Wing Styles and Variations

Just as we have shown permutations of flaps, corners, and margins using the base for the Butterfly for Alice, this photo shows only a small fraction of different possible wing treatments. Favorite wing styles include variations of full-wings, forewings, and hindwings.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to configuring butterfly wings!

Right angles are unusual in nature’s creatures, so your butterfly will look less artificial after you soften any perpendicular lines. Finishing the outer edges of the wings with special, folded treatments often takes advantage of the excess paper temporarily stowed in the margins and corners during the initial setup. Pull this excess paper out to create color change spots, patterns, or prongs. Another popular treatment involves shaping the tip of the forewing corner, often with a fold-over, inside-reverse, or even a small rabbit-ear fold.

These designs feature several favorite treatments, including rows of contrasting color triangles (“Aztec,” as seen in “The Cashdollar,” page 103), pivoting fanfolds (see “The June,” page 94), color-change frame surrounds (see “The Jan,” page 44), swallowtails (see “The Guy Kawasaki Swallowtail,” page 78), pronghorns (see “The Lang,” page 54), as well as regular, and irregular polygonal spots. These are just a few, so rest assured as you embark on your journey that there are plenty more to discover. We tend to favor the finished look of folded edges, but a splendid row of triangular spots from simple fan-folding can also be quite striking. The following illustration shows just a few of the wing shaping options.


These Are a Few of My Favorite Wings

Lunule

A lunule is a simple, crescent-shaped reversal along the edge between the two layers that exposes the contrasting color when both layers of paper are the same color. This striking sliver formed by rolling the edge can be applied on either the forewing or hindwing.

Swallowtail

One of the most elegant shapes for the hindwing tips is a simple, mountain fold with an outward curl—a swallowtail. Wet folding will allow you to shape it easily. Moisten the paper slightly with a fine mist or damp cloth, and allow the moisture to penetrate before you shape the piece. Restrain the shaped paper in the desired position with a strip of cloth as it dries, to make the shape permanent. Too much moisture may abrade the surface or cause it to look fuzzy. (If you are uncomfortable with wet-folding, then fold foil swallowtails. They will hold their shape without any need for water!)

Aztec

Simple fan-folding along a diagonal produces rows of regular, alternating, triangular spots—the Aztec wing treatment. The Aztecs and others throughout the history of art produced designs featuring this popular motif. (The Z sound in the word “Aztec” helps our young students remember the zig-zagged, triangular pattern).


Butterfly Discovery Challenge

Michael LaFosse has developed and folded over a thousand different origami butterfly designs, and we’ll show you how to fold some of his favorites in this book and accompanying DVDs. The following photos show a mere twenty-five of his favorite forewing and hindwing combinations. As you master the designs in this book, return to this page to see if you can figure out how each was folded!

Frame tail wing variations.

Prong Tail wing variations.

Sakura wing variations.

Lillian wing variations.

Swallowtail wing variations.