Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Iris Folding--Explanation & Free Pattern

I've shown samples of Iris Folded cards here before and realized that there are probably lots of crafters unfamiliar with this technique.  According to Wikipedia:  "Iris folding is a paper craft technique that involves folding strips of colored paper in such a way to form a design. The center of the design forms an iris — a shape reminiscent of the iris diaphragm of a camera lens.  Iris folding originated in Holland, where early craft persons made their designs using patterned paper cut from the inside of envelopes. Today, crafters use any light weight paper, such as scrapbook paper, origami paper, wrapping paper, the inside of envelopes or pages of magazines. Ribbon is also used."  There are lots of free patterns online.  Here's a site for the basic square pattern--available for free HERE.  Go to YouTube and you can see lots of demos on the easy Iris Fold technique.  I use my Cricut/SCAL software to cut out just about all of my openings, making it very easy to make multiples quickly.  Since Cricuts don't cut very good circles, I used a die and a Big Shot to cut those.  You could also use punches, a Coluzzle or just a craft knife to make your opening.  Iris folding is another great way to use up paper scraps!
I created two sets of four birthday cards (shown above) to use as a Bridal Shower prize and a Relay For Life auction item.  Here's a closer look: 




To make these cards a "set" I put them into an acrylic box (picked up at Paper Source) and created a little label.

1 comment:

Tina Campbell said...

Cool cards, I need to give this a try gives a cool look to a card