How To Make an Origami CD Holder
by Matthew Toledo - 2/13/2005
Have you ever burned a mix CD only to have it scratched after a single trip in the car? You could buy a plastic CD holder, but they eventually crack and shatter. A lot of people take all the artwork out of the case and throw away the plastic case altogether. Either way, you end up with a hunk of plastic that ends up sitting in a land fill for 600 years or more.
What if you could make your own CD case using plain old paper? For a penny
or two, you can make a cd case that will do the job and also cut down
on waste. When the case gets old, just recycle it.
All you will need to get started is a piece of standard 8 and 1/2 by 11 inch paper and a CD.
First, get a standard piece of plain printer paper paper. Place the CD on the center of the top edge of the page so that the top edge bisects the CD in half.
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Step 1 |
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Now, fold the long sides of the paper over the CD.
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Step 2 |
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Fold the paper in half to form a reference crease.
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Step 3 |
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Unfold the paper. Note the crease we made.
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Step 4 |
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Take bottom half and fold it over to the crease we made in the previous step.
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Step 5 |
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Unfold the previous fold. Now, this part is tricky: fold back the ends and made two folds at 45 degrees so that it forms half of a box.
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Step 6 |
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Take the part of the box that is standing up and flatten it by bringing it forward towards our reference fold while at the same time pulling out on the sides of the box. This will form two flaps that have 45 degree angle folds. The flaps should hang over the sides of cd holder.
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Step 7 |
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This part is tricky too. Take those two hanging flaps and tuck them under. Don't tuck them under the whole piece of paper. The flaps will be like the meat in a sandwich: long piece of paper, flaps, bottom stub which was formed from the remaining part of the box-like structure we made earlier. See the picture for reference.
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Step 8 |
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Move the CD into the bottom. The CD should fit into the stub.
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Step 9 |
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Fold the paper over the top of the CD.
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Step 10 |
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Make two small angular folds. These folds make it easier to tuck the top flap into the bottom stub.
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Step 11 |
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Ta-da. One CD holder!
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Step 12 |
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Write a label on the paper. Then, play with your mini etch-a-sketch. Damn, its hard to etch circles!
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Step 13 |
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More things you can do: unfold the cd holder and use a ruler to find the location and dimensions of the face of your origami cd case. Then, using photo shop, design and print cover art on piece of paper. Use the printed paper to make a new CD holder.
You can also slide any existing artwork and liner notes from a store-bought CD into this case. Everything fits snuggly and relatively secure. Use some tape to seal archival CD's from the elements.
This is a great ideas for local bands wanting to hand out promo CD's.
Further Reading:
CDR Painting - Further customize
your CDR with spray-paint
papercdcase.com - Creates a PDF that
you can print and fold into the origami CD case. A custom title, artist
and track listing are also included in the printout. Unfortunately,
this only works if you have a printer that is capable of printing to
the very edge of the paper. Otherwise, everything is slightly askew.
An American CD
Case - Uses illustrations instead of photographs to explain the same directions
for making an origami CD case.
