Swan is a graceful and majestic bird, which is often depicted on postcards, paintings, is also found in voluminous crafts. It is considered a symbol of eternal love, therefore, swan figurines adorn a wedding feast, cakes and greeting cards. But not everyone knows how to make a swan out of paper. There are a lot of manufacturing options. You can make a flat picture by cutting a figure along the contour and place it on a cardboard sheet.
Recently, lovers of tinkering have become interested in the art of origami. This technique allows you to transform a simple sheet of paper into a three-dimensional figure of a bird. Not so long ago, another type of art appeared - modular origami, where all objects and figures are assembled from small details. Each such module can be rolled up independently according to the scheme of thick paper designed for this type of origami. Ready-made sets of parts are available for sale, it remains only to correctly place them so that a three-dimensional figure is obtained.
In the article, we will consider how to make a swan out of paper with your own hands, what materials will be needed. A step-by-step explanation of the work will help beginners to cope with the task faster.
Simple origami
To fold a swan figure, prepare a square sheet of white or any color double-sided paper. To make the figure strong, the density of the sheet must be at least 80 g / m 2 .
A square blank will be obtained from sheet A4 by folding diagonally. It should be a right angle. The excess is cut with scissors, and the square is laid out on the surface of the table. You can start work.
Swan assembly diagram
How to make a swan out of paper is clearly seen in the diagram presented later in the article. Actions are performed step by step. All folds must be done evenly, carefully so that the paper does not move to the side. Only when the lines turned out right, do they overwrite the folds with a finger or a ruler.
The square is angled towards the master. First, the workpiece is folded in half diagonally and, having determined the center line of the fold, the sheet unfolds to the previous position. The next step is to bend the upper and lower corners to a strip bent in the center. Having carefully smoothed the folds, the action is repeated again, that is, each half of the square is bent twice diagonally.
The resulting part is flipped with the back so that the swan's open wings are on top. The sharp edge, which will subsequently depict the beak of a bird, is bent in half back. The corner at the end turns up. This will be the swan's beak. Then the whole figure is bent along the center line in half and lift the neck with its beak up, carefully smoothing the even fold at the junction of the trunk and neck.
Now you know how to make a swan from origami paper. Such a figure can be installed on a sheet of cardboard of blue color by gluing to it the lower part of the bird. You can supplement the craft with reed from plasticine or weed from quilling strips. It will also be interesting to look at a figure pasted in the form of an application.
Origami from a dense napkin
Now you know how to make a swan out of paper in stages. According to the same scheme, you can make a bird figure from a dense large napkin, bending the square so that there is a bundle of opening corners on the side of the tail.
After all the folds are done and the shape of the bird is correct, the individual corners of the napkin from the back side alternately rise up. Swan's tail comes out fluffy. The base of the body is slightly opened from below so that the napkin is upright.
Paper plate bird
Next, we consider an interesting option, how to make a swan out of paper using a finished paper plate. The body and the bend of the neck with the beak are drawn with a simple pencil in the center line. Even a child of preschool age will cope with this simple sketch. Having cut off the excess paper, it remains only to paint the beak with red gouache and finish the eye.
Feathers can be attached chicken, real, or you can cut them out of white paper, cutting the edges of straws. It turns out a rather original picture that can be created in just a few minutes.
Layered crafts
Beautiful swans, which can be seen in the photo below in the article, are made of numerous elements that are not fastened together over the entire surface, so the impression of a voluminous figure is created. How to make a swan from paper, we will consider further. To work, you need thick paper, it is desirable that it holds its shape well.
The figure of a swan consists of 7 parts. These are the contours of the bird itself + a strip from below for the base and three parts of each wing on both sides. Cut them out in order of increasing size. The wings of the wings unfold with their fingers in the opposite direction to give volume to the figure.
When all the details are prepared, three wavy "puddles" are cut out for the base in the form of a lake. On the upper part, a slot is made in the center, into which an additional strip is inserted under the contours of the swan itself. In order for the bird to take a vertical position, the strip from below must be cut into two parts and one should be glued to the back of the lake on the left, and the other should be bent to the right. The remaining parts simply alternately stick together, but not completely, but partially.
Module swan
A very effective figure is obtained from the modules. How to make a swan from paper in this way, we will tell further. First you need to learn how to fold small triangular elements, the so-called modules. But keep in mind that for the figure of such a large bird you will need at least 150 - 200 pieces, depending on the size and wingspan.
Stationery stores sell special paper for modular origami, it is more dense than the one intended for the printer, the triangles turn out to be voluminous. You can immediately buy ready-made modules in the kit, then the work will begin immediately with the formation of the figure.
Before making a modular origami of a swan out of paper, you need to consider the shape of the bird and its size. First, you can create a small figure with a neck curved down and a round base with small corners of the wings and tail on top. After acquiring the necessary skills for assembling the modules together, the figure can also be improved. A swan with curved shaped wings unfurled, on which all fly feathers are visible, looks beautiful.
You can also vary the image with the addition of color modules laid out in layers or spirals, design with bright colors of the wing edges.
How to assemble a module
1. A4 sheet needs to be cut into small rectangles.
2. Each element must be bent in half horizontally.
3. The upper corners of the double rectangle are bent down to the center vertical line.
4. Turn the workpiece over with the back side and raise the lower rectangle upward, bending the corners around the central triangle.
5. It remains only to bend the figure in half so that the slots on the triangles are outside. These are pockets into which a module is subsequently inserted connecting the parts together.
How to make a swan out of paper
Modular origami begins with the formation of the initial circle at the base. To do this, two modules are placed side by side on one another and fastened by the third element, inserting its sharp corners into adjacent pockets of the first two. Then the next module is attached and in the second row it is again fixed with the fifth element. Thus, a long strip of two or three rows is built. Then round the structure, connecting the first and last element.
Further work continues until the required body height of the bird is reached. Three modules are counted from the front and left to attach the swan neck. On the opposite side, several pieces, for example, five, are counted for the tail. From the remaining modules, they begin to spread the wings on the left and on the right, in each row reducing the number of modules, until one detail remains at the very top.
How to make a neck
A long strip of the neck is folded by inserting two corners of one module into two pockets of the next. The last part is laid out from the module in orange or red. This will be the swan's beak. When the long strip is assembled, make a neck bend, gently tilting its upper part forward. It remains to attach it to the modules of the workpiece with wings left in front.
The figure of a swan from the modules looks spectacular, it can be installed on the base and presented for a birthday or Valentine's Day. A composition of two swans, decorated with rhinestones and beads, can be installed next to the cake at a wedding celebration.
As you can see, there are many ways to make a swan out of paper. This is a simple flat application or a voluminous beautiful figure made of modules. Try to do the crafts yourself, teach your children to be creative.