Iris Fold

I've been folding snowmen.  Yep, you read that correctly, I said folding snowmen!  Not rolling them, or packing snow into huge balls.   I'm folding paper and creating a circle to build my snowmen, and I'm going to show you how.

Iris folding is a technique that takes a bit of time, but gives you a very elegant look.  You basically layout strips of paper following a pattern to make what looks like the iris of a lens.

 The supplies that you'll need are:

• a pattern
• papers
• trimmer
• scissors
• tape

I used two different papers for the iris fold portion of my snowman.  One paper had a print with a nice gloss to it, the other is a plain iridescent paper.  Together they look like sparkly snow.  I cut the iridescent paper into strips about .5" wide. I cut the patterned paper  .75" wide and then scored one end at .25" and folded it.

Cut card stock for the front of the card and then punched out a circle using a die.  Now lay this face down centered over the iris folding pattern and lightly tape in place.  Using the pattern, place a strip of the folded paper along the section of the pattern numbered "1". Tape the ends down.  Now lay a strip of the plain paper where the pattern number "2" is.

Continue this alternating pattern until you've completely covered the pattern. Use scissors to trim the strip of paper as you attach them.

Place a square of the patterned paper over the middle of the iris.  The back will look really messy.  That's OK. The front is going to look great!

So go ahead, turn it over and take a look! Pretty cool, huh?

Now you can embellish it as you wish.  I created these jolly little snow fellows to send as holiday cards.

 

Now you're wondering, where to get a pattern.  I've got a resource to share with you, Craft Creations, you'll find loads of patterns and ideas there, including the pattern for these cute snowmen.