An aesthetic Origami card sleeve

In the coming months at OpenCD we’ll be making it easier for everybody to produce quality discs for themselves and others, so naturally one of the things we’re looking at are covers and disc art. Various people during the history of OpenCD have volunteered their own disc art but it’s never been a permanent fixture.

The main problem is the jewel-case. They take up too much space, they break (those latches!), and if you’re one of the lucky people not to have a spare thousand of them, they cost more than blank media. So after dusting off my old book on origami and crafting a few envelopes recently, I thought that origami would be a perfect solution.

Googling for “origami cd card sleeve” gives you around two-hundred thousand results, and “origami cd cover” over a million. Undaunted I proceeded to make the first six I came across. I was immediately taken aback at how awkward, difficult and strange they all were. Sure they held discs (mostly), but they either seemed to have a clamshell-type fold in the centre (which when opened the whole cover sprang apart) or bizarre ones where the disc was almost completely uncovered.

Most obvious to me was that none of them looked exactly like what I wanted the OpenCD cover to resemble; an aesthetic card sleeve that importantly looked and felt familiar to people.

So armed with a single A4 sheet, a card sleeve cd single and a ruler (fold cheating) I sat down to work it out. The goal was to make an authentic looking card sleeve using an entire A4 sheet without scissors. Three sheets later I had what I was looking for. Here’s a step by step breakdown, with a template following:

Step one Fold along the line marked 1. At this point ensure each fold is toward the side of paper that the instructions are on, otherwise you’ll end up with instructions on the outside of your finished card sleeve.
Steps two and three Fold along the lines marked 2 and 3. These are really the only important folds. If they aren’t fairly straight you’ll end up with a card sleeve that’s skewed. Sure it’ll still hold a disc, but it won’t look too pretty.
Step four Fold along the line marked 4. This should nearly halve the paper, but not quite – one end should be around 20mm longer than the other.
Step five Fold along the line marked 5. Give this one a good sharp crease first, then tuck it inside. This is the the step that holds the entire card sleeve together so take your time. The 20mm or so that you’re folding inside will go in better if you give the sides a gentle squeeze, and only try to get one side in at a time. Once both ends of it are inside and you’ve folded it in properly it should look completely flush and tidy. You’ve done it!

So all up only five folds were needed; no scissors, no flaps, no fuss, and entirely symmetrical.

Here’s the finished template in png format (300dpi) so you can try it yourself. Why png? So you can load it straight into whichever photo manipulation software you use. The reverse template (300dpi) is for your design – simply throw it into your favourite software (Gimp?), put your design together, print it, flip the paper over and print the five step instructions on the opposite side. A few minutes later you should have a perfectly neat card sleeve. Make sure you print to 100%, and centred on the page.

It’s fair to say my origami notation is nothing like the accepted standard I’ve seen on numerous designs, but I’ve traded that for the sake of ease (and speed) in which you can make this five-fold design. I did notice that ordinary paper looks a bit wobbly once you’ve finished, so unless you have a spare phone-book to press your card sleeve for a day you’ll want heavier gauge paper for presentable covers.

To be honest, outside from OpenCD I’ll be quite chuffed if anybody else uses it. As with all my content this disc-sleeve falls under my Creative Commons license, so if you’re going to use the design check to see what’s okay and what’s tantamount to heresy. If you are using the design in one way or another drop me a line or post a comment.