Masu boxes with tesselation lids

Through the years I have regularly been looking for paper boxes or gift boxes for all kinds of different occasions but always had trouble finding the box I need. And then when and if I find one it costs more than what I´m about to put in it. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I discovered the vast world of origami box folding. You can make boxes from one sheet or multiple sheets, without or with lids, in many different shapes such as triangles, squares and hexagons and with endless different decorative effects. 

For a beginner in the box world there is no better box to begin with than the Masu box. This traditional design is both fast and easy to fold and it's size can be changed with just a simple adjustment of creases. And no surprise my newest video here below is a tutorial on how to fold that same box.

I have been looking into another branch of the origami world called tessellations. Origami tessellations are the art of folding geometrical shapes and repetitive patterns from a single sheet of paper. The paper is folded into pleats or twisted by the use of various techniques as to form the wanted pattern. I have taken the simplest of these techniques called by Eric Gjerde in his book Origami Tessellations: Awe-Inspiring Geometric Designs the 90-degree pleat intersection and applied it to the Masu box. The result are some nice variations of that traditional box. Here below are images of three of the variations I have designed and folded. 

Box with a cross

Folded from origami paper.
Cross pattern folded from a grid of 16 x 16 squares.

Mountain peaks box

Folded from wrapping paper.
Pattern folded from a grid of 32 x 32 squares.

Folded from wrapping paper.
Pattern folded from a grid of 32 x 32 squares.

Box with a cross and side flaps

Folded from heavy wrapping paper.
Pattern folded from a grid of 32 x 32 squares.

Folded from thin see-through paper used for pattern making.
Pattern folded from a grid of 32 x 32 squares.

These boxes are a bit more complicated than the original box yet they are not that difficult to make. But they are time consuming. Before I could begin folding the 90-degree pleat intersection I had to pre-crease the paper into a grid of squares. The first box, and the easiest to make, requires a grid of 16 x 16 while the other two versions need a grid of 32 x 32. As for the Masu box these boxes are folded from two square sheets of paper but instead of two sheets of equal size the lid requires a much bigger sheet than the box because of all the pleats for the pattern. 

For you who are interested in learning how to fold these boxes I will make a tutorial video soon for the box with the cross and post it here.

I hope you enjoy the video and the images,

until later.

Origami Crown made from one sheet of paper

My latest video is a tutorial on how to fold an eight pointed crown from one square sheet of paper. This crown takes some time to fold and all the creases are made before the crown is assembled. Because of that it's fun and easy to decorate the crown before you assemble it. 

Another great thing about this crown is that it can be made to wear. How great is that! You can make it fit over your head or so it stands on top. I personally prefer the crown smaller so it stands on top of your head tied with a ribbon or fastened to a head band.

Update:

Unfortunately I have had to take the video tutorial of the crown down because of a very unfortunate misunderstanding :( between me and Hyo Ahn, who as I mention below and  in the video, is the designer of the original crown. I thought she had given me permission to do the tutorial on my version of the crown and she thought she had given me permission to do a video of the finished crown. Well that's how communicating through e-mails sometimes goes. Worst is that I put very much time and effort into the tutorial and all in good faith. So dear readers you will have to make do with the images for now and check out Hyo Ahn's website for the original crown (the link is below)

This crown is based on another crown that was designed by Hyo Ahn and I only did some minor changes to get the look of this crown. Hyo Ahn holds out a website called origami-make.com where she gives instructions on how to fold various traditional models as well as her own designs. Here is a direct link to her Eight Pointed Origami Crown.

Here below are variations I have made of the crown.

38 cm x 38 cm / 15 x 15 inches sheet of paper.
Circumference is 34 cm / 13,4 inches
Height is 9 cm / 3,5 inches

33 x 33 cm / 13 x 13 inches square sheet.
Circumference is 29 cm / 11,4 inches.
Height is 8 cm / 3 inches.

23 x 23 cm / 9 x 9 inches sheet of paper.
Circumference of crown is 20 cm /7,9 inches
Height is 6 cm / 2,4 inches

21,5 x 21,5 cm / 8,5 x 8,5 inches.
Circumference is 18,5 cm / 7,3 inches.
Height is 5,5 cm / 2 inches

The pattern on the last two crowns is drawn according to folds that are already on the paper. When assembled, the crown's top is the backside of the paper and the crown's points are the front side of the paper. Therefore the pattern or decoration needs to be made on both sides of the sheet.

The crown decorated both front and back and ready to be folded.

A family photo

And lastly here is a baby with the crown. I made holes on both sides of the crown with a needle and threaded a ribbon through and secured it. You could also use elastic band or simply attach the crown to a hair band.

The crown is not difficult to make but it takes some time so for those brave enough out there... 

Happy folding!

Paper Crown

Finally I have made a new video!

 I have been struggling with technical issues but most are resolved now. I have managed to get better sound (that one was a major headache!!) and higher frame rate so now I can make better quality videos. However, the silly awkward pronunciation is still there hehe, and is probably not going anywhere so if it annoys you just hit the mute button ;). I must say that making tutorial videos has proven to be more complicated than I thought but I will get the hang of it gradually.

My new video is a tutorial on how to fold a modular crown. Modular simply means that it's made from a number of units that are usually all alike (but not always) that are assembled in a certain way to form the final model. This crown is very easy to make and doesn't take much time to do. The bigger and fewer modules the quicker to make. You might have seen a simpler version of this crown but I added a simple detail to the modules to make it more interesting. Check out the video here below and please give me some feedback by commenting or liking/disliking the video.

As this is a super simple crown its also incredibly easy to make variations of it. For each module you need a square sheet of paper of what ever size you choose and the number of sheets depends on how big you want your crown to be. So if you want to make a crown that is 56 cm in circumference with 8 modules you will need sheets that are 14 x 14 cm (half of each module counts in the circumference the other half slides into the next one). Here below are some variations I made.

7 modules folded from 15 x 15 cm sheets of paper
Circumference 52,7 cm 

8 modules folded from 14 x 14 cm sheets of paper.
Circumference 56 cm

14 modules folded from 7,5 x 7,5 cm sheets of paper
Circumference 52,5 cm

14 modules folded from thirteen 7,5 x 7,5 cm sheets of paper
and one 7,5 x 15 cm sheet of paper
Circumference 52,5 cm

This last crown has a center module that is taller than the rest and has to be folded in a different way than the other modules. I haven't yet made instructions on how to fold it but will hopefully have time soon.

One final tip: If you make the crown and want to wear it I recommend that you glue the modules together. Origami enthusiasts usually frown upon using glue for origami models but if you don't want the crown falling apart while you take some seriously royal moves on the dance floor it might be better to use glue!

I hope you enjoy the video.

Until later!