Pokémon Origami!

A few days ago a Pokémon origami book came out but I was a little disappointed with some of the designs. In particular Pikachu didn't look too good, and it required cutting, a big no-no in origami. I decided to design my own Pikachu, and although I really don't know anything about origami I think it didn't turn out too bad, so I'm sharing the design (I apologize in advance to the true origami enthusiasts who will cringe at my crappy technique and sloppy folding, not to mention the "cheating" ^_^;)

Anyway, I hope the instructions below are understandable, I really put this together carelessly without much thought. It may help that "Step 5" is a very common "base" fold, which is described in better detail [here] (pages 1-3).

If you have any scans of Pikachu origami you'd like to share please send them to me, I'll [post] them below. Thanks!

Make a diagonal "valley" fold...

...like this: Unfold and do the same for the other diagonal.

Make two perpendicular "mountain" folds:

Which should give you the following creases:

The paper should now easily fold into a diamond shape with four "flaps", as shown below. Fold the two front flaps so that their outer borders meet at the middle:

Turn the paper around and repeat the process with the other two "flaps".

Fold the upper "triangle" back and forth a couple of times:

Here's the tricky part. Unfold the flaps and "open" the origami so that it resembles an elongated diamond. Repeat the process on the other side...
<- Flatten it out!

OK, now find the end of the origami where the paper is split along the middle, and fold each tip outwards:
These are Pikachu's ears!

Fold the lower, frontal triangular flap upwards...

Now fold the upper tip so that the top of the paper is aligned with the base of the ears:

Fold the other big triangle towards the back:

Turn the origami around. Fold the big triangular flap twice to make the tail:

Fold the edges of the lower triangle:

Lucky 13! I guess because we "cheat" here, adding Mr. Pikachu's features. What a cute little guy! ^o^ You could also draw his paws, and stripes, or whatever else you like! Yay!

Here's a Youtube link from sith lord. Thanks for the shout-out!

Regina Magalhaes has sent me some very nice Pikachus based on my design! There'a a picture below:

Please visit her website at http://www.ibo.com.br/arte, it's really cool!

Here's a great-looking Pikachu (oops, I mean Spenjurmunni ;) from a considerably better origamist than I: [spenjurm.pdf]. The creator seems to dislike Pokémon, I wonder why he made it? And so well! :)

A Jigglypuff origami! Take a look [here].

Impress your friends when you bookmark Eco's Foucault's Pendulum with Ai-chan! Here are the template figures:

Making the bookmarks is straightforward:

• Print the template on a colour printer. Each page has two copies of the figure (one for each side of the bookmark). The resulting size of each is about 20 x 25.5 cm. Carefully cut them out.
• Cut a piece of cardboard (thin, preferably white) of the same size (approx. 20 x 25.5 cm -- use the template cutout as a guide!) This is the "spine" of the bookmark. Paste the pictures on each side of the cardboard using a glue stick. Make sure it's well flattened e.g. put it under a pile of books for a day or so.
• Buy a clear, plastic laminating sheet. Quality is important (I used a 3M sheet which requires no heating). Make sure it's large enough so as to allow at least a 2 cm border around the bookmark (I used letter-sized sheets).
• Follow the instructions on the sheet package to laminate your bookmark. Once it's securely protected by the plastic cut out the bookmark, leaving a 1 cm border on all sides except the top, which should be about 2 cm.
• Almost done! Now just make a nice hole (using a puncher) through the top plastic border and tie a pretty ribbon through it. Finished! ^-^

I hope you find these bookmarks useful, and hope you have fun making them!

Did you like it? Let me know at: [marco@reimeika.ca]. Also, please visit my way cool [Gunnm] web page!

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