Origami Lily

The origami lily is a basic flower form. Start with a square piece of origami paper, and fold it into a water balloon base.

Next, take one of the four corners of the base and squash fold it as shown below.

Origami Lily

Repeat the squash fold for the other three corners, to give the kite shape shown below.

more squash fold completed squash fold four squash folds completed to make kite shape

Now fold the lower edges of the kite into the centerline, then unfold. Fold the top corner down, then unfold.

lower edges of kite folded into centerline previous fold unfolded top of kite folded down to make crease

You will now have crease marks on the piece, that will be used in the next step. Place your finger under the lower point of the kite, and fold upwards as shown. This is a petal fold.

crease marks ready for petal fold beginning petal fold more petal fold

Now repeat the petal fold three more times to give another, smaller kite.

petal fold completed four petal folds completed

Now fold one point of the kite downwards as shown. Repeat 3 more times for a diamond shape.

folding point of kite down kite point folded down 4 kite points folded down

Next fold the upper edges of the diamond into the centerline. Repeat three more times.

top edges of kite folded to centerline all top edges of kite folded in

Now turn the piece upside down. Start folding out the four petals of the flower as shown.

You can create a nice curling effect in the petals like this: hold the base of a petal in your left fingers, then run your right thumb and pen (or pencil) along the length of the petal.

Your thumb is in front and the pen in the back. (In the picture below, we've omitted the left hand for clarity).

Repeat this motion several times to cause the paper petal to curl.

beginning to fold lily petals out using a pen to curl the petals of the lily

And now your origami lily is complete!

completed origami lily