One of the perennial symbols of romance and love is the rose. If you don't have the time or the money to stop by the florist, or if you want to put a new spin on an old symbol, here's how to fold a piece of paper into a beautiful, intricate rose.
Step 1
Obtain some colorful, square paper (see "Things You'll Need").
Step 2
Face the colorful side of the paper up towards you.
Step 3
Fold the square in half so that the decorated side of the paper is folded inside. Open up the paper, turn it over, and draw a black line along the crease of the back side. (The colorful side will be the color of your rose, and that is why lines are drawn on the back (plain) side, so that they will not be seen).
Step 4
Fold the lower and upper half in half again, so that the square is equally divided into four parts. Color these creases.
Step 5
Rotate the paper and repeat the last two steps, so that now you have 16 little squares.
Step 6
Fold the paper diagonally both ways. You should have two lines dividing the paper diagonally, giving you four triangles. This is shown with red lines.
Step 7
Fold the paper in half.
Step 8
Fold the lower half up one third.
Step 9
Open up the paper and rotate it 90 degrees. Repeat the last two steps. This is shown with green lines.
Step 10
With each corner, fold black and red lines upwards (valley folds) and green lines inwards (mountain folds).
Step 11
Press down on the horizontal and vertical parts counter-clockwise gently, leaving the middle standing out.
Step 12
Press down on the four corners of the center part and it should turn into a tiny flat square.
Step 13
Turn the paper around so that the colorful side faces up.
Step 14
Use labels. To make it easier to understand, label the four parts, then lift up the fourth (lower right) square and rotate it 90 degrees, counterclockwise, to the left vertical border of square two.
Step 15
Make sure the two borders align exactly.
Step 16
Rotate around to each square and repeat the last two steps with all four squares.
Step 17
Round up all four sides, and now you have the basic shape of the rose in your hand.
Step 18
Flip the rose upside down. Now you are looking into the inside of the rose.
Step 19
Fold down the petals one by one.
Step 20
Once you reach the last petal, tuck it under the gap beneath the previous petal.
Step 21
Turn it over. Now you have a pretty rose. You can add a stem for it, using wire and leaves with a few pieces of green paper. Now you are done! Now give that rose to someone special! :)
