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Origami Place Cards for a Wedding Anniversary

Simple origami place-card

On my parent’s golden anniversary, I wanted to give the gift of origami and for it to be a presence on their special occasion. When deciding what to make I asked a group of origami friends for ideas. Hans-Werner Guth (Germany) sent me a suggestion for one of his creations: an origami minimal curved fold that can be used as a table place card for dinner guests. This was exactly what I was looking for.

Made with a single circular fold from a square of card stock paper which allows the card to stand, his model was simple, minimalist, elegant, and just perfect for the occasion

As I worked it occurred to me that I could pair Hans-Werner’s model with a golden butterfly created by Ralph Mathews (England), whose diagrams are in the book Minigami*: Mini Origami Projects for Cards, Gifts, and Decorations, by Gay Merrill Gross.

Ralph Mathews’ butterfly, which was originally designed and shown as a clip to attach two or more sheets of paper, was easily attached at the topmost point of Hans-Werner Guth’s model and is locked in place with a couple of creases.

Place card from front and back

Here are the dimensions and proportions of the papers used for each model. Click the image to enlarge it.

As an alternative to this combination, the butterfly can be omitted and an illustration printed above the name of each guest as illustrated here in the following example.

Origami creativity may involve simply joining one model to another to create a new idea. This union of card and butterfly is a creative and successful marriage of two origami models. Text was added using Photoshop.

The model was folded and arranged by Leyla Torres. Based on the origami minimal curved fold by Hans-Werner Guth (Germany)  a butterfly clip by  Ralph Mathews (England).

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Hans-Werner Guth design reference:

7 thoughts on “Origami Place Cards for a Wedding Anniversary”

  1. Leyla,

    The link to Hans’ card (“link with folding steps to make Hans’ card”) no longer works. I found an archived version here:
    goo.gl/9qQEj7i

    Yaacov

    Reply
  2. The butterfly is, I believe, by Jean-Pierre Wyseur, published in BOS Magazine 101 August 1983. Whilst Ralph did create the odd design, he more than likely rediscovered this one.

    Reply
    • Thank you Nick for your clarification regarding the butterfly’s creator. In the “Minigami” book it was attributed to Ralph and that is why I mentioned his name here. I wonder if Jean-Pierre is still active in origami?

      Reply
  3. Oh, I just found the Minigami book at the library recently myself! Normally I like folding more complex models, but recently I have realized that there’s nothing wrong with reverting back to and appreciating very simple styles. That book especially is excellent for the decorative purposes that it serves. Such projects really don’t need complicated origami to look great :) .

    Got your e-mail, by the way, thanks! I actually do have my own website and it is posted above with my name on this comment. Like I said, I love a variety of activities, but if you would like to see the paper arts that I mostly do, please visit http://andersgesagt.tumblr.com/search/origami and http://andersgesagt.tumblr.com/search/papercraft . The models are not designed by me, but I did make all of them unless otherwise noted. Ciao!

    Reply
    • I appreciate complex origami very much, but I have a predilection for simple models. I love when with a few folds a model can convey the essence of what it might represent. ‘Minigami’ ia a great book and Gay Gross, the author, has a very good eye for those models that are simple but elegant.

      I read your story about the 4th grade teacher, wow! Don’t we all have stories of those teachers that shouldn’t be teachers? It’s great you eventually folded paper again!
      Cheers!

      Reply

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