the nerdy penguin tutorial: paper box (for jewelry, bobby pins, business cards...anything you want!)

in my last post, i promised a tutorial for my next future post.  here it is!  

after learning how to make them, i have used these little boxes for so many things - to store bobby pins and little beads, as well as packaging gifts in them.  i even make them out of heavy cardstock and use them as cute packaging for some of my jewelry orders, complete with my shop stamp and a bit of washi tape :)

and i know that i said "little boxes", but you can actually make these boxes as big as you like, as long as the paper you start out with is a square!

so, without further ado...

adapted from

origamiinstructions

difficulty

easy-medium

materials:

a square of paper or cardstock

[if you want to make a lid] a square of paper 1/2 inch larger than your first square

some patience for the trickier parts!

clear tape or glue

Step 1

take your square of paper.  

if your square is colored on one side, place the color face down so that the white part of the paper is showing. 

Step 2

fold the square in half.  

unfold.

then fold the square in half again, using the side of the square you did not fold in half before.  

the square should look like this, segmented into four sections.

[tip] for best results, crease when you fold. 

for more info on creasing, check out this video!

Step 3

take each point of the square and fold to the center of the square.  the color of your square should now be showing, if you used paper that is colored on one side.

Step 4

fold one flat side of the square to the center.

repeat on the other side.

you should now have a rectangle, divided down the middle.

Step 5

fold the short bottom of your rectangle to the center of the rectangle.

repeat on the other side.

you should now have a square, divided in the middle.

Step 6

unfold to here.

what you have just folded are guidelines that will create the actual box.

Step 7

this is the tricky part - bringing your box from 2D paper to a 3D structure!

on the top right side of your unfolded square, find a little square outlined by your previous folds.  i have circled that little square in red below.

to create the first corner of your box, you will take the two corners of the little square (indicated by the diagram below) and fold them so that they meet at the back.  

it might be hard to see, but there is a diagonal fold going through the square that will act as a guideline when creating this fold.

the finished fold should look something like this.

then, repeat on the other side to create your second corner.

Step 8

take the top of the square above the two corners you just folded, and fold to the center of the square.

this will create the first side of your box. 

(only 1 more to go - the remaining 2 sides will automatically form as you create your second side.)

the new 3D corners, as well as the guidelines created by your previous folds, will help guide your fold.

the finished fold should look like this.

Step 9

repeat steps 7 and 8 on the other side!

and voila!

you have your new box :)

to make the box more secure, you can put a piece of tape or dab a bit of glue where those four corners meet in the center of the box.

but, this is not necessary.

to make your lid, create another box out of the 1/2 larger square of paper.

after much experimentation, i found that having the paper for the lid start out at 1/2 inch bigger made a perfectly snug fit for the box!

if you make the lid, it will be flush with the smaller box, 

as you can see below.

and that's it!

if you have any questions or think this tutorial needs more clarification, leave a comment below!

and show me some boxes that you've made, i'd love to see them!

cheers,

danica