Origami - Mantarraya

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Manta Ray Design and diagram info: 25 Jan 2008 Date: Intermediate Difficulty: Time to fold: 45 min

I did a “Manta” scuba dive in Hawaii, but unfortunately did not see any of these majestic creatures. But I learnt a lot about them by reading up before the time. They have a “wingspan” of over 6.5 meters and a huge mouth with gills underneath. They also have peculiar large, flaplike lobes on either side of their heads to funnel prey into their mouths. Starting off with the design, I wanted an open mouth, so an open sink from the center of the paper would be the logical choice. For as large a “wingspan”, the fins would come from two opposite raw corners. The rest of the design was easy, as it was just a proportion modification of an earlier Guano Bat design. This also allowed me to have the fins split at the back where they meet the tail, forming a divide between the two sides. This is an interesting feature of this design. Forming the gills in steps 31 and 32 use unorthodox swivel folds. The inside reverse folds in step 52 can be tricky to perform cleanly.

Crease Pattern:

Paper:

Body

Lobe

Lobe

Fin

Single Uncut Square Size: 30 cm Color: Black - Black Type: Kami OK Best Foil Wet-Fold Good

Fin

Ratio: 0.64

Width

Mouth

Tail

1.

2. Turn around.

Make sure to open the mouth nice and big at the end when shaping the model. Use paper black on both sides for best results! 3.

4. middle of all four side together.

Copyright: Quentin Trollip

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5.

6.

Valley Folds and Unfold. Repeat behind.

Valley Fold and Unfold.

10. Valley Fold.

11. Valley Fold and Unfold.

12. Valley Fold and Unfold.

13. Valley Fold.

14. Swivel Fold on existing crease. Flatten.

15. Swivel Fold.

16. Unfold the Swivel Fold.

8.

Inside Reverse Fold.

7.

9.

Copyright: Quentin Trollip

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17. Unfold the raw point.

18. Repeat steps 8 to 17 on the other three flaps.

19. Squash Fold one flap in the front and one at the back.

20. Inside Reverse Fold the two outer flaps. Enlarge.

21. Valley Fold and Unfold on existing crease.

22. Open up the model and Open Sink the tip on existing creases.

23. Squash Fold the flap up on existing creases. The model will not lie flat.

24. Squash Fold to flatten.

25. Repeat steps 23 to 24 behind.

26. Valley Fold three layers to the right. Repeat behind.

27. Valley Fold and Unfold.

28. Inside Reverse Fold.

Copyright: Quentin Trollip

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29. Repeat steps 27 to 28 on the left.

30. Enlarge.

31. Valley Fold only the top layer down. See next diagram.

32. Swivel Folds.

33. Scale change.

34. Valley Folds.

35. Valley Folds.

36. Reverse Fold the two inside flaps.

37. Inside Reverse Folds.

38. Turn around.

39. Repeat steps 23 to 24 on this flap.

40. Mountain Fold into the layers underneath.

Copyright: Quentin Trollip

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41. Mountain Fold the raw edge.

42. Enlarge.

43. Mountain Fold these points.

44. Inside Reverse Fold.

45. Repeat step 44 on the left.

46. Valley Fold both points up perpendicular to the model.

47. Scale change.

48. Mountain Folds.

49. Asymmetrical Inside Reverse Folds.

50. Inside Reverse Folds.

51. Enlarge.

52. Inside Reverse Fold.

Copyright: Quentin Trollip

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53. Swivel Fold two layers.

54. Repeat step 53 behind.

55. Shape the eye.

56. Inside Reverse Fold.

57. Open the layers of the point.

58. Repeat steps 52 to 57 on the left.

59. Scale change.

60. Shape the fins, tail and also open the mouth underneath.

Manta Ray.

Copyright: Quentin Trollip