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Swan Origami Diagram

Creating a swan out of hundreds of smaller origami pieces is currently popular among the younger generation in Asia. Your loved one will appreciate this gift because you put in a tremendous amount of effort, dedication and patience. This is definitely a sign of love's labor.

Preparation: First you need to fold 500 individual triangular pieces, which are the backbones of creating the swan.

	Fold the rectangle in half		Fold it in half horizontally and bring back to its original place.
	Fold the upper edge along the perforated line for both sides.		Turn this piece over to the other side. Fold the left-most and right-most corners of the excessive edges toward the base line of the triangle.
	Fold the two excessive edges over, so that the whole piece becomes a triangle.		Fold the right side over to the left side, so that it becomes even a smaller rectangle
	Only 499 more to go

Assemble You'll need the glue to keep the loose pieces together but use it sparingly
	You will need three triangles to make one basic piece for the body. Follow the picture by connecting only one leg of 1 and 2 with a third triangle.	Build 30 basic pieces by following rule 1. Connect these pieces to create a circular base.
	Add 3 more rings from the outer layer and turn the whole body upside down. The five connected layers will look like a stadium when you are looking at it from the top.
	Wings: The sixth ring is the foundation for the two wings. You will build up a pyramid on each side by decreasing the triangular pieces by one. The 7^th ring will have 12 on each side, totaling to 24. The 8^th ring will have 11 on each side, totaling to 22. The 9^th ring will have 10 pieces on each side, totaling to 20...The 16^th ring will have 3 pieces on each side, totaling to 6. The 17th ring will have 2 pieces on each side, totaling to 4. The 18^th ring will have 1 piece on each side totaling to 2. The wings should look like the yellow parts on the left picture.	Tail: The yellow portion is going to be the tail. Start from the 6^th ring, where we skipped two spaces on each side. Pick one side and add on two pieces. The 7th ring will have three triangles. The 8^th ring will have 4 pieces. The 9^th ring will have 3 pieces. The 10^th ring will have 2 pieces. The 11^th ring will have a single piece, which will be the end of the tail. Pay attention when you are adding on the 6^th ring. Add on 13 pieces and skip 2 spaces (the 2 spaces are equal to four skipped legs of the triangle). Continue to add on the rest of the 13 triangles. You will have 2 spaces on each opposite side, where you will connect the swan's neck on one and the tail on the other.
	The Head and Neck... 30 triangular pieces are required for the neck and head. Follow the picture to connect them lengthwise. Don't use the glue right away or you will not attain the smooth, s-shape. Glue the tips at one end together (the beak).	The Base... You need 35 triangular pieces for the upper base and 45 for the lower base. Put the upper base on top of the lower one.
	Add the swan's neck onto the body (into the 2 spaces you skipped from skip 6). Set the swan on top of the base you made in step 8. Congratulations! The swan is complete. You may choose to put a crown on top of the swan’s head, if you would like to embellish it a little further.