The design of this simple origami box was inspired by Tomoko Fuse’s work. We will need eight rectangular sheets to make the complete box with a lid. The picture of the box is shown above. I used 8½″×11″ sheets. Four of the sheets were used for the bottom of the box and four for the top. The top and the bottom of the box are folded identically. However, as we slide the top of the box over the bottom, the top expands slightly. We can show that the height of the constructed box is 2⅛″ and the length of the square base of the box is 5½″.
To make a smaller box of the same proportion, we can take four 8½″×11″ sheets and cut each sheet into two 5½″ by 8½″ rectangular pieces. We need to reduce the length of each smaller rectangular piece by 1⅜″ so that each of the resulting rectangles is proportionate to the original 8½″ by 11″ sheets.
Editor’s note: The box can also be made from A-proportioned paper, and since cutting the paper in half does not change the proportion, no additional adjustment is necessary. The folding procedure is identical, but the resulting box will be shallower than one made from letter-proportioned paper.
Decorative Patterns To Print
