Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Fourteen and a Simple Way To Make Two Pockets

If you make your own notebooks or sketchbooks, or want to add some removable items to an artist’s book, today’s fold is the simplest way I know of to make a pair of pockets. Assuming your book to be a rectangle with the height greater than the width, you will need a square of paper with a diagonal measurement a bit more than twice the height of your book.

Place your paper in front of you with a point at the top. Fold the bottom point up to the top one and crease firmly. Now fold the left tip of the triangle over to the right tip. Crease the new fold firmly. When you open your paper flat, the crease pattern should look like this.

The next image shows what the folded paper looks like in relationship to the book block.

Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Thirteen and some Accordion Books With Pockets

I am pretty sure that everyone has seen this kind of pocket accordion book before. It’s simple enough for children to make: take a strip of paper and fold one long edge up to make the pockets, then fold the strip into an accordion

There is an easy variant if you are using a fancy paper: fold the top and bottom edges of your paper to meet somewhere middle-ish, then fold your accordion.

I have come up with yet another variation. This one is related to a boustrophedon and gives you twice as many pages.

Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Twelve and A Locking Pocket

I referred to this as a locking pocket in the title. It isn’t a tato in the traditional sense because it is made from a rectangle and doesn’t have the sort of symmetry that most tatos do. The designer of the fold, Rosemary Lyndall Wemm, calls it a Diagonal Slash Letter Fold. (I attempted to get permission to post the following instructions, but got no response. Her Etsy shop has been closed for a while and she stopped posting in 2014. You can find her original instructions here.)

I made models with 8.5 x 11″ and 8 x 11″ paper. Both worked, so I expect that A4 will work as well. If you are using paper that is coloured/patterned on one side, start with the white/plain side up.

Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Eleven and More Tatos

A tato doesn’t have to be square. You can fold one out of almost any geometric shape. Taotos are also often more decorative than the ones I showed you yesterday.

Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Ten and Two Square Tatos

What is a tato? In his book Complete Origami, Eric Kenneway says

A tato is a traditional kind of folded paper purse in which a Japanese housewife keeps small items such as needles, ends of thread, buttons and so on.

The simplest tato of all is a square, folded so that it has what I think of as a “box closing” on the top. The sides are folded in rotation so that they lock the tato shut.

Start with a square of paper. Mark the mid point on two sides by folding in half and gently pinching the fold to make a mark halfway up each side.

Fold the bottom edge up to the mark and crease the fold.

Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Nine and a Menko Card

I learned this fold a long time ago, then re-discovered it recently as a “Victorian puzzle purse”. The picture below shows three stages of folding.

Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Eight and Another Simple Envelope

This envelope is a bit more complicated to fold than the one I posted yesterday, but it is self-locking and uses no adhesives. Start with a sheet of letter paper placed long way up. Fold in the sides. I began with a sheet of 8.5  x 11″ paper and folded in 1.25″ on each side. My finished envelope will be 6″ wide, big enough to go through the mail.

Friday Night Flicks: Troublemakers – Christmas

Everyone is busy at this time of year, so I picked an animated flick for today that is twenty-two seconds long. It was directed by Burcu and Geoffrey for Troublemakers.tv.

 

 

Here’s hoping you can stay out of trouble this weekend!

Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Seven and A Simple Envelope

Some of you may be making your own Christmas cards. You can also make your own matching envelopes. Today’s envelope is simple, but it does use glue or tape. (I know some of you dislike using adhesives!) It is also the first enclosure I have shown that is made with a square piece of paper. (If you want to see how to make a square from a rectangle, there are instructions here.) Place your square so that it is oriented with a corner at the top, then fold the side corners in to meet at the middle.

Byopia Press 2018 Advent Calendar: Day Six and An Hexagonal Letter Fold

Today’s letter fold turns a sheet of letter paper into a hexagon. I started with an 8.5 x 11″ 24# sheet. Fold the paper in half lengthwise, then open it out and turn it over so that the fold down the middle is a mountain fold. (It sticks up towards you.) Fold each side in to the centre crease, then open again. Your paper should look like this.