Satoshi Kamiya’s Origami Pegasus

Pegasus’s dad was Poseidon, the god of the sea, and his mom was Medusa, an evil Gorgon who had fangs and lizard skin and living snakes for hair. And you thought your family was weird.
Evan Kuhlman

About the Origami Pegasus Model

I’ve remarked before on this blog that things with wings and horns tend look very good in origami, and this is probably why birds, dragons, and insects are such popular subjects.  There are quite a lot of origami Pegasus designs (Pegasuses? Pegasi?) around for much the same reason.

This one, by Satoshi Kamiya is particularly good.  The proportions work well and the wing design is excellent.  Quite a lot of Pegasus models tend to sacrifice one of these two areas – either the finished model feels very short, or the wing doesn’t look like an actual functioning wing.  To me, these are both strengths of Kamiya’s model.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.  Please see disclosure for more information

Folding Kamiya’s Pegasus

This is a high intermediate design.  It doesn’t demand as much skill in shaping as Joisel’s Dwarf which I covered on this blog recently, but it does demand accurate and precise folding throughout if the results are not to be disappointing.

It does require a reasonably large piece of thin paper that is coloured the same on both sides. Kamiya recommends a 25cm x 25cm (approx. 10in x 10in) sheet, but does not specify a paper type.  I used a 60cm x 60cm (24in x 24in) sheet of white tissue foil bought from Origami-shop.com. I understand that no everyone likes to work with such a large sheet of paper, but in this case I think it helped.  Some parts of the model (particularly around the belly) are several layers thick by the end and it would be difficult to fold these well if the paper is too small.

There are 108 steps to this model, several of which are along the lines of ‘repeat the last six steps on the other side’. I completed this model in about five hours, spread across three days, although I wasn’t in a hurry.  It would be possible to fold this in less time, but I wanted to take my time over it.

Origami Pegasus Diagrams

The diagrams for this model are in Satoshi Kamiya’s book Origami House (page is in Japanese, English translation is available) and is available from origami-shop.com.

Update: Since I first published this post, Kamiya has created another more advanced pegasus, which he calls Pegasus B3.  You can get the crease patterns for that one here.

Let me know what you think, if you’ve folded this one yourself, or if you prefer a different origami Pegasus design. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below, or you find can me on Instagram or Twitter. Check out my Pinterest boards too!

Sign up for my origami newsletter here and get our free Origami eBook.

Disclosure

This page contains affiliate links and I may receive some small commission for purchases made through the links on this page. This hasn’t affected my decision to recommend a product – I value my personal and professional reputation and would not endorse a product or supplier I did not believe in. There is no additional cost to you for purchasing through this page.