How to Fold Money Into a Heart

Put a dollar bill flat on the table with the front facing up and Washington looking straight at you. Run your palm across it and push out any ripples or old wallet creases running through the middle.

The flatter the bill starts, the cleaner every fold after this one sits. A newer bill holds a crease better than a soft one, though a worn bill still works if you press harder. Give yourself a clear patch of table so nothing drags on the corners.

Bring the bottom edge of the bill up toward the top as though you were folding the note into thirds, and press the crease flat. Stop while a sliver of Washington's hair still shows above the folded edge. That sliver is the reference Art of Fold uses instead of a measurement.

Keep the new folded edge parallel with the top edge of the bill. When you get it right the two bands you can see are close to the same height. Close is good enough here.

Take the right end of the folded strip and bring it across to meet the left end. Line the two short edges up before you press anything, then run your thumb down the fold to set a firm crease through the middle.

Open it straight back out flat. You are not leaving it folded. That single crease down the center is the guide line for the two diagonal folds coming next, so it needs to be sharp enough to see.

Work on the right half. Swing the bottom edge up until it lies along the center crease. The strip breaks into a diagonal and the corner drops into a point below. Press it down.

Do the same on the left half. The two diagonals meet at the middle and the two points come together into the V that becomes the bottom of the heart. Match the second fold to the first by eye so the V sits straight.

Flip the whole model over, keeping the point at the bottom. You are looking at four square corners along the top now. Fold the first one down along a line roughly halfway between the two horizontal edges above it.

Want a reference? Pinch a small mark at that halfway point and fold the corner to the pinch. The mark vanishes inside the model once the corner is down, and after one corner you will see the angle well enough to skip the pinch on the rest.

Fold the other three corners down by the same amount, each one starting from that same point in the middle. Copy the angle you used on the first corner and keep checking the pair on each side against each other.

Once all four are down, the shape reads as a heart from this side: two rounded lobes across the top, a notch between them and the point at the bottom. The cream margins of the bill show at the shoulders where the corners went under.

Turn the model back over. The green side comes up and the heart is done, with the Great Seal sitting square in the middle of it. Press the whole thing flat under your palm to sharpen the creases.

Tuck any loose corner back under the flap it belongs to so the outline stays clean. Slip the heart into a card, stand it against a mug on a table, or put it in a small frame if it is going on a wall.