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Inspired by "Cool Paper Tools" (old name), by Kittyhawk Software, from which I learned the prototype of this design.
This model is folded from a standard sheet of 15cm square origami paper, foil-backed, painted with ink except the tusks.
Here are some notes on the diagrams -- as if they weren't already too full of words. I'll improve them in time. I would appreciate any suggestions; contact me on the "ORIGAMI list".
I had written: "In Step 12 the position of the valley fold makes a difference in whether there will be room for the first sink in Step 14. Step 12 shows it to be halfway between the crease lines formed at the folding of the original bird base, and the point where the bisection of the angle, shown, meets the center line of the model. I suggest using that as a starting point, and be willing to adjust it to taste in subsequent models. The further down, the bigger the ears. Too far up and the overall shape of the head will suffer. Experiment; there is a range of viable variations and much I haven't yet tried."
I have subsequently learned how to reduce the size of the ears, meanwhile narrowing the front leg -- not yet diagrammed but see the description below. Now, my recommendation is to go with the big ears, then shape them smaller.
This is covered in the explanation "Valley fold flap up" and "Fold model in half lengthways and raise the head-trunk unit at a shallow angle..." Maybe I should include an interim diagram; anyway, it helps to know you have to pinch the animal's back at Point H in order to form the ears. Make left and right symmetrical.
At Step 13 Point M is shown to give an idea where to pre-fold the head in order to form the trunk. The higher the position of Point M, the steeper the downward angle of the tusk can be, but the more difficult it becomes to effect the first sink in Step 14. In the prototype of this design in "Cool Paper Toys," that point was way down along the bottom of the model, but that put the trunk sticking out far forward, which doesn't seem natural. Elephants sometimes do that, say, while trumpeting, but normally the trunk hangs straight down. Year by year I skoonched it upwards, folding hundreds of models arriving finally upon Point M. The further upward went Point M, the pointier became the head. Sinking was a necessity, but it opened the way not only for shaping of head and face, but allows the trunk in the near-finished model to be drawn even further downward, until straight down if so desired. Control of Point M allows a wide range of trunk positioning.
With this point M, the first sink in Step 14 somehow ends up forcing the trunk further down than what it was before, straight down or nearly so, depending on how the sink comes out. A deep sink makes narrowing the trunk a congested maneuver. The trunk will also be way too long for the elephant to stand, so it must be crimped. Crimping, of course, makes it look more realistic. Hmmm...haven't tried but there ought to be a way to crimp it sideways, too, not just fold it sideways, so that the trunk can be three-dimensional.
Point M also may vary in position fore and aft; experiment and find what suits. In general, however, if it's too far back the attempted sink in Step 14 will bump into point N, shown in Diagram 14. Too far forward detracts from an appropriate head shape.
The outer rear of the front legs can narrowed with a sink -- it's complicated but you can figure it out and I plan to diagram it later. The resulting leg seems longer and more realistic, but fold the inner rear legs inward too, to match. To reduce the ears, just keep folding paper underneath bit by bit until either you can't do it any more (rear of the ear) or it makes the face look funny (front of the ear). I extended a paper clip, held the protruding end with my fingers, and poked the rounded part inside the ear from the front to use it as an anvil to shape the rear and lower parts of the ear against with my thumbnail. It's better to do all this before folding the tusks up into position.
Outwardly rather than inwardly. When the paper is thick, however, and does not hold a fold well, inward might be better and may result in a better-looking front. The tusks of large white elephant I'm holding here (from heavy poster paper) were folded inwardly and the body held together inside with a binder clip for a couple days before the photo was taken. The tusks on that model twisted inward as the paper relaxed and I ended up having to bind them with dabs of glue.
The model in the top photo has white tusks because I colored the whole white paper grey except two opposing corners. (Careful you don't end up with grey tusks and white trunk and tail :-) Best way I've found to color paper uniformly grey is to make a dilute solution of black or blue ink and brush it the area I want -- all over except the tusk corners. Getting it uniform is impossible, but start with very light grey, let it dry, repeat, again, and again. By the time the desired darkness of grey is achieved all brush strokes will have disappeared. Anyone who knows of a less time-consuming way that results in even coloration (markers no) but which won't end up staining my fingers (crayons no), please let me know.
If you are not a purist then white-backed paper can yield an elephant of the color of the paper, and the tusks can be white. At Step 2, slit the paper from the tip of the tusk to the first fold encountered, using a pair of LT-507 quasi-ori scissors with non-conducting handles and demagnitized blades (or, if riding the bus, tear carefully with fingernails :-) tuck the colored half underneath, and proceed.
Made hundreds of them that way before
I came upon the wet-folding technique. Since I was already destroying the integrity
of the paper surface by cutting it, my guilt was reduced in making a couple
more snips with my LT-507 scissors to allow the tusk to be narrowed. Or
Aderemi Artis made a point on the ORIGAMI list recently ("wet-folding and wet-finishing"); what I refer to as "wet-folded tusks" is not wet-folding in the true sense. Nor is it wet-finishing exactly...maybe the term "wet-fold assisting."