Easy Origami Butterfly

This tutorial will show you how to make an origami butterfly from a square piece of paper.

Supplies

You will need a square piece of paper. For beginners, it is recommended to use a 6x6 inch piece of paper. In this tutorial, a 4.5x4.5 inch square is used.

Step 1:

Start off with the square paper in front of you. Fold the paper diagonally by taking the bottom right corner and folding it up to the top left corner and make a crease. Then unfold the paper.

Step 2: Repeat Step 1

Fold the bottom left corner to the top right corner and make a crease. Then unfold.

Step 3:

Fold the paper in half vertically, unfold it, and then fold in half horizontally. Then unfold the paper and it should look like the last picture here.

Step 4:

Take the bottom left hand corner and fold it to the center of the paper. Then make a crease. Repeat this with each corner of the paper so that all corners are pointing to the center.

Step 5:

Unfold the paper and it should have creases like this picture. These creases will help guide the rest of the process.

Step 6:

Fold in the right edge of the paper to align it with the center vertical crease. Do the same thing with the left edge. Both edges should be aligned with each other.

Step 7:

Now, take the bottom edge of the paper and fold it to meet with the center horizontal crease that should be there. Do the same thing with the top edge of the paper and make sure both edges meet.

Step 8:

Slightly lift up the bottom flap. Use one hand to hold the left side of the paper so that it doesn't unfold. Then take the inner layer of paper on the right side, gently pull it out as far as it will let you, and then fold it down flat.

Step 9: Repeat Step 8

Do the same thing to the bottom left side and fold it down flat.

Step 10: Repeat Step 8

Do this again with the top left side.

Step 11: Repeat Step 8

Repeat this one last time to the top right side. The paper should look like this.

Step 12:

Flip the paper over.

Step 13:

Fold the paper down horizontally.

Step 14:

Lift up the top layer of paper on the right side and fold in down on the existing crease.

Step 15: Repeat Step 14

Lift up the top layer on the left side and fold it down on the existing crease.

Step 16: Detail

This step is going to be adding some detail to the butterfly's wings. Take one corner of the top layer of paper and fold it slightly. This doesn't have to be perfect and it is possible to make the fold larger or smaller depending on how you want the butterfly to look.

Step 17: Repeat Step 16

Do the same step to the left side of the paper and try to make them symmetrical.

Step 18:

Fold the paper in half vertically.

Step 19:

Take the top corner and hold it down while opening the paper back up and make a crease. I drew a dotted line where the crease should be so that it is easier to see. Make sure to fold it tightly here because there should be multiple layers of paper to fold.

Step 20:

Flip the paper over on the other side. It will look asymmetrical at this point.

Step 21:

Hold down the overlapping layer while folding the paper in half vertically and make sure to tightly fold it down.

Step 22: Finished!

Open the paper back up and there should be a butterfly!