Origami Crane Tutorial

The crane is one of the most popular origami animals, and quite easy to make:

Start out with a square of paper. I almost always say that you can use any size paper you want, but this is really a good project if you'd like to try a smaller piece of paper because it's so simple. 

Fold diagonally.

Fold that triangle in half.

Pull up the uppermost layer...

...and start squishing it down...

...and then flatten it all the way.

Then flip it over to the other side...

...And do all that again.

Now, make sure the open end is at the bottom. Fold one side in to the center.

Do the same for the other three.

Fold the top triangle down and crease.

Then unfold everything until you get a square.

Start pulling the uppermost layer up.

And squeeze the corners in.

And then push it flat.

Do this for the other side too.

You should have four movable triangles in two stacks of two. Pull the top one on the right stack over to the left stack. Then flip it over and do the same.

You should end up with this.

Push the tip of one of the triangles down. This will be the head. The one that you didn't push down is the tail.

Pull the two triangles up. They're the wings.

Bend the wings downward and curve or crease them however you like. 

You're done!

Legend has it that if you make 1000 of these paper cranes, you get a wish. Here's my 1000:

That's not my goal this time around though. Stay tuned to see what I'm going to do with the ones I made today ;)