How to make an origami clock tower
Sunset Bay’s Clocktower, striking the hours. Here's an origami clock tower with a pointed roof and a doorway, step by step: a diagram for every fold below, and every step playing in 3D in Crease, so you can watch the paper move and turn it round.
You need: a square of paper (15 cm or 6 in is ideal). Coloured on one side is best, but any paper works.
Free in your browser. Watch each fold, slow it down, turn it round.
Step by step
The dashed line is a valley fold (fold towards you); dash-dot is a mountain fold (fold behind). The arrow shows where the paper goes.
Fold the left and right edges in to meet in the middle, like closing cupboard doors.
Fold each long side behind, so the edges meet in the middle at the back. The tower is tall and thin.
Fold the top corners down to the middle to make the pointed roof.
Make a thin pleat across the tower, a little below the roof: fold the top down, then back up a little lower. That’s the ledge under the belfry.
Fold the bottom corners of the doors out, to open the doorway. Draw a big clock face between the ledge and the doorway, and windows if you like. Bong, bong: it’s striking the hour!
Done! Well folded.
Tips
- Line up the corners or edges first, then press the crease flat from the middle outwards.
- Run a fingernail along every crease: sharp creases make the later steps easier.
- Stuck on a step? Open Clock tower in Crease and watch it fold in 3D, as slowly as you like.
More easy origami
Origami for beginners: the folds, the bases and where to start →