How to fold an origami crane

If you want to join in with folding 1000 cranes, here's how you do it (apologies for the somewhat blurry photos):


1. starting with a square piece of paper, fold in half diagonally


2. fold in half diagonally again, so it's in quarters


3. lifting the triangular flap you just made, open it out and press it down


4. it should look like this


5. turn over and repeat on the other side


6. fold the edges into the middle. turn over and repeat


7. you should have a kite shape


8. fold the top triangle down along the top of the previous folds (so it makes an inverted triangle)


9. unfold the folds from steps 7 and 8. lift the front flap along the fold from step 8 (it looks like a bird's beak)


10. flatten out. turn over and repeat. (incidentally, this is the bird base)


11. fold the lower outside edges into the middle. turn over and repeat


12. it should look like this


13. turn the right hand flap over as if turning the page of a book (i know that sound rubbish, but it's hard to describe! you should see what i mean)


14. it will look like this


15. fold the bottom point up to meet the top point


16. turn over and repeat steps 13 to 15. it will end up looking like this


17. turn the sides over, again like turning the pages of a book. it will look like this


18. gently pull the inside points out from the centre. you just kind of squash the bottom bits down to keep them in place


19. it will look like this


20. fold the front flaps down - you'll see a natural place to fold them along the middle bit. turn over and repeat


21. take the top of one of the points and gently fold it down. as you fold it down, you'll see a crease in the middle - if you press on that, it will sort of collapse in on itself and create the crane's head


22. it will look like this - you can see how it looks like a crane now!


23. take the wings and gently pull them apart. you'll see a square bit forming in the middle


24. press the square bit down gently and it will pop into place. this is the body of the crane


25. ta da! crane is done!