Origami Container

A small paper container made from a scrap from a pocket Moleskine cahier - 3.5 x 5.5" paper.

Containers are essential things, and this origami box/bowl is easy to make and pretty useful. Once you get the hang of it, you can crank these out in a minute or two.

You can use any old scrap of rectangular paper to make these - 8.5x11 works best, but they work fine with other sizes too - just need similar dimensions. They make for great disposable containers in an every-day situation - hold bones for buffalo wings, sharing candy or popcorn, holding bolts or screws, that kind of thing. They're good organizers for miscellaneous bits, too. You can use any piece of paper, so this is useful, free recycling here.

You can also make these containers out of foil, and if you use foil of a good thickness, they will hold water, which you could either boil or leave in the sun for SODIS. You could also use it to cook in if you need an impromptu pan and didn't want much cleanup.

The pictured container was made from a roughly 8.5x11 shaped piece of Heavy Duty foil; I'd want thicker foil, honestly, but it worked. The lighter duty foil is too thin to survive through the folds without tearing. It held about 10 - 12 ounces of water for about 5 minutes; it did start to leak on one corner, but it still retained structural integrity and stood up to heating water to the boiling point on a stove top. The leak was caused by too much water - the weight pushed out one of the folds slightly, letting water drip out. After the boiling, the container was fine and could certainly be reused.

I've embeded the best YouTube tutorial I could dig up after the jump. Try it - the first time will be a disaster, but after two or three goes you'll probably have it down. Handy trick to know.