Butterfly
A five-minute butterfly built on the waterbomb base. Use a 15 cm square with a colour you like on one side; the white side shows as a pale band on the lower wings.
Valley foldUnfoldTurn overCollapseMountain fold
Scroll to fold ↓A five-minute butterfly built on the waterbomb base. Use a 15 cm square with a colour you like on one side; the white side shows as a pale band on the lower wings.
Coloured side up, fold the bottom edge up to the top edge, crease firmly and unfold. Turn the paper over.
Fold in half corner to corner, unfold, and repeat along the other diagonal. Turn back to the coloured side.
From this side the diagonals rise and the middle crease sinks. Push the ends of the middle crease in towards each other and let the top half drop down behind. The square flattens into a triangle, coloured side out.
Fold the bottom corners of the front layer only up to the top point. Their edges meet along the middle.
Turn the model over, keeping the point at the top.
Fold the top point down through all the layers so it sticks out about 2 cm past the bottom edge.
Fold the small tip that sticks out back up over the bottom edge. It clamps the layers so the butterfly holds its shape.
Mountain-fold the model in half down the middle so the wings meet behind. Crease the body firmly, then open the wings back out partway.
Open the wings into a shallow V and pinch the body to sharpen it. If the layers spring apart, a dab of glue under the locked tip holds them.
This butterfly is a variation on a design by Akira Yoshizawa (1911–2005), the Japanese folder often called the father of modern origami. Yoshizawa created thousands of models and, with Samuel Randlett and Robert Harbin, developed the system of dashed lines and arrows that origami diagrams still use, including the ones on this site.
The model starts from the waterbomb base, one of a handful of starting shapes that many traditional models share. Once you can collapse a waterbomb base, the rest of the butterfly is a few simple folds and a lock that holds the layers together.
Patterned paper works especially well. The coloured side forms the upper wings and the white side shows as pale bands on the lower wings, so a bold print gives a striking result.
A 15 cm square is easiest to start with. Once you know the steps, 7.5 cm squares make delicate butterflies for cards and garlands.
Yes. Cut an A4 or letter sheet down to a square first. Printer paper is thicker than origami paper, so press each crease hard.
A small dot of glue or a piece of double-sided tape under the body works well and leaves the wings free to lift.
Variation of Akira Yoshizawa’s butterfly. Instructions and diagrams written for this site.