| The Public Paperfolding History Project
Last updated 12/7/2025 x |
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| Miscellaneous Folded Paper Birds | |||||||
| This
page is being used to collect information about the
history of folded paper birds that are either generic (ie
not identified as a specific species) or are so
identified but do not fit into any of the categories for
which there are separate pages. Please contact me if you
know any of this information is incorrect or if you have
any other information that should be added. Thank you. It is worth noting that in French literature the phrase 'oiseau de papier' often means a kite. There are separate pages for: Cranes (simple) Cranes, Storks and Herons (modelled in a standing pose) Cranes, Storks and Herons (modelled in a flying pose) Cranes, Storks and Herons (modelled in a seated pose) Hens, Chickens, Chicks and Roosters Owls Vultures and Condors ********** The Paper Crane or Orizuru - 1603 onwards
********** 1664 'Dictionarium Gallico-Germanico-Latinum, by Nathanaël Duëz was published in Amsterdam in 1664. It contains mention, in three languages, of 'A paper bird and a paper boat, like children make in school.'
********** 1757 In a letter sent home to his mother from his school on the Isla Real de Leon, dated 10th July 1757, schoolboy Guillermo Pen wrote 'Con esta estratagema les hago callar; y despues para hacerme amigo de ellas, a unos les hago cometas, a otros barcas, navios, pajaros, y otras muchos cosas, todo de papel.' (With this ploy I silence them; and then to make friends with them, I make kites for some, for other boats, ships, birds, and many other things, all of paper.) His letter can be found in 'Entretenimiento de Los Ninos' by Monsieur Rochon, published in Madrid in both Spanish and French in 1779.
Without better descriptions or illustrations, we cannot unfortunately know whether the 'boats, ships and birds' were designs of Guillermo Pen's own devising, or traditional paperfolds such as the Paper Boat or the Cocotte / Pajarita. ********** 1775 'Extrait du Journal de Mes Voyages' by M. Pahin de la Blancherie, which was published in Paris and Orleans in 1775 contains a passage which, roughly translated, reads, 'You can leave a child in his own home, I mean, in the room, when you know he can take care of himself ... I don't mean studying Latin, grammar, mythology, & c; but to use his time for something that will interest him: thus he will repeat his music lesson, he will make paper birds, houses of cards; he will paint on paper, he will build a kite, he will whittle wood, & c. If a child is well behaved, we can rest assured that being alone he will take care of himself.' This passage refers to the making of paper birds as if it is, like the building of card castles, an activity commonly practised by boys. This suggests that these paper birds were probably Cocottes but without an illustration, or a more detailed description, we cannot be certain that they were.
********** c1790 Around 1790 Juan González del Castillo (1763-1800) premiered the sainete 'Los cómicos de la legua', a work in which the character Pasqual says, roughly translated, 'although I went to school more than three years and a half, I only learned how to make paper hats and birds of paper'.
Lacking a picture, we cannot be certain which type of 'pajaras de papel' (paper birds) or which type of 'monteras' (paper hats) are being referred to here. ********** The Cocotte / Pajarita - 1801 onwards
********** The Simple Crane - c1850 This design appears on a kimono in this print in a book of shunga by Insuitei Shozan (1821-1907) from vol 2 of 'Iro Shiki Shi' which is undated, but is usually said to be from the mid 19th Century.
********** The Flapping Bird - 1883 onwards
********** 1885 An illustration of a Flying Crane appears in 'Kindergarten Shoho' (Preliminary Kindergarten) by Iijima Hanjuro, which was copyrighted on October 4th Meiji 17 (1884) and published by Fukuda Senzo in August of Meiji 18 (1885). This design appears to have both feet and a tail, although it is possible that these have been developed by cuts from a standard Paper Crane.
********** The Cut Swallow - 1900 onwards
********** 1903 A design for a simple 'crane' appears in 'Shukouka no Liron Oyobi Jissai' (Handicraft Theory and Practice) by Kuniho Nakamura and Shinpei Ito, which was published by Kofukan in Tokyo in 1903. It is not clear to me how the crease pattern relates to the drawing of the finished design.
********** The Albatross - 1904 onwards
********** The Nesting Crane - 1905 onwards
********** The Crow with Legs - 1914 onwards
********** A design for a 'Swallow' developed from a bird base appears in 'Zhe zhi tu shuo' (Illustrated Paperfolding), compiled by Gui Shaolie, which was published by the Commercial Press in Shanghai in Ming guo 3 (1914).
********** 1917 'Xu Zhe zhi tu shuo' (More Illustrated Paperfolding) by Yongxiang Shi, which was published by the Commercial Press in Shanghai in 1917, contains designs for several paper birds. Flying Pigeon
********** Fledgling
********** Young Swallow
********** Flying Bird
********** The Simple Crow - 1927 onwards
********** The Plump Crane - 1927 onwards
********** c1929 Booklet 3 of 'Trabajos Manuales Salvatella - Plegado de figuras de papel', which was published by Editorial Miguel A Salvatera in Barcelona around 1929, contains two designs for paper birds: La Paloma (Dove)
*** El Pavo (Turkey)
********** Both of these birds also appear in 'Una Hoja de Papel' by Lorenzo Herrero, which was published by Miguel A Salvatella in Barcelona in 1952: 'Golondrina' (Swallow)
*** 'Pavo' (Turkey)
********** Booklet 5 of 'Trabajos Manuales Salvatella - Plegado de figuras de papel', which was published by Editorial Miguel A Salvatera in Barcelona in or around 1929, contains diagams for 'El Condor', which is simply the front section of the Swallow paper plane, with extra folds to create the bend in the wings.
*** The same design appears in 'Una Hoja de Papel' by Lorenzo Herrero, which was published by Miguel A Salvatella in Barcelona in 1952.
********** 1931 Instructions for making several kinds of paper bird also appear in 'Origami (Part 1)' by Isao Honda, which was first published in Japan in 1931: Peacock
********** Simple Crane (2) - Folded from a 3x1 rectangle
********** The Fat Sparrow - 1931 onwards
********** The Dove - 1931 onwards
********** The Nightingale - 1931 onwards
********** 1931 The revised 3rd edition of 'Lustiges Papierfaltbüchlein' by Johanna Huber, which was published by Otto Maier in Ravensburg, Germany in 1931contains a photograph showing birds and a butterfly made using pleated elements to represent wings. The text of the 1931 edition did not mention either the photograph or the designs. However, mention of them was added in the 5th edition which says 'Beautiful fairy-tale birds and butterflies can also be made from the accordion folds' and goes on to describe how the designs are made.
********** Le Moineau - 1932 onwards
********** 1935 'Origami Moyo, Book One', by Kawarazaki Kodo, which was published by Unsodo in Japan in 1935, contains a coloured print showing a 'suzume' (sparrow) and two other prints showing unidentified bird designs:
***
********** 'Origami Moyo, Book Two' by Kawarazaki Kodo, which was published in Japan in 1935, contains: A third Simple Crane design
*** A print showing 'mizudori' (which means 'water birds')
*** And another print showing this bird, which is not given any title.
********** 1939 A version of the Flapping Bird folded from a cut hexagon, titled 'Paloma Siamesas' appears in 'Plegado' by Rufino Yapur, which was published by Editores Independencia in Buenos Aires in 1939.
********** 1941 A design for 'El Condor developed from a bird base appeared in 'Papiro-Zoo: Manual practico de cocotologia o papirologia' by Giordano Lareo, which was published by Larco in Buenos Aires in 1941.
********** The Cut Canary - 1944 onwards
********** The Cut Owl - 1944 onwards
********** The Cut Nightingale- 1944 onwards
********** The Standing Crane - 1944 onwards
********** 'Origami Shuko' by Isao Honda, which was published in 1944 contains diagrams for several other birds: 126. Duck and Cormorant (from right angle isosceles paper) These designs are attributed to Akira Yoshizawa.
*** Swallow (Cut) (from an equilateral triangle)
*** Pigeon (from an equilateral triangle) This design is attributed to Akira Yoshizawa.
*** Hummingbird (cut)
********** La Pajarita Tergiversada - 1951 onwards
********** The Cut Robin - 1951 onwards
********** 1951 'Origami: Folding Paper for Children' by Claude Sarasas, which was published by Kodansha in Tokyo in 1951, contains diagrams for a 'Flamingo', a 'Gull', and a 'Bird in a Nest' (cut).
**********
**********
********** The extended version of 'El Mundo de Papel' by Dr Nemesio Montero, which was published by G Miranda in Edicions Infancia in Valladolid in 1951 contains several designs for paper birds, 'La Golondrina al Vuelo' (The Swallow in Flight), La Paloma (The Dove), El Cisne (The Swan) and El Pato (The Duck). ***
There is a resemblance between this design and the Swallow from Isao Honda's 'Origami Part One' pictured above. *** La Paloma
*** El Cisne
*** El Pato
********** 1956 'Paper Magic' by Robert Harbin, which was published by Oldbourne in London in 1956 contains diagrams for several birds. Harbin's 'Eagle' and 'Crow' (Cut)
*** Harbin's 'Turkey' (Cut)
*** The Homing Pigeon (attributed gto Rolf Harris)
********** The Cut Flying Heron - 1957 onwards
********** 1959 The 1959 Rupert Annual contains a design for 'Rupert's Paper Bird' which is probably an original design by Alfred Bestall.
********** A very simple design for a cut 'Swan' appears in 'Fun-time Paper Folding' by Elinor Tripato Massoglio, which was published by Childrens Press in Chicago in 1959.
********** The Cut Flying Crane - 1960 onwards
********** The Seagull - 1960 onwards
********** The Cut Turkey - 1960 onwards
********** A design for 'A Cochin' appears in 'All About Origami' by Isao Honda, which was published by Toto Bunka Company, Limited in Tokyo in 1960. Cochin is a breed of chicken.
********** Robert Harbin published a design for a Flying Bird in 'The Observer' of 20th March 1960.
********** Two desigs for simple birds appear in 'Origami: The Oriental Art of Paper Folding' by Harry C Helfman, which was published by Platt and Munk Co Inc in New York in 1960.
*** Sea Gull
********** 1963 Several designs for paper birds appear in the second edition of 'Het Grote Vouwboek' by Aart van Breda, which was published by Uitgeverij van Breda in 1963. Bird
*** Bird
*** Bird's Nest
*** Hen on its Nest
********** The Cut Sparrow - 1965 onwards
********** The Chick - 1965 onwards
********** The Cut Dove - 1965 onwards
********** 'The World of Origami' by Isao Honda, which was published in the USA by Japan Publications Trading Company in 1965, contains designs for several birds: *** A cut 'Swallow' from an equilateral triangle in which cuts are used to separate the two halves of the tail.
*** A 'Wild Duck' (from an equilateral triangle)
*** A 'Quacking Duck' (from a 60 / 120 degree rhombus)
*** Baby Chick
********** 1970 The 1970 Rupert Annual contains instructions for making a 'Mystery Bird' which can be varied to look like a kiwi, a vulture or a bittern.
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