How to Make an Origami Sphinx

Origami is an ancient Japanese paper folding art that can have easy or complex designs. Making origami is a fun, inexpensive pastime for children or adults. The subjects used for origami are most often animals or anything found in nature. Follow these easy steps to make an origami sphinx.

Instructions

Initial Steps

1. Use a lightweight paper for making origami. Traditional origami paper is colored only on one side, but any paper of any color will do. Computer printer paper works fine.

2. Cut your paper to size. Fold your paper in half diagonally, forming a triangle. Open the paper back up to a square. Fold your paper in half diagonally again, bringing the other two corners together. Open the paper back up.

3. Fold the paper in half to make a rectangle and open it back up. Fold the paper in half the other way and open it back up. Fold two opposite sides of the square inward aligning the edges with the center crease to form a rectangle.

4. Take one corner of the rectangle and fold it to form a triangle, aligning its edge along one long side of the rectangle. Then open it back up and fold the other corner next to it. Next open it back up until you have an X of creases.

5. Put your fingers under the flaps of paper you just finished "X"ing and pull the corners outward until they form a canoe shape. Fold into the canoe shape, aligning the top edges.

6. Take one lower corner of the canoe shape and fold it from the bottom middle of the canoe shape to the wide end point of the top of the canoe shape, forming a small triangle, and crease well. Do the same for the other side.

More Advanced Steps

1. Go to the other end of your figure and fold the two diagonal creases under to form a triangular shape. Pick up the figure and do a valley fold, folding the entire figure in half down the middle where the two sides of the paper come together, keeping the small folds that you just made on top.

2. Take the short side of the figure and from its long point fold up on it to form another small triangle whose point sticks out about a centimeter beyond the edge of the figure and crease it. Fold it to the opposite side also and crease it and open it back up.

3. Push the end point where you just made the folds up through the middle of the figure along the creases you just made to create an inverse fold. Then push the sides of the figure in to crease.

4. Fold two-thirds of the figure over the end that looks like bunny ears and reverse the fold creasing it on both sides and opening it back up. Go about a third of the way down the figure and make a parallel fold, creasing it both ways and opening it back up.

5. Open up the figure and grasping the right end with your index finger inside of the inverse fold you just made, push the right end toward the left so it folds under the left side along the creases you just made. It will make the neck of the sphinx shorter.

6. Take the small point on top, which is the sphinx's nose, and fold the tip of it sideways in each direction and open it back up. Push in on the middle of it to create its flat nose. Set the figure down and admire your completed sphinx.

Tips & Warnings

• Any square is acceptable, but a common size for origami paper is six by six inches.