Directions for Candy Wrapper Folding Techniques

Take ordinary trash and fold it into fashion items.

Whether it's gum wrapper chains in the middle of the 20th century or today's candy wrapper purses, crafters have long used wrappers to craft creative accessories. Begin with an ordinary piece of trash: a candy or gum wrapper. Tear and fold it in a certain way and you'll have the basis for casual jewelry, bags, totes and other colorful fashion items. It all begins with the folding techniques, which take only a minute or so to perfect.

Things You'll Need

• Gum or candy wrappers

Instructions

1. Tear the candy or gum wrapper into a square shape if it starts out as a rectangle. Fold the bottom left corner up diagonally until the left edge of the paper is even with the top edge. Tear off everything to the right of this double-layer triangle. What is left will be a square.

2. Fold the square in half, pressing on the fold to make a sharp crease. Unfold the paper and lay it in front of you with the crease running horizontally.

3. Fold the top edge down to the crease in the middle. Fold the bottom edge up to the crease in the middle. Press down on both folds to crease them.

4. Fold the top crease down to the fold in the middle. Fold the bottom crease up to the fold in the middle. Sharply crease these folds, as well.

5. Fold the entire piece in half again along the original fold. You now have a long, thin rectangle with multiple layers. Lay this rectangle flat with the length running from right to left.

6. Fold the left edge up and over to the right edge, folding the strip in half. Open the fold back up again.

7. Fold the left edge to the middle where it's creased. Fold the right edge toward the middle where it's creased. Pinch the entire piece to make every fold extra tight.

References

• Gumwrapper.com: How to Make Your Own Gum Wrapper Chain

Resources

• Candy Wrapper Crafts