How to Make an Origami Dragon

Category: Origami Animals, Origami Toys

Difficulty: Hard

Follow our step-by-step Origami dragon instructions to fold a majestic paper dragon with ease.

I designed this origami dragon so I may be biased , but I have to say that this is one of the coolest looking ones while being one of the easiest to fold.

Besides being entirely foldable and not too complex, it can also flap when you pull its tail! It looks awesome, it’s easy to fold, and you can play with it. You must fold it today!

The pictures really don’t do it justice. Yes, there’s the neat little horned head and cool dragon tail, but the wings stand out above all with it’s mid flight curvature and gothic form. Fold it and see for yourself how this origami dragon can be so simple, yet so awesome.

The folds are pretty simple and the pictures are pretty self-explanatory. The trickiest fold is probably the wing, but the step-by-step instructions should guide you through it because it’s really not hard at all. Read the steps and look at the images carefully and you’ll get this awesome origami dragon flapping in no time.

Step 1

Start with a square piece of origami paper. I am using an 7×7 inches origami paper.

If you only have regular paper, follow these instructions on how to make a square origami paper.

Step 2

Tilt the paper.

Step 3

Fold the paper in half by folding the top corner to the bottom corner.

Step 4

Now fold the triangle in half by taking the left corner and folding it to the right.

Step 5

Open and spread the top flap.

Step 6

Now crease the left and right sides so you can flatten the flap down.

Step 7

Press the creases well and the fold will look like this.

Step 8

Turn the model over.

Step 9

Make the left flap stand vertically.

Step 10

Now open the flap as shown.

Step 11

Squash the flap down.

Step 12

Fold the top layer of left side to the center.

Step 13

Fold the top layer of right side to the center.

Step 14

Now fold the top triangle down.

Step 15

Unfold the top and both sides.

Step 16

Do a petal fold. First by using the top layer only, lift from the bottom.

Step 17

Now lift it all the way up. Fold in the sides along the crease.

Step 18

Turn the model over.

Step 19

Fold the sides to the center like before.

Step 20

Fold the above flap down like before.

Step 21

Unfold the top and sides.

Step 22

Do another petal fold like step 16 and 17.

Step 23

Let’s make the head. To do this fold the head backwards as shown.

Step 24

Now unfold.

Step 25

Open the head so you can perform an inside reverse fold.

Step 26

Now flatten the inside reverse fold.

Step 27

Inside reverse fold the bottom left flap and make it extend straight out. This is the tail.

Step 28

Unfold the tail.

Step 29

Now perform an inside reverse fold and flatten down.

Step 30

Now back to the head. Fold the tip down as shown.

Step 31

Unfold.

Step 32

Hold the “neck” with one hand, open the fold and push the jaw against the neck with your other hand.

Step 33

Once you get it like the above picture, flatten down.

Step 34

Fold the tip of the head back.

Step 35

Unfold.

Step 36

Open the head.

Step 37

Fold the tip back at the crease.

Step 38

Flatten down.

Step 39

All that’s left is the tail and wings!

Step 40

The neck is too thick. Beginning at the jaw, fold in both sides of the neck as shown.

Step 41

Open the tail.

Step 42

Fold up the tip as shown.

Step 43

Fold most of the tail back out, leaving a small crimp.

Step 44

Re-close the tail.

Step 45

The tail is too thick so to make it thin open it first.

Step 46

Beginning at the tip of the tail, fold the rest of the tail inside to conceal the “fat”.

Step 47

Re-close the tail.

Step 48

Fold the wing down to the corner as shown.

Step 49

Unfold.

Step 50

Open the left flap of the wing.

Step 51

Then fold down the entire wing and tuck inside the loose flap.

Step 52

Close the loose flap over the wing.

Step 53

Open the wing and fold along the left and right corners.

Step 54

With your thumb, push in the right side of the wing so that it pops in.

Step 55

After popping in the right side of wing it should look like the image.

Step 56

Now let’s move on to the second wing.

Step 57

Repeat the step 48-55 on the other wing too.

Step 58

Open the wings. Your dragon is ready to take flight. Hold the chest of the dragon in one hand and pull the tail with the other, then watch it come to life!

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How to Make an Origami Dragon

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