Origami Box Lights

Here's a really simple do-it-yourself decor idea that can really dress up a room, party, or patio - preferably a covered patio since neither the origami paper nor the lights are going to stand up to rain and weather. These lights look great at night or during the day, and establish a romantic, cozy atmosphere with their warm glow whenever they're on.

 

To make them yourself, you need a string of white lights (I used our Bridal light set that contains 35 lights on a 12 foot length) and a pack of origami paper (the set I used had 5 different patterns in it and just enough paper for me to cover every light on the string).

 

To begin the box, start with your origami paper facing the wrong side up and fold it in half diagonally.

 Now fold it in half diagonally again so that you've made an "x" with the folds.

Flip the paper over and fold it in half two more times to make a plus shape fold through that "x" shaped fold you made previously.

This is what the wrong side of your paper should look like now. It's easier to see the folds here than it is to see them on the patterned side.

With the paper back to right side facing up, begin pushing the straight folds toward the center. Now gently flatten your paper together.

When you flatten your sheet completely, you'll have this triangular shape.

Now take one bottom corner of the triangle and fold it up to line up at the top point. Do the same with the other side.

 
Flip the paper over and repeat the last step so that you have this diamond shape. Now rotate the diamond 180 degrees so that you have 4 small flaps at the bottom of the diamond.

Take one of the side corners of the diamond and fold it to the center. Repeat this step on the other side corner.

Flip the diamond over and repeat the last step so that your piece looks like this.

Fold one of the bottom flaps up to meet the corner of the diamond that you just folded in. About half of this flap will stick out past the rest of the paper.

Now fold the part of the flap that sticks out over the side back toward the center of your paper to match the rest of the flap so it looks like this. It looks like a small triangle now.

Take that little triangle that you just made and insert it into the slot in the corner that it was resting on top of.

You have to repeat the last 3 steps three more times with the other flaps on your paper so that eventually it will look like this. If you lift up the sides a little you'll find that one of the points (it's the top one in this picture) will have a small hole in it.

Blow into that small hole to inflate your box. Whew! I think that was harder for me to describe than it was to actually fold all of these boxes. It certainly took longer.

 

You can add your origami boxes to the string of lights by inserting a light into the same hole that you used to puff out your boxes. Now hang those lights up and plug them in! Beautiful!

The lights look even better in person. Won't you come and see them?

Puna @ Enchanted Lake

By the way, there's another post from earlier today so please scroll down to see it.