It's A Wrap: Origami Boxes

It’s that time of the year again when I come up with different ways of packing up some halloween candy. I came up with these Milk Cartons last year, and Candy Poppers the year before that. Seems like it’s becoming a tradition on the site. Here’s an origami box and lid tutorial you can use for any occasion!

Start out with an square sheet of scrapbook paper. I used an 8×8-inch square for this project.

Fold the square in half, both ways.

The intersection of the two folds marks the center. I marked the folds so you can follow along easier.

Next, fold all four corners towards the center.

Fold the square in half again, both ways.

After folding in halves, fold the edge towards the center.

Fold into quarters both ways.

Unravel all your folds, leaving only two opposite corner folds as is.

This is probably the trickiest part of all the folds. Note these two folds. I marked it in pen for you to see. What you need to do is make these two fold lines meet.

When I teach this at my workshops, I tell students to “listen to the paper.” By that I mean, let the folds happen. Like in the image, I first made the pink folds touch, then I did the same with the purple side.

The folds will naturally pucker in a particular direction. It should end up looking something like this.

You can now fold the corner flap over, to form the base of the box.

Do the same with the remaining corner flap. The base of your box is all done!

Now, onto the lid! It’s pretty much the same as the base. The difference is how you start your first folds. Because the lid has to be slightly larger than the base, you make your corner folds about a quarter inch away from the center folds.