A simple origami swallow

I was completely mesmerised by the swallows in Portugal, and while playing around with some origami paper, I came up with this simple design for an origami swallow. It is based on the famous ‘crane base’ (steps 1-7), and implements many folds used in the standard Orizuru crane (inside-reverse folds for the wings, narrowing the bottom two flaps, etc).

Step 1

Two diagonal valley folds, and two horizontal mountain folds.

Step 2

Push the diagonals together along the valley folds.

Step 3

Flatten, keep the open sides at the bottom.

Step 4

Fold the open edges inwards (on both sides).

Step 5

Fold the top triangle down.

Step 6

Undo the previous fold.

Step 7

Open the two flaps and fold the inside triangle up (on both sides).

Step 8

Open the four sides.

Step 9

Close and flatten along the edges previously not touching.

Step 10.

Fold along the bottom diagonals.

Step 11.

Open the two wings with an inside reverse fold. This is a free fold that determines the angle of the wings.

Step 12.

Fold open the v-shaped tail. This is another free fold.