D.I.Y. Origami Box Ornaments by Samantha Miller
This awesome 18 Days Series project for D.I.Y. Origami Box Ornaments comes to us from Samantha Miller of Paper Red Shoes. I love the idea of hanging these for display (like she's done in the photo at the end of this post). Here are the directions and more from Samantha:
I have folded a few thousand of these boxes and have learned the following along the way: cut a good square, fold crisply, and practice before you use paper you really like!
Supplies needed:
- Vintage or antique book
- Paper cutter or scissors
- Ruler
- Ribbon
- Fishing line.
Directions (CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR A LARGER VIEW):
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Tip: Whatever is on the topside of the square (as circled) is what you will see on the finished box.
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Step 1: Choose a great book. One with plate illustrations is usually best like old dictionaries with pictures. This one is over 100 years old! I got it from Oxfam for £10.
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Step 2: Tear eight pages from the book. Cut four pages into a 5in square for the top and four pages into a 4¾in square for the bottom. Depending how big your book is, you can cut larger squares for larger ornaments.
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Steps 3 & 4: Fold one top sheet in half horizontally. Fold the top half in half.
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Step 5: Fold in half again. This time vertically.
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Step 6: Take the bottom left corner and fold it at a 45° angle so that the corner is now in the middle.
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Step 7: Fold the bottom right quadrant at a 45° angle as shown above.
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Step 8: Fold the remaining 3 cut top squares as you did in steps 1-7. You should now have four folded pieces that looks like this.
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Steps 9 & 10: Slide one piece’s side under the fold of another. Make sure the first piece’s triangular “flap” is under the one you added.
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Step 11: Slide the third piece’s side into piece’s two fold. Make sure the second triangular “flap” is under the one you added.
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Step 12: Slide the fourth piece’s side into piece’s three fold. Make sure the third triangular “flap” is under the one you added.
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Steps 13 & 14: Here’s where it gets a bit tricky, but don’t despair. You can do it! Insert the first piece’s side into the fourth piece’s fold. Tuck the fourth triangular flap under the first.
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Step 15: Gently push the sides and corners together so that the pieces fit snuggly. Repeat steps 1-14 for the bottom of your box.
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Step 16: Now your box is done, tie some ribbon, yarn, jute, or whatever around it. Cut a piece of fishing line to make a loop. Thread the line under the ribbon and tie a secure knot.
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Step 17: Take the ends of the knot and poke them into the center of the box along with the knot. Straighten ribbon back into place.
Voilà!! Now you have an originally beautiful ornament. Many happy folds! You can check out all my crazy happenings on my blog and twitter, or come visit my etsy shop here
Thank you so much for sharing this lovely project with us Samantha! Have fun everyone! xo Ez
26 Lovely Comments | Email Article | found in D.I.Y. + Projects, Holiday Inspiration/Projects, Tutorials Print Article | Share This | 
| by Ez Wednesday, December 16, 2009 
Reader Comments (26)
How gorgeous and that deep blue ribbon is so beautiful! Thank you for this!
xo
Melis
Amazing! These are so cute!
This is a beautifully made tutorial! Thanks for sharing!
thanks so much for this! i just used it to make little gift boxes!
These are so sweet. I love the bows as well. =)
these are beautiful! i can't wait to try them - i have loads of old books i've collected just so i can make something else out of them
Wow Sam! Great job! love you! XOXOX Amanda O.
Yey! I made one.. now 5 more to go. Thank you so much for sharing with us, these are such cute boxes.
kiss kiss,
Ely
This is adorable! I'll have to save this for next year.
What a great idea! You could put little gifts inside and give them as gifts. Great tutorial!
I like it, but would hate to do this to an antique book! An alternative might be to go to the US Library of Congress online collections and print out images from antique books, or look on Google Books for old book illustrations. :)
You used a HUNDRED YEAR OLD BOOK for this?!?! Why?
Awesome! I love this idea. Thanks for the tutorial!
I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I linked to this post today from the Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip. :)
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These are SO CUTE! I think they'd be beautiful hanging in my living room windows, too. Really charming!
Amazing... Can I add some? you can add in this design by putting color in it ... or silver dust for glowing effect.
That box was designed by Tomoko Fuse of Japan.
This is a fantastic make, I used a really old French grammar book and it's worked a treat. I sometimes find origami instructions a little hard to follow but this was nice and simple. Thanks!
can some one make step 7 a bit more clear for me... I'm not understanding it and I would love to make this box!!
Hi MERMEG,
Sorry, I haven't checked this for quite some time. I'll try and make step 7 a bit more clear. This is a tough step and easy to get wrong so I'll do my best. If you click on the photo, it will appear larger and might help as well.
The two photos for step 7 aren't the best and I can see how it would be confusing.
After you do the fold for step 6, your paper should be relatively flat. The bottom middle of the rectangle (as circled in the first picture) is going to meet the left middle (as circled in the second picture. Essentially what you're doing is halving the bottom right section diagonally.
There's a great video here that shows the fold. She does some pizzazz I don't typically do when putting the pieces of the box together, but it's personal choice really.
http://www.yasutomo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108:origami-box-bottom-video&catid=43:origami-projects&Itemid=72
I hope this helped!!
Sam xx
What a great idea! And the colored ribbon sets it off nicely. Well done!
these are lovely and im trying to make them myself, but im having trouble with the final step from the second last, can you help me please?
these are awesome.
Super cute. Thinking these boxes would be perfect for holding some charms this year. Nice step-by-step photos.
We did this as a fun project during our 12 days of Christmas at work and we had loads of fun! I love my origami gift box and we used Christmas patterned scrapbook papers for it - they are soooo pretty!!