The Perfect Accordion Fold According to Peter Thomas

Another workshop at the Degolyer Conference was with Peter Thomas. Peter and Donna Thomas have a great team thing going on. Donna is an illustrator while Peter is a binder and printer. I think they both are also papermakers. What a job! Check out their one of a kind miniature books. They are a very talented team.

Step 1:

If you have ever tried to fold an accordion book, you may have found that when you finished it looked more like a staircase than a folded book. Peter has a fail-safe method for getting the folds stacked straight. He showed how to make perfect accordion folds that are SOOOO easy. The basic folding steps are simple. 

Cut a narrow strip of paper about 2″ by 14″. Fold the strip in half taking care to align the edges evenly. When you crease the fold, turn the strip over. The edges open to show an open mountain fold.

 

Step 2:

Take each edge of the paper and fold it to the center fold.
When you are finished, you will have three folds that shape the paper strip like an M. Invert the centerfold so the paper strip look kind of like three wave crests.

 

 

 

Step 3:
Take the first fold and fold it to the edge of the strip.

 

 

 

Step 4:
Take the center fold and fold it to meet the first fold’s edge.

 

 

 

Step 5:

Take the third fold and fold it to meet the centerfold.

 

 

 

Step 6:
Take the final strip edge and fold it to meet the last fold edge.

 

 

You should have an eight-panel accordion.