Literary Origami for Screen-Free Inner Peace: A Step-by-Step Guide

We spend so many hours every day staring at screens. For me, a lot of it is for work, but honestly, a lot of my screen time is at home and totally my own choice. True for you too?

We constantly berate today’s youth for spending too much time on social media, watching TV, blah blah blah, but until we set a better example, I don’t think we have much leverage.

This week is Screen-Free Week, a seven-day commitment to unplugging and spending your free time sans smartphone, laptop, tablet, etc. Going screen-free for a full week is difficult, but I encourage you to take a break from the digital world for at least a few minutes and attempt the literary origami project I’ve developed for you. It will not only focus and calm you, but it will result in a lovely end-product. What I love about origami is that there are clear steps and a well-defined goal. Just follow the directions, and you’ll end up with inner peace* and something cooler than you started out with!

*Ok, real talk: origami is not always easy and you might get frustrated trying to figure out how to make this darn bookmark, but just push through. It will feel so delicious when you do it!

Origami Heart Bookmark

1. Prepare your origami paper

Rip out one page from a book and cut out a 4″ by 4″ square.

 

2. Fold an “X” into your paper

Fold your paper diagonally to make a triangle shape. Crease well, and then unfold. Fold in half along the opposite diagonal. Crease well, and then unfold. You should now have an “X” in the middle of your paper.

 

3. Fold the Paper in Half Horizontally

Now fold your paper in half horizontally. The crease you make should intersect the “X” you created in the first step.

 

4. Collapse the Paper to Start Making a Triangle        
Unfold the paper. Push in gently on the horizontal creases to collapse the paper into a triangle, as seen above.

Crease well into a triangle shape.

 

5. Start Making Your Origami Heart

Fold the top layer of one corner to the center, and then fold the top layer of the opposite corner to the center. Unfold back into original triangle shape.

Now fold the tip the triangle down to meet the middle of the bottom edge of the paper. Unfold back into original triangle shape.

Lift the top layer of the triangle upward.

Flatten as shown in the photo above. It should look like an upside-down house.

 

6. Fold Down

Fold the rectangular part of the “house” down. Now the “house” is right side up.


Fold the bottom of the “house” in half. It should reach the crease that starts the “roof” of the “house.”

 

7. Flatten the Pockets

Stick a finger in each pocket and flatten.

You should now have two small triangles.

 

8. Finish the Top of the Heart

Fold the exposed corners in towards the triangle pockets as shown in the photo above. This creates the two sides of the final heart shape.

Then, fold the top left and right points up to round out the corners of the heart.

Flip the section you’ve been working on up at the crease, and there’s your heart!

Let me know how your bookmarks turn out or if you have any questions in the comments below!