Making a Paper Dragon Puppet
Place a sheet of A4 paper horizontally and fold upward from the bottom. The first fold should be around 3 cm (1.2 in) wide. Once you’ve creased that fold, fold it upward again so that the top of the first fold is in the crease of the second fold. Each fold should be the same length as the last fold. Repeat these folds until you’ve folded the whole paper into a narrow strip about 3 cm (1.2 in) wide.
Glue or tape the paper to seal the strip. Use a glue stick to bond the last fold to the rest of the strip. Or, use a 7.5 cm (3 in) strip of tape in the middle, and two smaller strips of tape on the sides, to seal the strip.
Repeat the above steps to make a smaller strip with 2 cm (¾ in) wide folds. Begin with another sheet of A4 paper horizontally, folding upward from the bottom in 2 cm (¾ in) sections that enclose each other until you have a thin strip. Seal with a glue stick or tape.
Fold both strips in half at the center and trim the smaller strip. The strips should look like Vs when folded. Take the smaller strip and hold it at the crease. Trim 0.6 cm (¼ in) from the ends of this strip so it is slightly shorter than the long strip. This smaller, shorter strip will be the lower part of your dragon’s jaw base.
Trace the larger V on a new piece of A4 paper. Start by placing the folded strip on the paper like a V, with the point in the center of the paper and the open ends at the paper’s bottom edge. Place your palm in this upside-down V (pressing your fingers together, leaving your thumb out) to make sure it fits—if not, widen the V before tracing. Then, trace around the V and add about 1 cm (.4 in) of a rectangular border around both the long sides of the triangle. Use a ruler to add the border if you’d like your lines to be straight. Or, freehand them—this border will be covered up by the V.
Cut the tracing out and use it to trace three more triangle shapes. Make sure you’re cutting around the border you left before you use the first tracing to trace the other shapes. Use the same piece of A4 paper you cut out from to trace the new triangles. You should end up with four identical shapes.
Fold up one of the triangles’ rectangular borders and attach it to the V. If you’re using a glue stick, glue the outsides of the rectangles and press them into the inside of the V, leaving a small gap (1.27 cm/0.5 in) between the top of the triangle and the tip of the V. If you’re using tape, tape the rectangular borders to the inside of the V, leaving a gap between the top of the triangle so the tip of the V looks like an A. Flip it over and tape the edges of the rectangles to the V. Trim excess paper at the wide end of the V.
Repeat the last step to glue another one of the triangles to the V on the other side. The result should look like a triangular wedge of watermelon with a missing rind. Use as much tape or glue as you think is needed to make the base secure—it will be covered up later by your dragon designs!
Repeat the last two steps to tape or glue your remaining two triangles to the smaller V. You will end up with another wedge, smaller than the first one. This is the bottom base of the dragon’s jaw. Don’t forget to trim any excess paper since the triangles won’t be touching the tip of the V, instead making an A because of a tiny gap between the paper and the tip.
Join the wedges together using either tape or glue. Start by holding the shapes together so their wide ends (the bottoms of the wedges) are lined up. Lay them flat so you can see inside the wedges. Make sure the smaller wedge is on the bottom. Follow the below steps, depending on what you’re using to join them: Tape: Tape the wedges together at the place where the wedges touch (the central line). Use several strips of tape to reinforce. Then, pull the top wedge back like you’re opening the jaw, and add more strips of tape to the middle line where the wedges are touching (what would be the back of your dragon’s throat). Glue stick: Take another sheet of A4 paper and cut out two small squares (7.6 cm/3 in). Fold the squares in half (creating folded rectangles) and hold them together at the crease. Trim the corners inward/upward so the folded rectangles look like trapezoids. Unfold (now you have two hexagons) and glue one hexagon to the place where the wedges touch (the central line). The crease of the hexagon should be lined up with this central line, like a hinge. Open the jaw. Glue the second hexagon so that its crease is lined up with the back of your dragon’s throat, where the wedges meet in the middle.
Mark the height of the top and bottom jaw on a sheet of cardstock paper. Do this by placing your dragon puppet jaw base sideways on the paper. You should see one side of the jaw’s V (not the top or bottom triangles of the jaw). Then, use a pencil to mark the height of the top jaw and the bottom jaw. Sketch these heights to make two parallel rectangles a few centimeters longer than the jaw base. Leave about 5 cm/2 in between the rectangles, and 10 cm/4 in of paper space above the top rectangle. The bottom rectangle will be the dragon’s bottom jaw, and the top rectangle will be the dragon’s top jaw—but you’ll need the extra space on top to add the rest of the dragon’s face.
Create your dragon design. Start by sketching your dragon’s bottom jaw shape around the bottom rectangle. It should be barely wider and taller than the rectangle (1 cm/.4 in). Then, sketch the dragon’s head/upper jaw around the upper rectangle, including any horns. Draw an eye, nostrils at the front, and a horn if you’d like. You can use colored pencils, crayons, or markers to color in your design.
Cut out both pieces of the design and trace them on cardstock paper. Place the designs with the art face-down before you trace—otherwise, you’ll be drawing on the wrong side of the silhouette. Trace around them as closely as you can to create matching shapes for the other side of the design. Time to draw again! You can try to copy your first design so the dragon’s face is the same on both sides, or draw a new design so the dragon has two unique faces.
Cut out the second dragon design pieces. Lay out all your dragon design pieces. There should be two bottom jaws and two faces/upper jaws, facing in different directions.
Tape or glue the paper pieces to the jaw base. Apply the glue or tape to the base and press the design pieces to it so you can easily line them up. The left bottom jaw piece will go on the lower left wedge, the left face/upper jaw piece will go on the upper left wedge, and so on. Make sure the top jaw design pieces slightly cover the lower jaw pieces so you can still open the mouth. Congratulations, your puppet is complete! Tape:If desired, you can create another design piece to cover the top front area of your paper dragon puppet. To do so, take a piece of A4 paper. Trace around the puppet’s bottom jaw (with the puppet upright, not sideways) to create a small triangle. Draw a design that matches the top/front of the dragon’s design. Cut out the triangle and trim to fit in the middle front section of the puppet. Carefully tape it in place.
Making an Origami-Style Paper Dragon Puppet
Create two folds in a piece of colored origami paper. The paper should be 30 x 21 cm (11.8 x 8.2 in). Lay it horizontally so the long side is parallel with you. Fold it in half, bringing the right edge over to the left edge (not the top to the bottom). Unfold the paper. Fold the right edge so it meets the center crease you just made. Unfold the paper.
Cut along the two creases. First, cut the crease furthest to the right to separate one rectangle. Then, cut the crease in the center to create another rectangle. A large rectangle will remain on the side.
Make several folds in the largest rectangle. Start by turning it horizontally (so the longer side is parallel with you). Fold the bottom edge up to the top edge to create a center crease. While it’s still folded, take the top edge and fold it down toward you so it lines up with the center crease. Flip it over and make the same downward, outward fold on the other side. Finally, fold the right edge toward the left edge and crease. Your finished fold will look like a creased fan or a triangular accordion. This is the upper part of your paper dragon puppet’s jaw.
Repeat the last step to make the same folds in one of the smaller rectangles. This will become the lower part of your paper dragon puppet’s jaw. Leave it next to the upper part of the jaw. Their creases are the dragon’s nose/mouth opening, while the wide end is the back of the dragon puppet’s head.
Fold and cut another sheet of the colored origami paper. It should be the same color and size as the first sheet, 30 x 21 cm (11.8 x 8.2 in). Lay it horizontally so the long side is parallel with you, and fold it in half so the right edge lines up with the left edge. Unfold and cut the paper in half along the crease.
Make several folds in one of the rectangles. Start by turning it horizontally. Then, fold it in half so the right edge lines up with the left edge. Crease and don’t unfold. Fold the bottom edge up so it lines up with the top edge. Crease and don’t unfold. Fold the bottom edge up again, lining it up with the top edge. Leave it folded.
Create two triangle folds. Start by taking the upper left corner and pulling it down and outward, creating a triangle fold that has a crease from the top right corner to the bottom left corner. The triangle will extend below the rectangle. Flip the paper over and make the same triangle fold on the other side so it lines up with the other triangle. Unfold both triangles so you’re looking at a creased rectangle when you start the next step.
Cut two corners off the paper. Begin by holding the rectangle with the central triangle pointing upward. Cut the left and right upper corners, leaving a 2.5 cm (1 in) rectangular border on both sides of the central triangle. The rectangles will look like a V around the central triangle.
Unfold the triangles to reveal a W and cut into V shapes. Cut the W where the center joins so you end up with two identical V shapes. Take one of the V shapes and cut it 1.5 cm (.6 in) along the long end (opposite the point). Separate the paper so you have two V shapes.
Make folds in the remaining V. Start by opening the V so at the wide end so it looks like two triangles joined at their wide bases. Fold one of the triangle’s two rectangular borders inward. Repeat on the other triangle’s borders, folding them inward. Re-fold the triangles to create a jaw shape, with the rectangular creases sticking upward and downward like teeth. This will be the jaw hinge.
Draw your dragon designs on your jaw base pieces. Use markers or pens. On the thicker one, draw an eye (toward the open end/back of the jaw) and a nostril (right next to the crease/the front of the jaw), plus some scales behind the eye. On the thinner one, draw more scales. Repeat the design on both sides of the paper so your dragon has two eyes, two nostrils, and plenty of scales.
Draw scales on the inner triangle of one of your trimmed Vs. Use a marker to do them on. You can also add optional teeth. See the steps for making and attaching teeth below. Making teeth: Take a small sheet of white origami paper. Trace four triangles in one of the paper’s corners, so the triangles are coming out of the straight edge and each triangle is longer than the last. Cut this out. Use a glue stick to glue it to one of the inner folds of paper on the upper jaw piece below the nostril. The longest tooth should be toward the front of the jaw. Repeat to add teeth to the other side.
Glue the scaly trimmed V to the upper jaw/head piece. Start by running your glue stick along its rectangular borders. Then, slide those borders into the folds at the top of the upper jaw/head piece so the dragon’s head is covered. Press to bond the pieces together.
Glue the jaw hinge piece to the upper and lower designed pieces. Liberally apply glue with your glue stick to the outsides of the rectangular borders on the top and bottom of the jaw hinge. Start by pressing the top borders into the inner folds below the top jaw piece. Then, press the bottom borders into the lower folds at the top of the lower jaw piece. Pinch the paper pieces together with your fingers to help the glue bond the surfaces together.
Glue your last trimmed V to the bottom jaw piece. Use your glue stick to apply glue to the rectangular borders of the trimmed V. Then, take the V piece and press the glued sides into the inner sides of the bottom jaw so it covers the hollow space there. Pinch to help the glue set.
Add horns if you’d like. Take a small, rectangular piece of white origami paper. Fold it in half so the left edge touches the right edge. Crease. Draw a horn with marker so the front of the horn faces the crease and the point of the horn faces the edges of the paper. Decorate both sides with markers as you see fit. Cut them out and use a glue stick to attach them to the upper back corner of the dragon’s head. Your dragon is complete! You can use the same method to add ears. Make sure your origami paper is the same color as the dragon’s head, and follow the horn-making instructions. Draw ears instead of horns. Glue them at the upper back corner of the dragon’s head. Cover the horns with the ears, if you made horns.
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