This delightful and easy-to-make origami cardinal, designed by Román Díaz, makes for a lovely gift as a Christmas ornament.
Cardinals are non-migratory birds identified by a bright and distinctive red appearance. They are found from south-eastern Canada all the way south to Mexico and Northern Guatemala. In the northern latitudes, Cardinals are easily spotted during the winter on snowy branches, and they have long been associated with the Christmas season.
Here is a video with instructions on how to fold the Cardinal. Made with permission from Román Díaz.
If you can’t see the video on this page, click here to see it on YouTube.
Diagrams for this cardinal were published in The Paper, the magazine of Origami USA (Issue 105 -Autumn 2010)
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Very realistic! I’ll see if I have time to make it someday.
I hope you have the chance to fold it. It has a very satisfying folding sequence!
Hermoso.! gracias por compartirlo.
Aida Urrutia Uribe
Es un placer compartirlo. Gracias a Román también que lo permitió.
Your instructions are excellent. I just made a cardinal for a friend and it turned out pretty good! thank you and Merry Christmas!
p.s. – I didn’t have 10 x 10 paper, so I used 8 x 8 and that worked very well. thank you again :)
I’m glad you were able to fold it. I used the 10×10 paper in the video to facilitate explaining it in a larger size, but I have made them with paper 3×3 inches as well!
Beautiful little creature! Thank you Leyla and all the very best wishes for the New Year and always.
Rosemary
THANK YOU, Leyla and Roman!!! this design is so delightful…many thanks for sharing!
I wouldn’t. Scrapbooking paper is eipxnseve because it is acid free. Don’t know why that is more eipxnseve to make than ordinary paper, but hey. Since your origami doesn’t need to be acid free, you can use cheap paper.
its great but i cant watch it continously because of my bad internet
i tried for hours, but i never managed to succeed. past the point of the “foot” at wich point i was always missing a triangle, no matter how many times i re-did it, or watched the video. extremely dissapointing.
I’m sorry about your disappointment Laurence, and totally understand how you feel at not being able to finish the origami cardinal. Not being able to finish a figure at our first or second attempt is quite normal. But at least you tried. Congratulations!
I suggest you put the cardinal away and come back to it in a few days, weeks or months if necessary. In the mean time, work on other simpler origami figures. Our brains have ways to stretch and solve puzzles in an unconscious way. Be patient, don’t give up!
DO come back to the cardinal. I’ll bet you will be able to make it in the future!
Thank you for your visit and sharing your feelings about your folding experience.