Boxes and Bows

Well, I found my digital camera, so here are some of the boxes I've made for Christmas presents this year:
This one is about two inches square, made from 4-inch square purple and silver paper.










This one is about 1.5 inches square, made from memo paper. Warning: Most memo paper is not quite square, which makes it not work well for origami. I bought this memo paper specifically because it was square.






The base (barely visible) is solid red and green origami paper. The lid is made from a fancy kind of origami paper that I've never used before. I had planned to mix the fancy and the plain papers (one of each in both base and lid), but there was an eighth of an inch difference in size, so they wouldn't mesh. Using the larger paper for the lids worked out nicely, since it's okay if the lid is a smidgen too big.



*grins* A triangular box! This is one of my favorite styles of boxes, but it's not the most practical. This one is made from 12-inch square paper and is about 9 inches on each side. I made the base of cardstock in varying shades of purple. Cardstock is sturdy, but not conducive to folding. The top is made from scrapbook paper that I found in local craft stores.


Another square box. I used one of my fanciest papers in the base...before remembering that those are better used in the lid. You can barely see it at the bottom, there. I threw in a slightly less fancy paper for the lid.







Last, another different style of box. This one is called a tsuzura (wicker clothes box), and does not hold together very well on its own. So I cheated. I put a line of tape all the way around then covered it with that pretty yellow ribbon that you see. This is cheating because origami is not supposed to require tape, glue, or cutting of any kind.

Anyway, all these designs are from Origami Boxes, by Tomoko Fuse ( Amazon). And yes I did learn them from a book, but it was a lot of work (though after reading other Origami books, I realized that Tomoko Fuse's style is much easier to follow than most). All but the triangle box and the tsuzura are the same style, though put together in slightly different ways (Square boxes, first series, in the book). Of all of these, I think the triangular boxes were the easiest for me to figure out.

I really like using these as gift boxes. My friends like them because when I've spent time making the box, I'm less likely to spend time with duct tape, confetti, saran wrap, and anything else that strikes my fancy to make it more interesting to get the package open. I used an old phone cord on Spencer's birthday present this year. I've used foil and towels and bandannas... There isn't much left I haven't used (at least that's easily accessible and flexible). When I can't make a gift box, I tend to go a wee bit overboard. *shrugs*