Origami for the blind

Christmas heart

The Christmas heart is a heart-shaped container that allows it to hang on Christmas trees, Traditionally with a bit of candy. Alternatively, it forms a splendid hat when folded from a larger piece of paper.

Design
Erik Rønholt.
Type
Decoration.
Difficulty
Easy.
Paper
A5 or A4, preferably with different front and back sides.

Folding

See also vocabulary and general help.

  1. The paper is horizontal, with the long edges on the top and bottom. If two-coloured, place the paper with the beak colour up.
  2. Fold the lower, long edge to the top. Unfold.
  3. Rotate the paper to be vertical, with the short edges on the top and bottom.
  4. Fold the bottom edge to the top. There will be an open edge on the top.
  5. Fold the left edge, both layers, to the right edge, using the crease line of the first step.
  6. At the bottom you have two folded edges, connected in the folded corner to the left.
  7. Fold the bottom, right front corner up and to the left, folded edge, bisecting the bottom, left corner.
  8. Repeat this behind.
  9. Unfold folded edge of the former, vertical centre line.
  10. The overall shape is an irregular pentagon. The two bottom edges are folded, the three other edges are open with two layers. The folded corners face you, and the back is smooth.
  11. The two folded corners, lying along the vertical centre crease line, form two triangular pockets with the open edge at the top.
  12. Squash fold the pockets, that is: Open them one at a time, and press the corner down so that the pocket flattens again, this time with the former corner on the folded edge.
  13. The squashed pockets are diamond shaped, symmetrical around the folded edge, and with their own folded edges meeting at the bottom corner of the shape.
  14. The part that extends outside the folded edge in the diamond shape, we should fold that behind along the folded edge line.
  15. Turn the paper over with the smooth side facing you.
  16. In the bottom left you have an oblique corner which is the part sticking out. Fold that corner in as far as it goes. The crease will form along the folded edge now hidden behind the front layer.
  17. Repeat the previous step with the oblique corner in the bottom right.
  18. The half-diamond in the left side just folded in has a raw edge running from the in-folded oblique corner and perpendicular to the folded edge.
  19. Fold the top left corner of the front layer down along the centre line of the heart. The crease line will form along the mentioned raw edge.
  20. Repeat the previous step with the top right corner of the upper layer. The two folded edges should form a right angle corner at the top centre of the heart.
  21. Repeat the previous two steps on the back side.
  22. Together, the heart forms a square, with an open corner in the top and half-open corners to the left and right. These corners are connected by folded edges.Towards the closed bottom corner the two front layer flaps are missing a triangle, with raw, horizontal edges at the bottom of the two flaps.
  23. Fold these raw edges straight up as far as they go. The crease line will be horizontal, starting in the left and right corners.
  24. Repeat behind.
  25. Fold the top corner of the square down over the raw edges of the flaps we just folded up.
  26. Repeat behind.
  27. The heart forms an irregular pentagon, with a horizontal edge on the top, two 45 degree "shoulders" left and right next to that, and two folded edges going at 45 degrees down to the bottom corner. Hence, the corners at the bottom and to the left and right are right angles.
  28. The front and the back look the same. Let us validate the layers of the front, going from the lower layer to the uppermost one.
  29. In the middle there is a single, smooth layer extending under the other layers to have the same size and shape as the heart itself. Then, to the left and right there are triangular double layers, with a skinny angle ending at the bottom corner of the heart. Next, towards the top, two flaps folded upwards to the top edge. They bisect the left and right corners. Near these corners, the two flaps have an extra layer forming a small, isosceles right angled triangle. Finally, the frontmost upper layer is a small triangle folded down from the top. It hides the gap of the two flaps under it and extends a bit into the otherwise triangular shape of what we can see of the lowermost layer.
  30. Between the front and the back of the heart is a pocket, open at the top.
  31. Open the pocket up and press flat in the other direction.
  32. The heart is finished.
  33. The different layers form a clean, stylish pattern. In particular, the centre has a large, cone-shaped triangle with its point at the bottom corner of the heart.

Usage

If you made the heart from A5, make a strip about 20 times 1 centimeter and glue the ends inside the heart as a handle.

The traditional, decorative Danish Christmas heart is woven from paper, filled with nuts or candy, and hung on a Christmas tree or elsewhere. This simpler heart is very stylish and may be used in a similar fashion.

Alternatively, fold the heart from a page from a newspaper and use it as a hat.