Origami Man Swatter Instructions

The man swatter mimics the shape of a fly swatter.

The man swatter is an origami model which features a paper fly swatter with the image of a human squashed on one side. The intent of the model is to amuse others as you smack the paper fly swatter on the table then reveal that you have "squashed" a tiny man instead of a fly. Folding the origami man swatter takes only one piece of origami paper.

Things You'll Need

• Square origami paper

Instructions

1. Place the origami paper in front of you on the table with the white side facing upwards. Position the paper so that a corner is directly pointed at you. Fold in the bottom left and right hand sides of the paper until they meet in the middle. This is known as a kite base. The resulting figure looks like a small white triangle on top of a long isosceles colored triangle.

2. Turn the paper over horizontally so that now you only see a long diamond colored shape. Fold the top left and right edges down about a half inch. This is known as a "rabbit ear" fold. These white strips will be the limbs of the man.

3. Turn the paper over horizontally again and fold the top white triangle down into a square base. A square base is achieved by pulling the top point of the triangle down and pinching in the two sides at the same time. Crease all folds so that the paper lies flat. You should now see that the origami makes a colored diamond shape, but there is a little blue flap at the top pointing down.

4. Fold the left and right bottom sides of that little blue flap in towards the middle of the flap to create another kite fold.

5. Fold the top point of the paper down to create a flat top. This is called a valley fold. You should now see the two white strips you created earlier are facing you vertically. Pull the left strip out to the left and pull the right strip out to the right. Keep the top flattened. The white strips will now appear to be making a "V" shape.

6. Perform an asymmetrical squash fold on each of the flaps with the white strips. An asymmetrical squash fold is performed by lifting up the flap and squashing it down so that the left or right most crease is now the middle of the flap. After the two asymmetrical squash folds, the two white strips should still be making a "V" shape, only they will be smaller.

7. Fold the bottom of the "V" formed by the white strips upwards, folding the "V" in half. You will no longer be able to see the "V." Instead, you will see a small white triangle. Create rabbit ear folds along the left and right sides of the white triangle, but unfold them. You are only trying to create creases here, not folds.

8. Fold the white triangle back down to its original position, revealing the "V" again. Pull down the top tip of the entire paper. The tip should be split in the middle by the adjoining of two flaps. Pull the left flap down to the left, and pull the right flap down to the right. This will reveal the "body" of the man. Now you should see a white strip in the middle of the colored diamond with a white strip running perpendicular to it. The vertical white strip is the man's body and the horizontal white strip is the man's arms.

9. Fold the two flaps that meet in the middle of the colored diamond about half way down the paper to separate the man's legs into a spread eagle shape. Create two vertical parallel folds along the entirety of the colored diamond to form a rectangular shape which will be the man swatter.

10. Pinch the paper just below the white "man" figure on the swatter and tightly twist the paper into a thin cylinder which will act as the swatter's handle.

References

• "Origami to Astonish and Amuse"; Jeremy Shafer; 2001