Origami for the Blind

Folding

Precreasing

This eases the later folding. If you skip the precreases, jump directly to the blintz section.

1. Start with the outside colour in front. Hold the paper with edges in the top and bottom.
2. Fold the bottom edge to the top.
3. Fold the front layer from the top to the folded edge in the bottom.
4. Fold the front layer from the bottom to the top. Repeat behind.
5. Crease well, and unfold so that the outside colour faces you again. Repeat behind.
6. Rotate the paper 90 degrees to repeat the above in the other direction.

Blintz and blintz again

1. Start with the outside colour in front.
2. Blintz as described, then return to here.
3. The four centre-folded flaps should be in front.
4. Blintz again as described, then return to here. The fold lines coincide with one of the precreases.
5. In the front, four multi-layer triangular flaps meet at the centre. On the back, four single-layer square flaps meet at the centre. Some may recognise this as the fortune teller right before it is opened.

Feet

1. Fold the centre corner of each of the four multi-layer flaps to the middle of the edge. You can feel the middle as a small slit in the paper around the edge.
2. The new foldlines form a small square which will become the bottom of the box. The small triangles will become kind of feet on the box, extending horizontally from the bottom of the box.

Pleats

The pleats provides the box with an exclusive look and feel. Take your time to make them as neat and precise as you can.

1. Turn over the paper so that the four single-layer square flaps are in front.
2. Fold the centre-corner of each of the four square flaps to the corner of the model.
3. The four newly folded edges form a diagonal square. They delineate what will become the inner edge of a zig-zag pleat.
4. With one of the frontmost triangles, fold it towards the centre in a new fold line 2-3 mm from the inner edge of the pleat.
5. The new folded edge delineates the outer edge of the zig-zag pleat.
6. Fold the corner of the new, smaller triangle away from the centre, forming a folded edge along the inner edge of the zig-zag pleat.
7. A small trick: Place the model on a surface. Using a nail, feel the underlying edge through the single layer triangle. Use the nail to score a creaseline along that edge, then fold it.
8. Fold the corner of the new, even smaller triangle towards the centre, forming a folded edge along the outer edge of the zig-zag pleat.
9. Repeat the previous two steps until the less and less triangle is within the pleat area.
10. The single-layer flap has been converted into a 2-3 mm wide pleat. The raw edge of the paper runs in a zig-zag line from the edges of the model to the centre of the pleat area. At each turn the paper changes colour, in a series of small triangles, as the paper alternately faces its back and front towards you.
11. Repeat the above with the three remaining corner flaps.
12. The model is square and flat. Four pleats form a diagonal square where we can see the bottom layer of the box. Under each pleat you find a triangular pocket extending to a corner of the model.

Opening the box

1. Focus on a pocket under a zig-zag pleat. It extends flat from the bottom of the box. If you imagine the box standing on a surface, the pocket flap is horizontal. We want it to become vertical.
2. Stick a finger into the pocket, reaching into the corner.
3. Press the edges at the sides together—remember to take the finger out of the pocket 😀
4. The centre of the pleat will pop up, and new, vertical valley folds will form in a precreased line running from the middle of the pleat and down to where the corners of two feet meet.
5. The pocket is a flat triangle again, now just in a vertical position.
6. Repeat this with the three other pockets, going e.g. counter-clockwise around the model.

Finish

1. Place the now opened box on a surface.
2. Make sure the feet are flat on the surface.
3. Make sure each corner is neat and vertical by holding the triangle flat from the outside and pressing it against a finger you hold vertically in the inside corner of the box.

Usage

Use is as a dinner table decoration with a small treat inside. Or as a small storage box.