PAPERCRAFT
Three Dollar Flower, opus 488
Designed by Robert J. Lang
Diagrammed by Jeffrey Rutzky
There’s a distinct genre of origami that uses paper currency as the folding
medium. Among other uses, moneyfolds make great tips at restaurants!
But with the march of inflation, a tip of a single dollar is getting pretty
chintzy. Here’s a moneyfold that uses 3 dollar bills (and nothing else),
which I composed as a tip at a local restaurant, Alamo Café.
START »
1. Green (back) side up, valley-fold in half lengthwise.
Crease sharply.
2. Valley-fold in half widthwise from right to left.
Crease sharply.
3. Valley-fold in half
lengthwise, making
a pinch mark about
one-third in from
the right edge.
4. Valley-fold the lower-right
corner point to the pinch
mark, on the angle shown.
Crease sharply.
5. Mountain-fold the lower-right corner point along
the angled edge made
in Step 4, bisecting
the upper-right corner.
Crease sharply.
6. Unfold the top layers
back to Step 2.
7. Pleat both layers by carefully reversing some of the
existing folds made in Steps 4– 5. Bring the left and
right edges down to make the shape shown in Step 8.
The front, back, left, and right sides should look
symmetrical. Neaten all folds.
8. Valley-fold the top point down,
in half, to the horizontal edge;
crease very sharply. Unfold.
9. Book-fold the top layer
from left to right.
