How to Make a Grasshopper from a Plastic Straw

The Chinese Hunan province is famous for its hemp palm workmanship and grasshoppers were one such traditional craft object created from hemp palm. Equally, in Japan grasshoppers were also fashioned using bamboo grass. You can imitate both styles of grasshopper crafting using plastic straws as your material, following the steps outlined in this tutorial.

1. Press a straw to make it flat, and cut as shown in the figure. Essentially, what you're doing is cutting the straw into three sections, then cutting the grasshopper's hind legs out of the outer sections.
   
   

    Press a straw to make it flat, and cut as shown in the figure.
2. Hold down the straw as shown. The dot shown on this image is replicated on the following images to assist your sense of direction.
   
   
3. Wrap each of the outer sections of the cut straw around the center section (the backbone), as shown.
   
   
   • Tighten the wrapped pieces equally and symmetrically into a knot.
     
4. Recap. In order to help you grasp how the previous step was done, here is a photo sequence to demonstrate the flow of the action:
   • Once in the position for knotting, hold the concertina end between thumb and forefinger.
     
     
   • Pull tighter, moving fingers to keep the knot in place.
     
     
   • Tighten right in.
     
     
   • Finish up.
     
     
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5. Hold the folded straw up as shown in the figure.
   
   
6. Hold the straw down in a triangle to the right.
   
   

    Hold the straw down in a triangle to the right.
   • Pull to tighten, as shown.
     
     
7. Repeat for the back. The back should also be done in the same way.
   
   
   • Repeating at the back.
     
     
8. After cutting a leg, tie symmetrically.
   
   
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9. Repeat on the back.
   
   
   
   
10. Cut an antenna on the side opposite to a leg.
    
    
11. Cut the excess off.
    
    
12. Pull a backbone from the rear and tighten.
    
    
13. Pull through the antenna into a loop and tighten more.
    
    
    
14. Cut off the excess part.
    
    
15. Fold the joints of the six legs so that the grasshopper can sit steadily.
    
    
16. Enjoy your straw grasshopper!
    
    

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  When the straw is not long enough, it's okay to cut a leg and an antenna at the same time.

• Straw (use size: 6mm diameter, 21cm long)
• Pair of scissors