Iris Folding Tutorial

Iris folding is my favorite cardmaking technique - I love the aticipation of working blind then turning the card over to view my finished creation. The technique is great because you can use precut papers , wrapping paper, the inside of envelopes and even satin ribbon to create dramatic results.

1. choose your design, plus paper strips approx 2cm wide, sticky tape and peels offs and gems to finish off

2. slide your choosen pattern guide into a plastic sleeve and tape to your work surface / table

3. tape you card face down over your pattern using low tack tape ,
quick tip -  if its normal sticky tape - stick it to your trouser leg a few times to remove most of its stickiness- this should stop it damaging the card as its removed ( thats why mine looks blue in pics )

4. choose the required colours of paper strips for your design
working from the middle fold over approx one third - do this on several of each colour

5. Heres where the fun starts. its like painting by numbers but with paper
( for this design I had to fold then end of a strip to start with)
Look for number 1 on your chart / pattern
place your choosen colour strip over that number and tear off a piece big enough to cover number & overlap onto edge of appeture .

6. With folded edge along line of chart no1 section , tape strip on face down .
For this design I had to use the same colour up until number11 before I changed )
quick tip - in this case tear required number of pieces before taping town its quicker !

7. For this design I have choosen 2 main colours but you can have up to 4 per design
Now working with alternate colours , again with folded edge against the line , continue taping paper strips around the iris
quick tip -   write out your numbers first just in case you get lost along the way
11 - pink , 13 purple ,
12 pink ,  14 purple  and so on ( all numbers are colour coded on our charts any way )
once you reach the centre - use an unfolded strip across the cente - tapoe in place

8. Put strips of tape all over the paper strips to hold everything securely in place

9. Find your piece of backing card and put double sided tape on the back of it
( usually in our kits they are smoother on the back )
Then remove sticky cover tape and stick card over the working of your design to make it all look neat .

10. Finally and carefully remove the holding tape and turn your card over to reveal yor finished design !
You can now embellish with peel offs , gems or other stickers to make your card truely unique !