PaperCraft Christmas Tree

How to make a simple paper Christmas tree.

Requires paper and scissors. Rocks optional.

Step 1 Square

If your paper isn't already in a square, make it into one.

Comments

[imajem]

My tree came out great the first try and the base is perfectt!!! Thanks for this.....

[star_above_the_clouds]

Um..... I like this, but I feel it was not thoroughly described. Could you please be a little more descriptive? (:

[AngleKeys101]

Their is a another version that is imilar to this one at: http://www.origami-fun.com/origami-pine-tree.html it is pretty much the same thing except it has better pictures and the folding is a little bit different.

[voyage guy]

Great job, here is what I have done.

[poper123]

awsome

[jmiksanek]

It'd be great if someone made a video of how to do Step 2 or provided a lot of pictures.  I just played with folding it different ways until it looked like the picture in Step 3.  Now I can make a Christmas tree for my apartment next year:)  I also think it could be made into a pop-up greeting card.

[kmc512]

what's the bit about "rocks optional"? did i miss a step?

[threecheersfornick]

it was a joke: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-paper-scissors 

[kmc512]

well, i feel silly. :)

[h274820]

This is so hard..I have tried and tried to do this. Can you please have better instructions... The second step is sooo confusing and your note here doesnt help. Just even more confusing!

[islander_circe]

Hi, I showed this to a group of people a few days ago & came up with a suggestion that seemed to help some who were having problems with step 2.

The purpose of all the folding is to create folds that radiate out from the centre point of the paper square - the photos for steps 3 & 4 show this clearly. That centre point is going to be the peak of the tree. The trick is, when folding, to always keep track of which point of the triangle is the centre of the paper. Use that point  as a guide when folding. Or, put a bit differently, always keep that point as the apex of your triangles when folding.

Hope that helps a little...though it may be as clear as mud ...oh well, if you are really interested there are videos on YouTube for similar types of folded trees - not quite the same as this one.

[islander_circe]

Thanks for this - it's mostly pretty clear though I have some questions about step 5.

It looks like the cuts are parallel to the base but how long do you make them and, depending on the size of the paper, how many cuts would you make? Would you keep the same number of cuts (branches) just spaced out more or would it be better to increase the number of cuts?

My quickly made tree splays out a lot at the base. How did you keep yours compact - was it glued?

Last year I saw a tutorial for a Kirigami tree which I couldn't get to work at all. Yours is very similar but actually makes sense and is easy to construct. Thankyou.

[threecheersfornick]

>> It looks like the cuts are parallel to the base but how long do you make them and, depending on the size of the paper, how many cuts would you make? Would you keep the same number of cuts (branches) just spaced out more or would it be better to increase the number of cuts?

This is completely up to you.

>> My quickly made tree splays out a lot at the base. How did you keep yours compact - was it glued?

As I recall, mine splayed out too. That said, I think that if you makes your cuts deep, and fold the branches over with good creases, those folds should force your tree to come together a bit in the middle.

>> Last year I saw a tutorial for a Kirigami tree which I couldn't get to work at all. Yours is very similar but actually makes sense and is easy to construct. Thankyou.

I'm glad you like it! Thank you very much for your feedback. It always makes me happy when I get a nice, understandable comment, even though I've pretty much given up using Instructables.

[islander_circe]

I shared this with about a dozen people at my craft group on Monday and everyone really enjoyed it, so you've brought pleasure and learning to a lot of people. I love the pristine look of white but many did their trees in some 12x12in scrapbooking paper I took along and they all looked great.

I've started looking at more folded shapes and dug out a Christmas Origami book  that's been in my library for over 20 years. I think I'll be doing a lot more of this. So...thanks again & good work.

[cubeberg]

I made two of these for my 5-year-old daughter this weekend - she thought it was the greatest thing ever!  Thanks a ton.  Green construction paper looked much better than the white - and the folded over pieces were perfect for colored ornaments.

[vishaknk]

its good i tried it ...
wonderfull

[BlitZzZ]

I added light in that trees

[milkbrothers]

 man im terrible at this tried but........ failed

[libraryCat]

You could plasti- dip these like the origami birds...  :)

[The_DonuT]

my dident look that good xD

[smanzie4]

maybe you can make it green like a real christmas tree, anyway nice instructable.  :)

[hishealer]

And glue little red round paper punches for ornaments...

[Bryandav]

Tried to do this one, but failed miserably.  The instructions are a bit muddled, just couldn't seem to follow them.  But thanks for the Instructable!

[florianabg]

Thank you very much!Nice tree!Well done!

[adoreajarbakery]

I am confused- how do you get to the asymmetrical triangle in the second pic?

[threecheersfornick]

I'm sorry, that explanation is weak. I'll try to explain better. If you've gotten to something that looks like the first picture, heres what you do:

1) Fold the top half of the farthest right corner over to the left, flip your paper over, and repeat .This should give you a smaller version of the triangle you already had.

2) Place your paper so that all the openings are on the bottom (closest to you), and the right angle is on the right-hand side.

3) Fold the top half of the farthest right corner over to the left again. Flip, rinse, repeat. This *should* give you something that looks like the second picture, although perhaps mirrored and/or rotated, depending on how you've flipped and/or turned the page.

Thank you for your comment! I hope this helps.

[smitasrivastava]

wonderful origami art.

[ChrysN]

Cute tree!