A few months ago, if you will remember, there was a stupendous birth of a baby giraffe to April at the Animal Adventure Park in Hurpersville, NY. After several days of public voting the calf was named, Tajiri (they are gonna call him Taj). Did you know that the name is a Swahili word meaning, “hope” and “confidence”? And that baby giraffe brought hope to many people as he came into the world. You can still watch the live birth on YouTube if you want to see how amazing life really is as it enters our world. I was touched by how people all over were connected by a desire to see this calf survive the birthing process and become part of our hearts. Being so touched I have been folding an origami giraffe out of just about everything I can get my hands on. Programs at meetings, origami paper and a few stray envelopes. Mostly I have been attempting to commit this model to memory. (Oddly committing a model to memory takes way more times than it should for me, but I don’t mind –cause I get to fold more often). And now I want to share this origami giraffe model with you –and yes I folded it from memory in the video without any notes at all.
You should start with your basic 6″ x 6″ paper. I have used a two colored sheet so you can see the folds better, but I recommend paper colored the same on both sides for a better looking finished piece. If you have folded a paper crane, the bird base will be familiar for you and easy to do. I have seen the bird base made about 4 different ways. For this origami giraffe you can create the bird base a way other than I used, but after that you’ll need to follow my instructions.
I made a few of these giraffes for FaveMom. She, of course, loved them. Who is your giraffe-loving friend that you will share it with?
