Origami Walrus Bookmark

My wife loves walruses and loves reading, so I wanted to fold her an origami bookmark with a walrus theme. I looked all over the internet and couldn't find anything, so I set out to design one myself.

This is the first origami model I've designed on my own, and I'm very proud of how it came out. The model has a simple geometric look to it, and can be made with a color change on the tusks if you are using two-sided origami paper. Most importantly, it works great as a bookmark.

I hope you enjoy it!

A single sheet of square paper. I used a 6" piece of two-sided kami, but you can use any size / style paper you want.

Start with the tusk side of the paper facing up. Fold in half vertically, and then fold both sides into the center line. Fold in half horizontally, and then fold top and bottom in to the center line and unfold.

Create two diagonal creases in the center box by folding as shown.

Flip the model over, and fold the sides to the center, making just a pinch-mark at the top. Then fold the sides to the opposite pinch mark and crease the top quarter of the paper. Fold the paper back over.

Fold down the top layer along the diagonal creases, as shown in the first image, and then flatten down.

Fold the points up, aligning the edge to the crease marks you made in the previous step.

If you are using paper with a different color on each side, perform these steps to change the color of the tusks.

Unfold the last step. Fold the top layer of the paper up, aligning with the top edge, and crease to the diagonal crease marks on either side.

Align the edges on the points as well, and crease down to the diagonal crease marks. The model will not lie flat at this point, but that's ok.

Re-fold the diagonal creases from the previous step, flattening the top layer as you do. The front and back view of the final fold is shown.

Narrow the tusks by folding edge-to-edge on both points (including the layer below).

To create the head, re-crease all of the new layers along the diagonal folds from Step 2 on both sides.

Collapse the head downward using the diagonal and horizontal creases as shown in the image (I took the second photo after the model had been finished, so you'll see some crease lines on the bottom that don't exist yet). When it's completed it should look like the final image.

Fold the bottom corners up and in to the center.

Fold the head over to one side, and fold the side point in to the center. Repeat on both sides.

Finally, fold the bottom tab up and in to the model to lock it.

Your bookmark is now done!