Recently, while doing research about envelopes because that's the sort of thing that I do, I came across this website. It is a site devoted to hosting free downloads of foldable stationery, specifically for the "Florentine" fold. The site's host and designer, Alex, makes the following arguements for the desirablity of this particular style of origami for envelopes:
- It holds itself closed and is secured by the stamp
- It's easy to secure the letter even further with a dab of glue or a short length of sticky tape
- The folded envelope is impressively large compared to the size of the original sheet
- All of the folds are at 45 degrees, which I find to be quite aesthetic
- The fold works well on a variety of aspect ratios and is resistant to scaling
- You can write on the full area of one side of the letter
I'm convinced! Here's the link to the downloads and the site also allows you to design and upload your own. Pretty nifty!
I would love to try this, but where on the direction page do you start? Lower left and work upwards?
Posted by: Amy Patton | September 17, 2012 at 10:05 AM
Amy, it starts at the top, right-hand corner on the diagram. If you go to the Letterfu site, the downloads have handy guidelines pre-printed on them to aid in folding. -Donovan
Posted by: Donovan | September 17, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Thanks, Donovan. I downloaded and printed a template; I was able to make an envelope in just a few seconds. Neat! My penpal who does origami is defintely going to receive one of these (: Amy
Posted by: Amy Patton | September 17, 2012 at 02:01 PM
Just wanted to mention, that the diagram is by John Cunliffe, and is part of an ELFA (Envelope and Letter Folding Association) book. They put out four different books of letterfolds out over the years. The group is still active (they have a Yahoo group).
There is a great website that has most of one of the volumes scanned and posted with permission.
I prefer the Daisy Letterfold - it is a good size, and you can tuck the last flap in so it keeps itself closed without anything else required.
Check it out at:
http://ghh.com/elf/index.html
Posted by: paul | September 17, 2012 at 02:21 PM
Oftentimes, letters are much better than a telephone call or an e-mail. I think that’s because you appreciate a letter. It means someone took the time to sit down and write their thoughts on paper.
Posted by: Letterboxes | September 19, 2012 at 09:52 PM
There is a great website that has most of one of the volumes scanned and posted with permission.
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