Two cranes in flight

Today we have two cranes in flight, modeled here by the amazing Alex and Jason.

The orange crane on the left is a clever model from the "technical school", based on John Montroll's "five-sided square". (Best name ever.) It is essentially a five-limbed version of the traditional flapping bird, with some extra shaping and detailing. And yes, it flaps.

The purple crane on the right is belongs to the more "traditional school", and is incredibly elegant and fun to fold. Whereas the orange crane has two distinct, defined legs, the purple crane has a single rear flap, folded in such a way to suggest the existence of two separate legs. I find this very clever and aesthetically pleasing.

The orange crane was folded from a 9-3/4" square of standard origami paper. It measures 5-5/8" from beak to foot. The model was designed by Robert J. Lang, and folding instructions may be found in his book Origami in Action. The purple crane was folded from a 5-7/8" square of standard origami paper and measures 5" from beak to foot. This crane was designed by Kunihiko Kasahara, and folding instructions may be found in his book Origami Omnibus.