How to Fold & Cut a Paper Lattice

Longer pieces of paper can be used to make banners.

Folding and cutting to produce a paper lattice is a Japanese technique known as “kirigami”, similar to the more famous “origami” where paper is folded into three-dimensional shapes. In kirigami, paper is folded, then shapes are cut out of the fold. When you then open the paper up again, the cuts will have replicated through the folds to create a lattice effect.

Things You'll Need

• Scissors

Instructions

1. Fold a piece of paper in half. For a round design, use a square piece of paper.

2. Fold in half again to create a crease, identifying the center point.

3. Unfold the paper so that you have only one fold, but can see the crease in the center. Using this as a guide, fold one of the bottom corners up from the crease then do the same with the opposite corner. You should be left with a wedge shape.

4. Cut shapes into the edge of this wedge using scissors. When you fold out your paper, the shapes will have mirrored along each fold, so half a heart shape will fold out to a full heart and half a star will fold out to a full star.

5. Open up your paper. You will observe a snowflake like lattice with the same design replicated three times. This is because you folded the paper three times.

6. Customize your design for the time of year. At Christmas time, you can create a snowflake, in summer you can create flowers, stars or sunbursts.

Tips & Warnings

• Fold the wedge in half again to create more intricate designs. Consider using colored pens to decorate your kirigami art.

• Cutting too much paper away from the design may cause it to fall apart.

References

• Origami Resource Center: Kirigami