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Cost
$ $ $ $ $
Difficulty
• • • • •
Time
20h00

No money for real pools of koi? Make this instead.
My friend saw a wall hanging of origami koi that she really liked, but the etsy shop that was selling it had it priced at over $1000. Thus, I set out to make this for her birthday/Christmas present, and after countless hours of folding while walking, an art that I have mastered, I finally finished the koi and attached them to the friend's bedroom wall.

UPDATE: I recently made another version of this complete with LEDs and rainbow lighting; just check out my projects page to find it.

Posted by Conn from San Francisco, California, United States • Published See Conn's 100 projects »
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  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 1
    Step 1

    I used online diagrams (whose link doesn't work anymore for some reason) and a stop-motion video of the folding process (http://www.mabonaorigami.com/en/videos/the-making-of-an-origami-koi.html) so have fun! It's pretty tricky, especially the swivel folds, but feel free to comment below if you have difficulties and I'll try to help. Fold as many as you want, but I folded 39 of them: 1 white, 2 bright yellow, 3 yellow-orange, 2 dark orange, 2 light orange, 7 red, 2 pink, 5 purple, 2 dark blue, 5 medium blue, 4 sky blue, 1 dark green, and 3 leaf green.

  • Step 2

    For people stuck on the swivel folds (the small folds for shaping the left and right sides of the fish), go to this link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Wall-of-Rainbow-Koi/
    and see step 3.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 3
    Step 3

    To mount the koi on the wall, you need to make wire connections for each fish. To do so, I used pliers to shape two triangles perpendicular to each other. First, cut out 5.5cm of wire and make a sharp bend.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 4
    Step 4

    Make another sharp bend to create your first triangle. This triangle should be fairly small, and the next one will be bigger.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 5
    Step 5

    Bend the triangle so that it's perpendicular to the rest of the wire. (basically, bend it down 90 degrees)

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 6
    Step 6

    This is the side view of the perpendicular triangle.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 7
    Step 7

    Make another 90 degree bend about 1 inch down.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 8
    Step 8

    Hold the wire like this before the next step.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 9
    Step 9

    Make a sharp bend.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 10
    Step 10

    Make another sharp bend to complete the triangle.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 11
    Step 11

    This is what you should have.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 12
    Step 12

    On flat surface, arrange your fish how you want it to look on your wall. Take a picture and save it or print it out for guidance when you actually attach the fish to the wall.
    To be honest, even though I did this step, I ended up winging the design. And I like how everything turned out so skip this step if you want.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 13
    Step 13

    Hot glue the small triangle to the underside of a koi and apply tape to the larger triangle.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 14
    Step 14

    On the taped end, attach the koi to the wall. Rinse and repeat until all your koi are attached to the wall.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 15
    Step 15

    Keep going...

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 16
    Step 16

    This was my first version, but I didn't like it because the fish looked too cramped together. So I took off some fish and rearranged them.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 17
    Step 17

    This was my final version.

  • How to fold an origami fish. Wall Of Rainbow Koi - Step 18
    Step 18

    I liked the final version, but I thought the koi looked too restricted to one area and looked like it fit a perfect rectangle even though there was plenty more space next to it. This being so, I decided to outline that imaginary rectangle with dark green yarn (no blue available). I liked this result a lot better so do this If you think it would help. If not, then you're done! Enjoy the new wall art!

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Instagram Video D.
Instagram allows users to edit and upload photos and short videos through a mobile app. Users can add a caption to each of their posts and use hashtags and location-based geotags to index these posts and make them searchable by other users within the app. Each post by a user appears on their followers' Instagram feeds and can also be viewed by the public when tagged using hashtags or geotags. Users also have the option of making their profile private so that only their followers can view their posts. You can start <a href="https://instavideo-downloader.com">Instagram video downloader</a> here.
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Maria S.
Maria S.
I love it. It is beautiful.Love
Reply
emmilou w.
emmilou w. · Wallasey, England, GB · 12 projects
Love this is awesome!
Reply
jeanette
jeanette · Bideford, England, GB · 1 project
these are beautiful , they make a beautiful display especially on a blue wall. Mine are on a gold wall and work reaaly well.thank you very much
Jeanette laurence
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Susan P.
Susan P. · Pine Knot, Kentucky, US
Love GORGEOUS
Reply
C K.
C K. · 1 project
Absolutely Beautiful!!!!! Happy
Conn
Conn · San Francisco, California, US · 134 projects
Thank you for your nice comment!
Reply
B*
B* · 55 projects
Wonderful!
Conn
Conn · San Francisco, California, US · 134 projects
Thank you! ^^
Reply
sunshinerose0
sunshinerose0 · Perth, Western Australia, AU
These look great, thanks I must try this.
Reply
Phoenix M.
Phoenix M. · 1 project
Is there a better way to stick them to the wall? I've tried to stick origami swans to the wall before and they stayed on for maybe 3 days! xD
Conn
Conn · San Francisco, California, US · 134 projects
I don't really know of any "better" ways. The simple tape method that I used works pretty well, as the koi are still attached to the wall. The koi are pretty small and light so they shouldn't fall off easily.
Phoenix M.
Phoenix M. · 1 project
Ok, thank you!
Helen S.
Helen S.
Ypu could try hot gluing them to fishing cord (transparent plastic and very fine) strung across an empty picture frame. That way they'd still seem to float, but you could hang the frame the "regular" way. I would drill evenly spaced holes in the frame and weave the cord back and forth both vertically and horizontally.
Conn
Conn · San Francisco, California, US · 134 projects
Interesting idea.. perhaps I'll try it someday. Or you could! Anyway, thanks for sharing your idea!
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