How can I wrap gifts in a

January 24, 2006 5:08 AM

When I was in Japan, I bought something which was cuboid shaped which I asked to be gift wrapped. The shop assistant wrapped it in such a manner that only one piece of sellotape was required. The paper was also arranged pleasingly diagonally across the gift, and seemed to be evenly spread around its surface, rather than having densely-folded sides like more common (western) wrapping. How can I learn that technique? Does it have a name?

I seem to remember that the technique involved placing the box diagonally and carefully on a standard size sheet of paper, and then 'rolling' the box around the paper to make the folds. Having sent the gift to its intended, I couldn't reverse-engineer it. The appropriate google query eludes me, and there is nothing on this thread about that specific technique.

posted by cogat to grab bag (14 comments total)

tsutsumi?

origata (wrapping w/out cutting)?

different styles

None of these seem like what you described, though. Perhaps if I had the name of the store where the gift was purchased (I'm in Korea, there are many Japanese stores here).
posted by Brittanie at 5:32 AM on January 24, 2006

check out diagonal wrapping on this page -- i think that's what you want.
posted by nevers at 5:42 AM on January 24, 2006

nevers got it. They do that at all the Japanese stores here (I am not in Japan, but it's quite obviously a consistent theme).
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 6:54 AM on January 24, 2006

Man, the japanese are just so hard core.
posted by delmoi at 7:26 AM on January 24, 2006

Thats incredibly cool
posted by lemonfridge at 7:43 AM on January 24, 2006

Good question.
Hello bookmarks.
posted by NinjaPirate at 7:58 AM on January 24, 2006

Very, very cool.
posted by odinsdream at 8:07 AM on January 24, 2006

I hate wrapping presents, but that's awesome.
posted by doctor_negative at 8:29 AM on January 24, 2006

so rad. i'm totally wrapping this way now.
posted by freudianslipper at 9:12 AM on January 24, 2006

This is why I love AskMe. Although I never wrap presents, I read the question out of idle curiosity, follow some links, and find directions for tying a beautiful bow knot, which I had been searching for (to no avail) for another project. Wonderful what kind of stuff MeFites dig up!
posted by Quietgal at 10:52 AM on January 24, 2006

grr... step 6 totally confuses me. has anyone figured this out?
posted by aspo at 8:11 PM on January 24, 2006

Yeah me too. I think I can figure it out, but then it doesn't make sense to repeat 3 and 4...
posted by cogat at 9:31 PM on January 24, 2006

steps 3 and 4 (folding the paper at the corner line inwardly and lifting the paper, adjusting so that "B" lines up with "A") and are the ones you have to repeat over and over.

after step 5, rotate the whole thing 90 degrees counter clockwise on the table and you'll see a setup very similar to the one you had after step 2. then repeat steps 3 and 4 with the corner that's newly facing you (it doesn't say to do this, but that's what you do). then you can turn the box upright, into the position where it's shown in step 6. from there just continue to flip the box to the left to get to step 7.

after step 7, rotate the whole thing 90 degrees clockwise on the table and you'll have a setup that looks like a mirror image of the box after step 2. repeat steps 3 and 4 on the corner that's newly facing you (only in mirror).

then rotate the whole thing 90 degrees clockwise on the table again and do steps 3 and 4 again. then you'll end up with something that looks like step 8. yours might look different depending on the size of your paper compared to your box.

hope this helped -- i can try to explain in even more detail if needed.
posted by nevers at 6:23 AM on January 25, 2006

THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE
posted by Jairus at 8:19 PM on February 22, 2006