Diagrams for Origami Models
For the PDF files, you will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader.
These diagrams are sorted by the designer of the model. In the description is also a ranking of the model's difficulty. In most cases, this ranking is based on my own assessment of the model's difficulty. The ranking system used is the one used by OrigamiUSA. From easiest to hardest, it is:
- Simple
- Low Intermediate
- Intermediate
- High Intermediate
- Complex
- Joseph Wu
- Jack-o-lantern [PDF] NEW
- An easy jack-o-lantern for Hallowe'en. Diagrammed by Himanshu Agrawal. Intermediate.
- Jack-o-lantern [PDF] NEW
- An easy jack-o-lantern for Hallowe'en. Diagrammed by Hadi Tahir. Intermediate.
- Armadillo [PDF]
- This armadillo was the result of a challenge by my friend, Paul Lalonde. You can see a photo of it in the Gallery. High intermediate.
- Base for Kawasaki's rose (Calyx) [PDF]
- A set of leaves to be used to display Kawasaki's rose. This was originally designed for the "old" rose, but works almost as well for the "new" one. Doug Philips calls this a calyx. High intermediate.
- Birdbase Chess Set [PDF]
- An exercise in exploring the possibilities of a single base. Each chess piece is folded from the same-sized square. High intermediate.
- Do Yourself a Favour [PDF]
- A bride and groom set I designed in 2004 as favours for a friend's wedding. Since there were over 350 guests, I suggested we print out instructions and provide origami paper for them to make their own favours, hence the title. Intermediate.
- Eagle [PDF]
- This eagle starts with a frog base. I really should include the frog base diagrams with these instructions, but I was lazy when I first drew them. Intermediate. (Update: you can find frog base diagrams here: [PDF].)
- Eastern Dragon [PDF]
- The much requested Eastern dragon. High intermediate.
- Formalizing Origami Guesswork [PDF]
- Certain models by John Montroll required "guesstimating" to find some landmark points. Based on the work of some Japanese folders, I have diagrammed some accurate ways of finding these landmarks. Low intermediate.
- Great White Shark [PDF]
- The shark created for the New York Times. Complex. (Do not attempt unless you are an experienced paperfolder.)
- Silver & Golden Rectangles [PDF]
- Instructions for how to produce rectangles using silver and golden ratios. The silver ratio is used for the A series of papers (such as A4 paper), and is 1:square root of 2. The golden ratio forms a rectangle such that if you cut off a square, the remaining rectangle has the same ratio as the original rectangle. Low intermediate.
- Snowflake [PDF]
- A high intermediate snowflake, created at the request of Doug Philips.
- Snowman with Santa Hat [PDF]
- An intermediate snowman and hat, just in time for Christmas 2004.
- Stegosaurus (One-fold) [PDF]
- The one-fold stegosaurus was created in response to a joke request by Jonathan Baxter. Simple.
- Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) [PDF]
- Partial crease pattern only (not a full set of instructions).
- Yuan Bao [PDF]
- A yuan bao is a small metal ingot that was used in ancient China as money. Most of them were of silver, but gold ones did exist. High intermediate.
- Xander D. Arena
- Rabbit [PDF]
- Xander's new rabbit design. Not yet rated.
- Perry Bailey
- Steven Casey
- Santa Claus [PDF]
- A high intermediate Santa Claus. This is the model that inspired the "Father Christmas" model by Steve and Megumi Biddle that can be found in their book, Step-by-step Origami (called Essenstial Origami in the USA).
- Winson Chan
- Angled Modular (Hacky Sack) [PDF]
- A long, thin modular unit useful for making various geodesic structures. High intermediate.
- Rose (by KAWASAKI Toshikazu) [PDF]
- The famous "new" rose by Kawasaki, diagrammed by Winson Chan. Winson learned the rose by reverse-engineering the one that I folded for him. Complex.
- Tower Box [PDF]
- Stackable modular boxes a la FUSE Tomoko. Intermediate.
- Joe Gilardi
- Robin Glynn
- Max Hulme
- Seal [GIF]
- A high intermediate seal.
- Marc Kirschenbaum
- Wayne Ko
- Chi-Wing Fighter [PDF]
- A familiar star fighter from a popular movie trilogy. Diagrammed by Winson Chan. High intermediate.
- Robert Lang
- Spenjurmunni [PDF]
- Robert writes: "Any resemblance between this origami design and a character from any irritating-sound-producing videogame, overpriced trading card, or mind-numbing, poorly-animated TV show, is purely coincidental."
- Nick Robinson
- Toad [GIF]
- An intermediate toad.