5. Then I created a 4.25″ square clipping mask, so that I could get four squares out of one sheet of paper. I duplicated the clipping mask four times, and then clipped four different papers to the masks. I changed my printer settings to “best” and “plain paper” and then printed out the sheet.

Then I cut out the squares and started folding.

Fold square in half with the pattern on the outside.

Now unfold the square and fold the other side. The crease lines will create four squares on the paper.

Unfold the paper.

With the pattern on the inside this time, fold one corner up to the opposite corner.

Unfold the paper and then repeat this step with the other two corners.

With the pattern side down, give the center a little push.

Fold each side down like this.

Flatten the square. Then fold one corner into the center line.

Do the same on the opposite side.

Fold the top triangle down and away from the side you just folded.

Here’s the view from the opposite side.

Flip the paper back over and open up the top layer from the bottom, like this.

Fold the two sides in toward the center.

Flatten the folds.

Now repeat these steps on the opposite side.

Push the top triangle toward the top.

Fold in each side toward the middle.

Unfold the sides.

Open the top layer.

Fold the edges toward the middle.

Fold one side at a 45° angle away from the center.

Do the same on the other side. One side will be the crane’s head, the other will be the tail.

Fold these pieces back down, and make another fold in the top layer toward the center.

Do the same fold on the other side.

Flip the paper over and do the same on the opposite side, so you end up with this.
This is what your paper should look like now.

Open the sides and fold the end up as far as you can.

It should go all the way to the top on the other side.

Now fold this piece halfway down and this becomes the crane’s head.

Do the same on the opposite side, but leave the piece straight. This becomes the crane’s tail.

Look! A crane!

You can leave it like this if you like.

 

 

Or you can grasp the wings and pull very gently down, which will cause the back of the crane to flatten a bit. Then you can give the wings a little lift by bending them up just a touch.

If you make any of these, please come back and leave a gallery link so I can leave you some gallery love! I’m off to fold a few more and then package them up to send off to Students Rebuild!

Thanks for stopping by!