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The origami heart is a classic for a reason: one square sheet, eight folds, and you have a clean little paper heart to slip into a card, tape on a fridge or hand to someone on Valentine's Day. Start colour side down - the white side ends up forming the inner detail.
This walkthrough from EzOrigami breaks it into eight clear steps. The only fiddly moment is the squash fold around step seven. Once that clicks you will be turning them out by the dozen.
Any square will fold, but the paper decides how sharp the finished heart looks. Standard 15 cm origami paper gives a heart about 7 cm across, which is the right size for a card. Thinner paper takes a crisper crease and is more forgiving through the squash fold; thick scrapbook card fights you at the layered stages and the point ends up blunt.
Duo paper - coloured on both sides - is worth seeking out here, because the reverse shows through on the two lobes at the top. A red-and-white or red-and-pink sheet does the work for you without a single extra fold.
The bottom point is what makes a heart read as a heart rather than a blob. Two things cause a soft one. First, an inaccurate first diagonal - if that crease is off by a couple of millimetres, every fold after it inherits the error. Second, not pressing hard enough. Run a thumbnail or a bone folder along each crease before moving on.
If your heart will not sit flat, the culprit is almost always the squash fold being pushed out of square. Open it back to the previous step and redo it rather than trying to flatten it into submission.
A single paper heart glued to a folded card is the obvious use. Beyond that: thread a dozen on cotton for a garland, fold them small from used book pages for a rustic look, or write a note on the square before you start folding so the message hides inside. Fold one from a banknote and it becomes a gift in itself.
The same shape works on a banknote, and it turns a plain cash gift into something worth keeping. How to fold money into a heart walks through the dollar-bill version.
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Fold an origami heart from one square of paper in 8 steps. An easy project: about 20 minutes. Materials cost about $2 to $4. The 8 steps start with crease the Paper in a Plus Pattern, fold the Bottom Edge Up to the Middle, fold Lower Corners Up Like a Paper Airplane, fold the Upper Edges to the Centerline, fold Down the Top Corners, pull the Top Tip Down to the Bottom and squash the Side Flaps Flat.
8 steps, about 7 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
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Start with a square sheet of paper, color side down. Fold it in half left to right, line up the edges, crease firmly, then unfold.
Now do the same the other way: fold in half top to bottom and unfold. You should have two creases meeting at the center, forming a plus sign. These reference creases guide every fold that follows.
Take the bottom edge of the paper and fold it up to meet the horizontal centerline crease. Use the vertical crease as a sight-line to keep the fold straight.
The bottom half of the paper now sits doubled-up against the top half. Press the new crease down firmly along the bottom.
Flip the model over. Take the lower-left corner and fold it up so its bottom edge aligns with the vertical centerline - this is the same move you'd use to start a paper airplane.
Repeat on the right side: fold the lower-right corner up to meet the centerline. The bottom of the paper now points down in a clean triangular tip.
Flip the model back over. Now take the upper-left edge and fold it inward to meet the vertical centerline.
Do the same on the upper-right side: bring that edge in to meet the centerline. The top half of the paper narrows into a kite shape with two upper edges meeting in the middle.
Take the top-left corner and fold it down so the top edge aligns with the vertical centerline. The corner tip should land right at the center of the model.
Repeat with the top-right corner. You'll see two small triangle flaps form at the top, with a V-shaped notch between them. The heart shape is starting to appear.
Bring the top tip of the model down to meet the bottom tip. The model won't lie flat - that's expected.
Open up the two side pockets a bit so you can see the white inside, but don't flatten them yet. The model is now 3D, with two raised flaps on either side of the spine.
Take one of the raised side flaps and squash it down. Pull the two edges of the flap apart and let the existing crease line flatten in line with the bottom edge of the heart.
Repeat on the other side. The model finally lies flat. Tuck the top layer down into the inner pocket so it sits cleanly. You now have an unmistakable heart shape with a soft V notch at the top.
Take the top-left point of the heart and fold it down so the bend lands along the upper edge. This rounds off the lobe.
Repeat on the top-right point. The two pointed lobes now have soft angled corners instead of sharp points - which is what gives the origami heart its classic curved shape. You're done.
Keep going
How to Make a Paper Star in 6 Easy Folds
More on this topic, picked for this origami heart.
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How to Fold an Origami Heart (8 Easy Steps)
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Question 1 of 5
Step 1 is two folds and immediately unfolding them. Why?
Quick reference
5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Step 1 is two folds and immediately unfolding them. Why?
Answer: To create reference creases that guide every fold after this
The plus-sign creases are sight-lines you'll use throughout the fold.
2.After folding the bottom edge up to the middle, what's the next move?
Answer: Flip the paper over and fold the lower corners up to the centerline
Flip-then-paper-airplane-corners is what builds the triangular tip.
3.When you pull the top tip down to the bottom, the model goes 3D. What does that mean?
Answer: The existing creases force two raised flaps on the spine - expected behavior
Two raised side flaps appear; you'll squash them flat in the next step.
4.What's the very last move that gives the heart its classic curved shape?
Answer: Round off the top points by folding them down at an angle
Folding the top points down rounds the pointed lobes into the soft heart shape.
5.What paper do you start with for this fold?
Answer: A square, color side down
Standard origami square, color-side down so the color ends up on the visible face.
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