The origami crease sheet template, flat and folded
What this template is for
Square origami paper printed with the creases most models start from: an even grid, a grid with diagonals, the preliminary / waterbomb base or the blintz base. Any size, as many as you like.
Also called origami crease pattern · pre-creased origami paper · origami grid · waterbomb base — all the same shape, and this is it.
- Pre-creased squares for tessellations
- Bases for cranes, boxes and flowers
- Teaching folding to a class
- Exactly sized squares from any paper
How to use this template
All four downloads are the same origami crease sheet at the same size — only the format changes.
- PDF printing at home
- Print at 100 per cent, or hand it to a print shop as "actual size, no scaling".
- PNG 300 dpi Canva, Photoshop, Procreate
- Upload, lock it in place and design your origami crease sheet on top. Free plan and phone included. Full Canva walkthrough →
- SVG Cricut, Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity
- Vector, with cuts, folds and labels on separate layers. Cricut and Silhouette walkthrough →
- DXF Silhouette, laser and vinyl cutters
- Two layers, CUT and FOLD — and the one free Silhouette Studio Basic will open.
Printing it
- Type your size above, then download the PDF.
- Print at 100% — never “fit to page”, or every measurement comes out wrong.
- Too big for the paper? Pick your paper size and leave Fit the pieces to the page ticked: each piece gets its own place on a sheet and the PDF comes out with every page in it, nothing cut in half and nothing to tape.
How to put it together
These pictures are the origami crease sheet itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the three steps never do.
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Cut the solid lines
Every solid line is a cut. Do the inside shapes first, while the sheet is still whole and easy to hold.
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Score every dashed line
Dashed lines are folds. Score each one first — an empty ballpoint against a ruler — or the card cracks along the outside of the bend.
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Fold, glue and hold
Cut the squares out exactly on the outline. Fold along every dashed line in both directions and unfold, so each crease is soft and goes either way, then collapse the base the model calls for. The pattern only marks where the creases are; mountain and valley come from the model's own instructions.
Glue: a glue stick for paper, white PVA on card — hold each seam thirty seconds, and let the box dry standing up.
Questions about the origami crease sheet
- Which pattern do I need?
- The preliminary / waterbomb base starts the crane, the lily and most bird bases. The blintz base starts many boxes and the fortune teller. Grids are for tessellations and modular models.
- Why are there no mountain and valley lines?
- The sheet marks where each crease is, not which way it ends up — many models fold the same line both ways at different steps. Crease every line in both directions, then follow the model.
- Is there a crane crease pattern?
- Not yet. Only patterns whose every line is certain are printed; the preliminary base on this page is where the crane starts.
Print your own design on it
Add a logo, photo or pattern in the panel on the left and drag it onto the origami crease sheet. It is trimmed to the cut outline, embedded properly in the PDF, and never leaves your computer — most free template sites hand you the outline and stop there. How printing your own design works.
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