Anna Branford

how to make a not-quite-origami gift box

The reason this gift box is not-quite-origami is because to make it, you need scissors, while in proper origami there shouldn’t be any cuts, just folds. But I think it’s okay to break the rules to make something as useful as this.

So, to make a not-quite-origami box, this is what you will need:

- two squares of paper, one about half a centimetre smaller than the other
- a pair of scissors
- some decorations of your choice (I chose some string and some flowers from my garden)

*As long as the paper is thinner than cardboard and thicker than tissue, you can use almost any kind – so think outside the square about what you might try. I decided to use some old sheet music, but I have also made these boxes from pages of magazines, newspaper, old wrapping paper and even junk mail.

*It could take a couple of tries before you’re able to make a gift box perfectly, so it might be a good idea not to use your favourite paper on your very first try.

Instructions:

Step one: Fold one of your squares in half from corner to corner, like this.

Step two: Open the square out. Then repeat step one with the other two corners, so you end up with a big creased cross like this.

Step three: Fold one of the corners exactly into the centre of the cross.

Step four: Then do the same with all the other corners, like this. (I’ve let my corners pop up in the middle so you can see where your folds should be, but you can press yours down flat.)

Step five: Lift up one side of the new square shape you’ve made and fold it down so that edge lies right across the middle, like this.

Step six: Fold the opposite edge into the centre too. (Maybe you can see why my little sister and I, when we made these at primary school, used to call this step ‘cupboard doors’.)

Step seven: Open up the ‘doors’, turn the square sideways and do step six again, like this.

Step eight: Then open your whole paper square right up and flatten it out – it should now be all covered in little square-shaped creases like this.

Step nine: This step is to figure out where to make two cuts with your scissors. Pick a corner of your square. If you trace with your finger from that corner along the edge of the paper, the very first crease you come to will be where your cut will begin. See how the crease you’ve found goes towards the middle of the square? That’s the direction you need to cut along. If you follow that fold with your finger all the way across the square, you’ll see that it gets crossed by lots of other creases going in the other direction. You need to cut past the first crease and stop exactly at the second crease. So that’s the first cut! The second cut is just the same, but on the other side of the corner you chose.

In this picture I have drawn where the two cuts will be with my red pen, so you can check you’ve found the right places.

Step ten: Turn your square around and make two cuts in exactly the same places on the opposite corner of the square. (I’m holding my square in a funny way for this picture just so you can see where all my cuts were – really it can just be laid out flat.)

Step eleven: See how in the picture above, one of the corners of the square is hidden under my hand – and because of the cuts I have made it’s a bit like the point of a triangle? Fold that corner into the middle of the square, like this.

Step twelve: Fold the opposite corner into the middle of the square too and let the two new edges you’ve made stand up, like this. These will be the sides of your box.

Step thirteen: See how when you did step twelve you created four thin flapping points – two on each side? (In the picture above, two of these are tucked under my hand, but the other two are pointing upwards.) Take two of the points and pinch them together so they are flat against each other, like this.

Step fourteen: See how, in the picture above, one corner of the square looks a bit like an arrow pointing downwards? (It’s tip is touching the bottom of the photo!) Pick up that point and fold it over the part you’ve pinched, so that the point ends up right in the centre of the base of your box. (You will see that the creases are in exactly the right places to fit perfectly.) If you like, you can put a dab of glue under the corner you’ve folded into the centre of your box, to hold it in place. Using glue isn’t proper origami either, but it really helps!

Step fifteen: Do the same on the other side. You now have one half of your not-quite-origami gift box!

Step sixteen: repeat steps one-to-fifteen with your other paper square. The slightly smaller one will be the bottom of your box and the slightly bigger one will be the top, like this.

Step seventeen: Put a small present inside and decorate your gift box any way you like!