MDL0055 - ORIGAMI - TRADITIONAL COIN PURSE

Text-Only Instructions

Credits and Resources:

This is a traditional model.

Instructions with supporting pictures and/or illustrations can be found here at

epicorigami.blogspot.com

and on various sites elsewhere on the Internet with some minor variation on folding methods and sequences.

Paper to be used: Square, any size; use large paper to practice with at first.

Folding level: Intermediate

Steps: 14

Description: This is a fairly small, but secure flat coin purse with one interior area and overlapping triangular motifs on both sides.

    The tucked in flaps will hold the purse together while the many layers of paper will ensure strong sides and a top edge that is fairly secure.

If folded from a square that has been obtained from copy or A4 paper, the purse will be a 3 to 4 cm square.

Remarks:

Apart from making a very useful coin purse, this envelope can be used in scrap books, on top of gifts, for enclosing cards, notes, money, any small, flat object.

You can even fold many purses and mark them in braille or print to keep different types of coins or bank notes.

If using two-sided origami paper, lay your paper with the patterned or colored side down before starting to fold.

Step 1

Place a square piece of paper down on a hard, flat surface with its edges to the left and right, top and bottom.

Step 2

Fold the top edge down to meet the bottom to form a rectangle.

Crease well and leave folded.

Step 3

Divide and fold your square into thirds.

The easiest method I have found to do this is to pick up your paper and gently fold the sides over to their opposite edges. Adjust your folds on both sides before making small creases right at the edges of the paper to mark where you will fold.

Unfold all the way again, and then, using the small marks you have made, fold the left edge of the square over a third of the way and then over once more, like you would a letter going into an envelope.

Crease well and unfold all the way so you have a rectangle with two vertical valley creases dividing it into three sections.

Step 4

Make sure your rectangle is placed with the closed edge at the top.

Fold the top left and right points down to meet the first vertical crease you encounter in order to make two corners at the top left and right of the model.

Press well and then unfold again. These folds will help with the next steps.

Step 5

Now, you will perform a squash fold, starting on the left side  of the model.

To do this, lift up the left side of the paper so it is pointing towards the ceiling, using the vertical crease you have already created. 

Gently hold it in this position with one hand while sliding a finger inside the two layers of the paper. Move away from you along the left edge as far as you can go.

In the process, the paper will sort of split or move apart and a triangle will form at the top of the paper. 

Press the triangle and the fold you have created flat.

Step 6

Do the same squash fold on the right edge of the paper.

You will be left with a shape that resemble two little houses the one on the right laying partly on top of the left.

Step 7

Flip the paper over from left to right, like turning the page of a book.

Step 8

You will have a smooth center area with two (more or less) triangular flaps on the left and right.

Since your paper is divided into thirds, use the creases already created to fold in the left flap to overlap the center and then fold the right flap on top.

Your model will now look similar on the back and front and will have many layers.

Notice that on each side, there is a large triangular shape on the left side of the model, that seems to cover another triangle underneath it. The front triangle actually is a pocket with an opening at the top. This opening is slanting very slightly downwards to the right.

Step 9

Rotate the paper 180 degrees so that the closed edge with the triangles are neareest you.

Step 10

Notice that the straight edge furthest away from you is made up of six layers of paper in total. There are three layers on each side, with the opening of the purse hidden in between the layers.

Holding the three top layers of the paper together, fold both top corners down to meet each other at the vertical center to form 2 small triangles on this side of the coin purse. Crease and leave folded.

It will resemble an arrow, pointing away from you.

Step 11

Now fold the triangular point down as far as it will go. Crease well and then unfold.

Step 12

Remember the triangular pocket mentioned in Step 8? If all went well, the triangular point you have just folded should fit into this triangular pocket.

To open the pocket, you can gently insert a finger or push the sides of the purse together. Then, very carefully fold or roll the triangular point down, tucking it inside the pocket just below it.

Take your time with this step so that you do not inadvertently tear the side of the single-layered pocket.

Push the point in as far as possible. It will likely not go in all the way, but make sure it feels secure and looks the same on both sides of the purse.

Step 13

Turn the model over and repeat Steps 10 to 12 on this side

Step 14

Your coin purse is now complete and ready to hold coins!

To insert something, gently press the top corners toward each other to open the purse.

Making origami accessible to visually impaired crafters through text instructions.

for non-commercial use only.

Compiled by Lindy van der Merwe, August 2021

Revised, January 2023

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