Make an Origami Carousel

It’s never too late to have a happy childhood!

Origami Carousel presented on www.origamispirit.com

Do you remember riding a carousel when you were a child? If you do, now you can recreate the joy you probably felt by making an origami carousel, today.

And if you never had that experience at a young age? Well, it’s never too late to have a happy childhood!

After I first presented this origami horse (José Tomás Buitrago) on OrigamiSpirit, I thought of using the model as one of the elements of a carousel.

Then I featured an origami turbine (David Donahue) and realized that it could work very well as the top.  Adding a  base of my own creation, I assembled the carousel.

Subsequently, I taught a variation of this origami carousel at an OrigamiUSA convention, and I’m very pleased to be able to present it here on Origami Spirit.

YouTube player

Materials to make this origami carousel

  • An origami Turbine made of a 6 x 6-inch square of paper Click here for the video
  • Origami pyramid base made of a 6 x 6-inch square of paper (Shown in the video presented here)
  • Four Origami horses made with duo color paper 3 x 3-inch Click here for the video
  • A wooden skewer approximately 6 inches (15 cm) in length.
  • Four pieces of 26-gauge wire about 4 inches (10 cm) in length.

Tips and suggestions for making  the carousel

  • Thin Kami paper, known in the U.S. as “origami paper”, works well to make the pieces for the origami carousel.
  • It is most effective if paper is colored differently on each side.
  • Additional squares of paper can be used as colorful inserts for decoration. (shown in the video)

How to make the horse look cleaner when finished
Once you have mastered the basic folding, try a cleaner look for the finished horse. When making the preliminary base, omit one of the diagonal central folds.

horse-no-vertical-crease

Omitting this fold, results in a base without unnecessary markings. This is how José Tomás Buitrago originally designed his horse. Click on the photo above to see it larger.

. . . . . . . . . .

If you like what you find here on Origami Spirit, click to subscribe
for upcoming posts notifications –It’s easy and FREE!

___________________________________________________

Origami Spirit has provided tutorials and creative direction to origami artists since 2007.

Click for a FREE TOUR NOW

26 thoughts on “Make an Origami Carousel”

  1. Leyla, Your website has so many great ideas I can’t fold fast enough! I found your rocking horse carousel just in time to make ONE for an upcoming shower for my first great grandchild. I’m currently working on my fourth😅 I ‘m not sure if I should seek counseling for my origami obsession, or just keep folding? Thanks for the awesome inspirations.

    Reply
  2. Gracias Leyla por este precioso modelo de carrousel con caballitos que
    has mostrado y enseñado en esta ocasión.
    Espero poder enseñarlo a tu nombre y autores próximamente.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.