The Origami Forum

Greeting from St. Louis, MO!

Can anyone help demistify how to get from step 14 to step 15 of the origami instructions for a squirrel found at:

http://dev.origami.com/images_pdf/squirrel_fg.pdf

I am totally stumped (I don't understand the indications of the dashed lines and how a double rabbit ear fold is involved).

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Good Folding!

Tom

Hi Tom,

I had a look just now, and if I understood the diagrams correctly, I wouldn't describe step 14-15 as a double rabbit ear fold. Indeed, I'd say it's a reverse fold, once on the front, once on the back of the foot. The creases that are indicated will come automatically if you [step 14]
* align the top leftraw edge to meet the inner edge, and then
* fold in the other edge as indicated (so that the crease ends where the top of the foot meets the belly], and then
* press flat.
Repeat behind to finish one foot.

Hope this helps,

-- Sara

Yeah, like Sara said, I'm having a go of folding it now, and it's definitely not a rabbit ear.
Reverse folds on each side would be a better description I think.
As a general rule, I'd say you're always better off folding just from the pictures, and only reading the words if you really get stuck.
In this case, as long as it forms a foot shape in the end, and is the right colour, I wouldn't worry too much about exactly how you folded it.

Hi Sara and Spiritofcat,

Thank you for your explanations and verifying that a rabbit ear fold is not involved. Being a relative beginner, I am still not sure how to interpret the diagram to explain which part gets the 'reverse fold'.

The following questions may be relevent:

1) Do the left valley fold dashed line (shown ending in the colored region of the paper) and the long dashed line originating at the toe of the squirrel trisect the lower angle?

2) Should I fold the left edge of the colored region along the short line (resulting in a kite shape) and then fold these two layers along the longer dashed line resulting in a triangle? (I assume the foot is not meant to be attached to the squirrels body along the solid diagonal line in the colored region -- these lines just overlap in this view?)

3) What lines form the corner which gets the 'reverse fold'? Is this an 'inside reverse fold'?

4) Since each foot has two halfs, will I end up making a total of four identicle reverse folds in completing the model

Any additional clarification would be useful,

Thank You,

Tom

p.s. -- The Dimetrodons are so imaginative...I love them!

As best as I can explain it, make the valley fold from the tip of the foot to the bottom corner of the asymetrical kite shape shown in the diagram.
Then unfold that valley fold, and push the left corner of that asymetrical kite shape inwards to make the reverse fold.
You're re-folding the valley fold on the white part of the paper, but the coloured part gets a mountain fold instead, and it will have to be repositioned a little to give you the right shape at the ankle.

And yes, you do four reverse folds in total.

Got it!

Sometimes a few good words from experts are worth a thousand pictures...

Thank you for the helping me through this step. Your explanations made it very clear. My squirrel can now stand on his own two feet!

Tom

Glad to hear you got it sorted out.
I wouldn't exactly call myself an expert though.

What will you fold next?

This squirrel is really pretty similar to Michael LaFosse's squirrel, especially the beginning part. If you can find diagrams for that one, I suggest you tackle it next.

I've seen a picture of LaFosse's squirrel. Looks like it would be a good next challenge. I wonder if the diagram is available online?