How to Fold an Origami Paper Rose

With a single piece of precisely folded origami paper, you can create a blooming paper rose.

In a few simple folds, one piece of square paper becomes a wild, blossoming rose. As with most origami art, the first attempt at making the paper rose gives you an understanding of how the folds work in the design. Making it a second time seems so much easier that you may be tempted to create a whole bouquet of paper roses. Use them to decorate packages, secure one in a little girl's hair for the day, or tuck a small note into the flower's petals, presenting it with handmade style.

Things You'll Need

• 9.75 inch (24 centimeter) square piece origami paper
• 6 inch (15 centimeter) square piece origami paper
• Pencil or toothpick (optional)

Instructions

1. Place the large square of paper on the table, color side down and one point (not side) toward you. Bring the left corner to the right corner, folding the paper in half diagonally. Crease it and unfold it. Bring the top corner to the bottom corner, folding the paper in half diagonally the other way. Crease and unfold the paper. You now have a center mark.

2. Fold each of the four corners into the center mark, creating a smaller square. The white side of the paper is now inside and the colored side is outside.

3. Repeat step 2 with the new corners, folding them into the center of the form. Crease all the folds. You now have an even smaller square. Turn the form over.

4. Fold each corner into the center of the form, creating an even smaller square.

5. Working with the four center points of the form (which were the corners folded into the center in step 4), fold each point back so that the folds are half-way between each point and the corresponding edge of the square. Each point should extend beyond the edge of the square form, and the resulting shape should be an eight-pointed star.

6. Turn the form over.

7. Open the flower. Fold each center tip back to its corresponding corner (creating smaller double layer triangles out of squares). Crease the folds.

8. Repeat step 7 on the four remaining interior points The bottom layer of paper, inside the flower, has no folds and is one layer thick.

9. Repeat steps 1 through 8 on the smaller piece of origami paper.

10. Insert the smaller flower into the center of the larger flower. You can slip each edge of the small blossom under the interior petals of the large one.

11. Lift all the petals to make the flower more three-dimensional. Use your finger, a pencil or toothpick to artfully curl each petal back.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't want to waste origami paper, practice these folds first on a square piece of notebook or copy paper. You can make the rose simpler by making a single blossom from one piece of paper, but it won't be as full as using two pieces of paper.

References

• "Origami Activities"; Michael LaFosse; 2003