Fun
Kirigami maker: fold and cut paper
Pick a fold, cut shapes out of the folded paper and watch it open into a symmetrical heart, butterfly, star, flower or lace doily — then print the template and cut it for real.
Fold
Folded in half (2 layers). Picking a fold starts plain paper; the designs below set their own fold.
Cut away parts of the folded paper. Anything touching a dashed fold opens into a mirrored shape; leave paper along the folds so it holds together.
Unfolded preview
Download
Printable template
9.5 cm from the centre to the edge along a fold: needs a square of paper at least 20 cm (7.9 in) wide. Print at 100%.
Designs · 23 to start from
For six-pointed snowflakes with 36 more patterns, try the paper snowflake maker; for chains of dolls, hearts or trees, the paper doll chain.
Enter finishes a cut · Backspace removes the last point · Esc cancels · everything stays in your browser
Play and explore in your browser. No account needed.
Frequently asked questions
What is kirigami?
Kirigami is the Japanese name for the craft of folding and cutting paper, from kiru (to cut) and kami (paper). Origami usually avoids cutting; kirigami uses scissors on purpose. The word covers symmetric cut-outs like the ones here — folded, cut and opened — and also pop-up cards and 3D structures cut from one sheet.
Which fold should I use?
Fold in half for anything mirror-symmetric: hearts, butterflies, trees, leaves. Quarters gives square frames and four-way patterns. The pointed folds repeat a wedge around the centre: 4 points for clovers and square doilies, 5 for stars and flowers, 6 for snowflakes, 8 for round doilies and mandalas and 12 for sunflowers. More points means more layers, so keep the cuts simple on 16 or 24 layers.
What is the fold-and-cut theorem?
It says that any shape with straight sides, and in fact any arrangement of straight line segments, can be cut out of one sheet of paper by folding it flat and making a single complete straight cut. It was proved in the late 1990s by Erik Demaine, Martin Demaine and Anna Lubiw, and with a different method by Marshall Bern, Erik Demaine, David Eppstein and Barry Hayes. The folds it needs can be complicated. This tool uses only simple symmetric folds, but the One-cut star and One-cut hexagram designs show the idea: one straight cut across the folded paper.
Why did part of my design fall off when I unfolded it?
Every cut goes through all the layers, and a cut that touches a fold opens into a hole that crosses it. If a cut runs from one fold to the other, or right across the folded paper, the piece beyond it is no longer attached to anything. Keep a strip of paper along at least part of each fold, and check the preview before you cut real paper.
What paper and size should I use for the template?
Small templates measure 7 cm from the centre to the edge along a fold and need a square at least 15 cm wide, like standard origami paper; Medium needs 20 cm, and Large needs 27 cm and fits the page for every fold except the half fold. Print at 100% and check the 5 cm bar. Thin paper is best: 12 or 24 layers of thick paper are hard to cut cleanly.
Is my design uploaded anywhere?
No. The folding, cutting, animation and all three downloads are made in your browser, and nothing is stored after you leave the page, so download a PNG, SVG or PDF to keep your design. The SVG is traced from a high-resolution image and works in vector editors and cutting-machine software.
About this tool
This kirigami maker lets you fold paper, cut it and unfold it on screen, with the same geometry as real paper. Every fold turns the paper over a line, so everything you cut is repeated in every layer and mirrored across every fold. Fold once and you get mirror symmetry, the way children cut hearts; fold into a wedge and the pattern repeats around the centre like a star, a flower or a doily.
Seven folds are ready: in half (2 layers), in quarters (4), and wedges for 4 points (8 layers), 5 points (10, fanned into fifths), 6 points (12, the snowflake fold), 8 points (16) and 12 points (24). The folded paper is drawn at an angle that matches how you hold it, with the folds dashed; cuts that touch a fold open into holes in the middle of the design. Unfold replays the folds in reverse, each flap turning over in turn.
About two dozen original designs are included — hearts and a heart in a heart, a butterfly, a Christmas tree and a leaf on the half fold, four hearts and a lace frame on quarters, a clover, one-cut stars, flowers, mandala doilies, a sunflower and three snowflakes. Open any of them and change it, or start from plain paper with straight or freehand scissors.
When you like the result, save a 2048-pixel PNG or an SVG outline on a night-blue, white or transparent background, or print the PDF template: the folded paper at real size with the cut-away areas shaded, dashed folds, the centre marked, folding steps for that fold, a preview and a 5 cm bar to check the print scale, on A4 or US Letter.