Fortune Boats

Follow this instructable by our HSBC Designer in Residence Lao Jianhua and make colourful fortune boats to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

You can read about Lao Jianhua's residency in his Blog: http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/lao-jianhua/blog/

Victoria & Albert Museum

Take a square piece of coloured paper. If you want to, you can write a wish for the new year on one side. If your paper is only coloured on one side, make sure you write on the white side.

Place your paper coloured side down and fold it in half to make a triangle.

Unfold and repeat for the opposite side.

Using the previous lines as guides, fold in each of the corners. Repeat for each of the four corners until you form a smaller square.

Take each point and fold it in half inwards.

Fold the whole piece in half, with the folded pieces on the inside.

Fold each side back on itself. You should be able to see the edges of the triangles you made before forming smaller triangles on each of the corners.

Fold each of the four smaller triangles downwards.

Make two diagonal folds from the edges to the middle on each side.

You should now have a big shallow triangle on each side. Take the top point of each and fold it back to the flat edge.

Carefully turn the boat inside-out.

Lift the corners.

Give the final touches by pushing the bottom of the boat out with your fingers.

Ready for sailing!