How to Make a Pop-Up Card with an Accordion Fan

A pop-up card needs three things: a folded base, a mechanism that lies flat when the card is shut, and something mounted on it that rises. The accordion version uses a strip of paper pleated at half-inch intervals, folded in half, and taped to both inside walls so the card's own hinge does the work. Close the card and the fan squashes flat. Open it and the pleats spread into a half circle, lifting whatever you glued on top.

The seven steps below follow It's Me, JD, who builds the card from one sheet of 8.5 by 5.5 inch cardstock and a strip of lightweight patterned paper, then turns the fan into an umbrella with ducks under it. Copy that scene or swap in a sun, a rainbow or a peacock tail.

How the accordion pop-up card mechanism works

Every pop-up runs on the card's hinge. Open the card and the two inside walls swing apart, dragging anything attached to both of them. The fan is glued along its center spine and taped at its two outer faces, one on each wall, so opening the card pulls those faces apart and the pleats spread.

That is why the spine has to land dead on the score line. Sit it an eighth of an inch off and one half opens further than the other, and the card will not close flat.

Cardstock weight and fan paper: what to use and why

Use 80 to 110 lb cover cardstock (about 215 to 300 gsm) for the base. Lighter and the walls bow under the pull of the fan. The fan wants the opposite: patterned paper from a scrapbook pad or plain printer paper both crease sharply and spring back. Cardstock makes a stiff fan that fights the closure and can peel the tape off the walls.

Glue stick works for the spine because that seam is small and gets clamped under a binder clip. For fixing the fan to the walls, double-sided tape wins. It grabs on contact, does not warp the paper with moisture, and holds the fan where you put it.

Other pop-up mechanisms and when to use each

The fan is the right pick when the feature reads as a fan: a sunburst, an umbrella, a skirt, a peacock. Two other mechanisms cover most of what it cannot, but start with the fan. It has one alignment to get right, and its failure mode shows up before you have decorated anything.

Pick the mechanism by how far the card opens, before you cut anything. A card standing on a shelf opens to a right angle. A card you hold in your hands opens flat.

A step fold goes flat again in a card that opens flat, and a V-fold barely moves in a card that only opens to a right angle. Choosing the mechanism after choosing the card is the usual reason a first pop-up will not close.

The step fold: a pop-up cut from the card

Two parallel cuts across the fold, pushed inward to make a shelf. It stands up a flat cut-out like a cake or a house, and it is the mechanism behind a 3D card. It needs no extra paper and no glue.

1. Fold the card in half and crease it well. Keep it closed, with the fold on your left.
2. Cut two parallel slits in from the fold, at right angles to it. Make them exactly the same length. The gap between them sets the width of the step.
3. Fold the tab between the slits back against the card and crease it hard. Fold it the other way and crease again, so the paper bends either way.
4. Open the card and push the tab through to the inside. It snaps into a box shape as the card opens.

The slit length is how far the step sticks out. Keep it under about a third of the distance from the fold to the open edge, roughly an inch and a half on a 4.25 by 5.5 inch card. That holds a die-cut motif and still leaves room to write.

Score the tab from the inside face. It bends the opposite way to the card's own fold, so its crease belongs on the other side of the paper. Scoring both folds from the same face is why a step looks torn where it bends. For a staircase, cut two or three steps with their own pairs of slits, the deepest one nearest the fold.

Cut a step pop-up from 65 lb cover, then glue it inside a heavier 80 lb card so the outside stays stiff. In heavy stock the step springs back instead of snapping into place, and it cracks at the crease.

The V-fold: for a card that opens flat

A separate piece folded into a V and glued across the hinge at an angle. It pushes an element up and forward, good for a mouth that opens or a flower leaning out.

1. Cut a piece of cardstock and fold it in half.
2. Open the card flat. Set the folded piece on it so its fold sits on the card's fold, angled across it like a V lying on its side.
3. Glue one wing to the left half of the card and let it set. Then glue the other wing to the right half.
4. Close the card slowly. The piece folds itself.

The angle of the V changes how high the piece rises and how far it leans toward you. Try two angles on scrap paper before you cut the good sheet. It is much easier to see than to describe.

Moving mechanisms and easel cards

• Moving mechanisms. A waterfall card flips a stack of panels with a pull strip, and a spinning kirigami card rotates as it opens. Both take longer and get a bigger reaction.
• Easel card. Not a pop-up, but it stands the card up for display. The front is hinged partway up so it folds forward, and a small stopper glued to the base catches it. Leave out the stopper and the front slides flat.

What to mount on the fan

The fan is the decoration, so pick the scene before the strip. Solid or small-print paper reads as an umbrella or a sun. An ombre strip reads as a rainbow. Deep green with gold dots reads as a peacock tail.

An accordion photo card is the other big use. Trim small photos to the height of the fan and glue one to every second pleat on the outward-facing side. They hide while the card is shut and spread into a strip of pictures when it opens. Print them on plain paper, not glossy photo stock, or the weight stops the fan from springing.

Will a pop-up card fit in an envelope?

It takes the same envelope as a flat card of the same size, so a 4.25 by 5.5 inch card goes in an A2 envelope. Two things decide whether it posts.

Every glued-on piece has to sit inside the card's outline when the card is closed. Not level with the edges: inside them. A fan or a V-fold that reaches past the open edge catches on the envelope and tears. Close the card before you glue the last edge, and trim anything that pokes out while it can still move. A step fold never has this problem, because its paper came out of the card.

The other is thickness. USPS letter mail tops out at a quarter inch, and a card with layered pieces can pass the outline test and still be too thick. If the closed card will not lie flat under a light book, it will cost extra to post. To make the envelope yourself, the paper envelope tutorial has a cut blank sized for an A2 card.

Occasions and what to make next

Birthday, Mother's Day, a baby shower, a get-well note: the fan suits all of them because you change the scene, not the build. A yellow fan under a "you are my sunshine" sentiment covers a lot of ground.

If this is your first handmade card, the plain folded card tutorial covers scoring and sizing. For movement without a mechanism, a shaker card gives you a window of loose sequins that rattles instead of pops.

From a shop we love: to cut a fancy fold instead of measuring one, HKC Market has a Christmas tree gatefold card cut file. Cutting by machine also gets two slits exactly the same length, which is the fiddly part of a step fold by hand.