The swivel fold is one of those folds you will meet over and over again once you start building birds and animals. It is a close cousin of the petal fold, and like the petal fold it seems magical the first time you do it: one crease is pre-made, and when you fold along a second line the paper snaps into place almost on its own.

This tutorial starts from a square base with one squash-folded flap - the easiest setup to demonstrate on, though the same move works on many other shapes. Four steps, two key creases, and you will have a fold you can carry into everything from flapping wings to twisted beaks.

The Swivel Fold comes up a lot in origami and is somewhat similar to the Petal Fold Variation.

STEP 1. Start off with a Square Base that has one of the four flaps Squash Folded. You can make a swivel fold on many different shapes but this one is easy to demonstrate. Fold the top left flap of paper to the centre along the dotted line.

STEP 2. Crease this fold well and unfold it.

STEP 3. Lift up the top flap of paper making a fold along the dotted line from the top of the previous fold to the corner of the top coloured section of paper. There isn’t a crease here already so you’ll have to make this fold on your own as best you can.

STEP 4. As you fold along that dotted line the paper will automatically fold along the crease you already made on the left side. Push everything completely flat.

The Completed Swivel Fold.