Origami Interlude: Larger Masu Boxes

I just realized that I missed an Origami Interlude for the month of April... Oops! Well I'm remedying that today with some origami boxes.

Masu Boxes

A while ago I blogged about the origami boxes that I hand-fold for the jewelry that I sell in my Etsy shop. The boxes are a variation on the Masu box, a traditional origami design that you can learn to fold yourself here. I fold mine from 6" squares of paper; washi for the top and card stock for the bottom, with both parts lined with card stock for extra stability. The finished box is about 2 inches wide by one inch tall:

This box is great for earrings, pendants, and beaded beads, but it's a little small for necklaces and even for some bracelets. I could use larger sheets of paper, but the resulting box would retain the same proportions of the original box (it would be wider, but it would also be deeper than 1"). I wanted a more traditional necklace-sized jewelry box that would be only one inch deep, but about 3-4 inches wide.

Larger Masu Boxes

To remedy this problem, I came up with another variation that results in a wider box with different proportions than the original Masu box. The trick to this variation is to both use a larger sheet of paper, but to also modify step 3 to fold the sides in only partway. With an 8" sheet of paper, and by folding the sides in only 1", I had a box that's still one inch deep, but about 3.75 inches wide:

Small vs. Large Boxes

Here's a photo of both the small and large Masu boxes in the same pretty purple Japanese crane washi print:

I like how the larger box not only solves the how-to-package-a-necklace question, but it also shows off more of the gorgeous prints that you can find in washi. I'm particularly fond of Japanese crane and cherry blossom prints.

Though, now that I think about it, this would also work well with Italian papers too... Hmm.....

Check out some of my previous interludes into paper origami here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

What's your favorite kind or style of paper? Do you know of one that would look particularly nice in a Masu box? Drop me a line in the comments section!