AGNES THE RED ART and CRAFT TUTORIALS

Paper folding artwork that is usually created from a single piece of paper (some exceptions permitted) and requires no shaping via cutting with scissors or glueing to retain it's sculptured shape.

First are a few examples of basic folds and the names used to familiarise you for the following projects. Throughout the tutorials I have used coloured paper with a contrasting back colour to make the folds and turns of the paper easier to see.

                         MOUNTAIN FOLD                                      VALLEY FOLD (in the opposite direction)           CONCERTINA (alternate mountain & valley folds)

PUSH FOLD

       1. Using a square sheet of paper, fold in half to          2. Valley fold over the right hand corner point                 3. Allow the fold to open back up.

      form a triangle and place it with the folded edge                    not quite to the middle.  

       4. Hold paper in place and start to gently press              5. Line up the paper edges and press flat.            6. Neaten the creased edges - completed

             down on the point to open out.                                                                                                                      PUSH FOLD

 REVERSE FOLD

     1. Using a square piece of paper,  valley fold               2. Valley fold over the top corner point as                              3. Open back out.

               diagonally to form a triangle.                                     indicated in the photo above.

             4. Mountain fold the same fold line.                     5. Open out again, then pinch the paper as              6. Press down flat and neaten the creases.

            This makes the crease more workable.                  shown and push the point down to invert it.

OUTSIDE REVERSE FOLD

         1. Start off with a square paper, folded along           2. Valley fold the top corner point as shown.          3. Unfold and mountain fold along the same line

                 the diagonal to form a triangle.                                                                                                    to make the crease line more workable. 

               4. Completely open out the paper.                      5. Pinch together the top corner point into a          6. Press paper down flat to sharpen and neaten

                                                                                    valley fold, bringing it up as you manipulate the                                    the creases.

                                                                                    main diagonal crease back into a mountain fold.

This is a useful and simple piece of paper folding, originating from a teabag fold design that creates insect or butterfly type wings. The body and antenna should be either drawn in or fashioned out of some other material embellishment. It makes a nice little embellishment for cards etc and can be made as small or as large as you want although I personally prefer to make tiny ones as they look more intricate - for this tutorial I have used 2inch square paper.

       1. cut out two equal sized squares of paper.             2. Take first paper and lay coloured side down.           3. Fold in half on the diagonal to form a triangle.

         4. Valley fold up the lower right corner point                         5. Turn the piece over.                             6. Take the upper point and valley fold the piece

                  past the main diagonal fold.                                                                                                          completely in half. Press folds down well.

        7. Open out this last fold and turn over again.           8. Bring the top corner piece up into a valley fold       9. Repeat with the other side. Pinch up the

                                                                                    to form a diamond shape positioned as shown.         centre mountain fold to redefine the fold.

       10. Repeat proceedure with second paper square to form a pair of wings.                               12. Some more wings in different colours.    

These can make cute little Christmas decorations, use wrapping paper or suitable decorative paper and just add thread through the top of one point and hang. Their basic shape and plain panels are great for further decoration and embellishment with things like glitter and beads. Children in particular love making these as they are pretty simple to make with only a few folds. I have made two tiny ones, stuck them back to back, dunked in PVA solution and doused in glitter - very pretty! Make a whole string and hang them up as a garland, or simply use on the front of a card......there are endless uses for this paper sculpture, just use your imagination.

1. Start with your paper cut to an EQUALATERAL TRIANGLE shape (ie triangle with identical side lengths). Turn it over so that it's coloured side down and neatly fold and crease three lines as shown in the diagram above - they should be VALLEY FOLD and precisely running from each corner point to the exact centre of the opposite straight side and cross exactly in the middle. To understand the basic folds, for reference, the points are labelled above A, B and C in a clockwise direction, and the midpoints of the sides 1, 2, and 3, again running in a clockwise fashion.

     2. Valley fold the lower left corner - so that point       3. Bring the paper back on itself into a valley fold      4. Repeat with lower right corner - taking point B

                   C meets side midpoint 1.                            so that the new fold runs directly across inline                                to meet point 2.

                                                                                          with the centre of the triangle.

    5. Fold this piece back onitself as in move 3, the         6. Finally fold down the remaining point A......               7. ...and fold back the same as the others.

       new edge MUST be inline with the centre.

                      8. Secure the folds by tucking the lower left corner of the top                      9. Turn over and the star is now complete.

                            smaller triangle under the base of the one on its left.

 To start, I found using paper that is measured and cut out FOUR times longer than it is wide makes a nice proportioned kimono, but once you get used to the folding technique you can play with different sizes to create different lengths. In this tutorial I use a strip of paper measuring 2 inch wide and 8 inch length.

                                                1. Cut strip of paper 2 x 6 inch.                         2. Turn over coloured side down then valley fold

                                                                                                                 up a small amount of the bottom edge to form the collar.

        3. Turn paper over coloured side up and mark          4. Valley fold up the right corner, just short of                  5. Repeat with the other corner.

          6. Measure and mark 2 inches down from                         7. Valley fold this piece down.                           8. Turn the whole paper piece over.

             the top edge of the strip of paper.

          9. Valley fold the bottom section up, not                10. Measure and mark off the middle of the             11. Diagonally valley fold the right side over

            quite to the top - leave a small gap.                                 new fold at the bottom.                              as per photo - not quite to the middle. 

                                    12. Repeat with the other side to form the front                   13. Open out and flatten the flaps of paper at the

                                    sections of the kimono. Note the flaps at the top                 top of the new folded sections - you see a triangle

                                                  these will form the sleeves.                                   appear at the top - push fold these down neatly.

      14. Mountain fold back the excess paper in line        15. Crease down this fold neatly - this has formed                16. Carefully lift out the collar edges.

                      with the collar base.                                          the shoulders of the Kimono.

                              17. Press out the flaps at the front to shape the                 The Kimono on the right has been made with 2x4 inch paper 

                              lower front of the kimono - it's now complete!                     to create a shorter body. Sleeves can be folded up to adjust

                                                                                                                                                their length too.

This is a flat sculpture and does not stand alone unless you construct something to support it from behind - so it makes for a good embellishment for the front of a card, or a simple hanging decoration or used in artwork....even adhered to the top of a wrapped present for a gift tag.

                      1. Measure and cut out an equal sided square piece of paper, turn coloured side down and place infront of you as per the photo.

                       The corner points are marked A, B, C, and D in a clockwise fashion and the paper valley folded in half, then opened out so that

                                                                         the crease runs vertically down from point A to B.

   2. Valley fold over corner point C about 3rd of the       3. Now fold corner point B back over following main     4. Measure out halfway along the edge between

                   way across and press flat.                                            vertical fold line.                                                   corners point B and C.    

                          5. Turn back point B as shown in the photo - not quite                  6. Valley fold up corner point C to form the hull of the

                                      all the way to form the front sail.                                                                    yacht.

                           6. Flip the piece over and turn up the pointed end at                                 7. The completed origami Yacht.  

                             the bottom to flatten off the hull base. Turn over.