October 07, 2013

Easy origami bat for Halloween


Bats lend themselves to paper folding since their bodies can be easily reduced to flat planes. Here's a very simple version by Nick Robinson that you can fold in a minute or two. I followed this good video tutorial.

Picture this: you make a couple bats along with the video to memorize the steps. Then put on your favorite Halloweenish movie and fold an entire colony of bats. You could crank out dozens, hundreds! (Depending on how engrossed you get in the movie. Beetlejuice yields 65 bats. Batman Begins yields 2 bats.) Then tape strings of bats to fishing line or invisible thread and hang garlands from the ceiling. Or stick them to the wall in a huge group with a little ball of poster putty or loop of painter's tape at the bottom point of each bat.

Tips: If you end up with a little edge of white showing around the bat's head, color it black with a marker. Find packs of black origami paper for a few bucks at Amazon.

10 comments:

  1. I am envisioning your new house totally decorated in bats!

    Mum

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  2. "Batman Begins yields 2 bats" hehe
    Cool tutorial, thanks! You've got me hooked on origami. .Just made 10 origami ferris wheels in under a week.

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  3. I worry about any sentence that has those two words together ("easy" and "origami") but hey. I know my limitations.

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  4. I am in love. Thanks for the bats. Halloween here I come.

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  5. Could the bat be made with stiffened fabric? Mod Podge or heavy starch? I'm visualizing some sort of bat material!

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  6. Mum, I know! We've got awesome haunted house potential here. I think I saw two real bats flying outside one evening.

    Fathima--origami ferris wheel? Sounds awesome!

    Lizabeth, yes. My favorite is to treat fabric with Stiffen Stuff (available at Michaels and craft stores) and then iron the folds into the fabric. This model is simple enough that it should work well.

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  7. Imagine a bat garland of some kind. Ah Halloween the only time when it's acceptable to hang a bat garland on your mantle.

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  8. i am going to have to get the boys busy making. they could put them up at grandma's for halloween.

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  9. Oh, this is just great! I checked out the video and I this looks totally do-able... Time to find me some black paper!

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  10. so cute! would look great as a permanent piece framed in a shadow box, too.

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