Leafy box

My friend Liz is moving away. *sniff, sob* So I made her a box.


The leafy box is almost exactly the same design as the purple swirly box, but made with different paper. It's very thin and delicate -- almost translucent -- with small leaves embedded throughout. I picked this paper up (as a huge sheet) and sliced it down to a manageable size.

The box is made from 8 units, each made from a 6" square of paper. I didn't have a chance to measure it before I gave it away, but ideally the lid should be 3-3/16" square. (In reality it's probably closer to 3-3/8".) The design is by Tomoko Fuse, and may be found in her book Origami Boxes.

Purple swirly box

I made this box for my friend Jenny (as opposed to Jen, Jen, Jen, Jennifer, and Jen). I ended up folding this box outside Cafe Zing. It was the first nice weather of the year, and I sat beneath a blossoming cherry tree. Every time the wind blew, I was showered with a cascade of petals.

This is one of a series of boxes by Tomoko Fuse that are very fun to fold. The base consists of four units that sort of resemble wings folded flat (not really, but that's the only way I can think to describe them) linked together in a hollow ring. Once assembled into the ring, the "wings" are lowered and flattened into a surprisingly solid base.


This box was folded from 8 sheets of standard 5 7/8" origami paper. The finished box is 3 3/8" square and 1 3/4" deep. Folding instructions may be found in Fuse's Origami Boxes.

Color wheel box

When planning this box for my friend Jen (one of my friends Jen, actually), I asked her for her favorite color. After quite a bit of thought, she responded, "All of them." Thus, the color wheel box was born!

This box is one of the more complex box designs of Tomoko Fuse. The majority of her boxes consist of 8 units, and she has created hexagonal boxes out of as few as 4 units -- this box consists of 12 units. The biggest advantage of having so many units is the ability to use many colors, creating a nice rainbow effect. In addition, it's one of the more solid and heavy boxes I've made.

The exteriors and interiors of both lid and base can be seen in the photos below. I especially love the patterns created in the interiors of both components.

This box was constructed from 12 sheets of standard 5" origami paper of 6 distinct colors. The assembled box is 3 1/4" wide side-to-side (3 1/2" corner-to-corner) and 1 5/8" deep. the design is available in Fuse's book Origami Boxes.

Octagonal box

This box is a going-away present I made for my friend Rachel, who is moving to California in a couple of weeks. She is actually the person who gave me the idea to post pictures of my origami on the Web, so it's only right that her present be the first picture.

This is a composite or "unit origami" model. The lid and base are each made from four sheets of standard origami paper cut to 4" squares. When assembled, the lid is a bit over 3 1/4" from side to side, and the base is a bit smaller. The white portions of the box are the undersides of the paper.

This design is by my favorite designer, Tomoko Fuse, from her book Fabulous Origami Boxes (truth in advertising). The lid (but not the base) also appear in her book Origami Boxes.

In the pictures below you can see the assembled box, the exteriors of both lid and base, and the interiors of both lid and base.