A Paper Folding Project

A Paper Folding Project Paul Haeberli Oct 1994 1. To create this folded paper sculpture, start out with a piece of paper about 8.5 by 11.0 inches in size. 2. Fold the sheet in two and crease the edge. 3. Fold the sheet in two again in the same direction and crease the edge. Then fold it one more time and crease the edge really well. 4. Unfold the paper, then refold it so it looks like this zig-zag shape. You're about one third done already!

5. Squish the zig-zag shape together, and fold it as shown here. You can vary this angle to get different effects if you like. Crease it real good. 6. Now unfold the paper. It should look like the image on the left. Reverse the direction of the folds on one half of the sheet, and crease the paper to make it appear as shown on the right. This can be a little tricky, so take your time doing this. 7. Now compress the new folds. Apply a lot of pressure to make the folds hold nicely. Now you're almost done.

8. Relax for a bit and appreciate this intermediate result. 9. Squish the paper together, and make two new folds as shown. You can make these parallel to the initial fold, or you can vary the angle if you want to experiment. Crease these folds well, and carefully unfold the paper. Then flatten it out a bit. 10. Now do that fold reversing thing that we did in step 6 to one end of the paper as shown here on the left. Then do it to the other end. 11. Carefully compress the structure. Guess what?

12. Now you're done with the basic shape! Get tactile. 13. Warp it into different shapes. 14. Now relax and enjoy. I'd like to thank Peter Broadwell for showing me this family of folded paper sculptures.