The blintz base is a traditional origami fold named after its resemblance to the blintz—a Russian pancake-like dish.
Origami bases are essentially starting for many origami designs. For example, the blintz base can be continued into the simple origami box.
This easy base consists of only six valley folds and takes about one minute to complete.
To fold this base, you will need a single square sheet of paper—origami paper works the best and will provide you with cleaner creases. However, if you don’t have origami paper, you can also check out our guide on how to make a square sheet out of printer paper.
In this tutorial, I’ll use a dual-color 6 x 6 sheet of origami paper.
Step 1: Start white side up
Start by flipping your paper over so that the white side is facing up and the colored side is facing down. If you are using a single-colored piece of paper, you can skip this step.
Step 2: Fold the paper in half vertically, then unfold
Begin by folding the paper in half vertically—bringing the left edge over to the right. Crease well and unfold.
Step 3: Fold the paper in half horizontally, then unfold
Next, fold the paper in half horizontally—bringing the bottom edge up to the top edge. Crease well and unfold.
Step 4: Fold all four corners to the center
To finish the blintz base, fold all four corners to the center of the paper. Use the creases made by your horizontal and vertical folds as guides.
Flatten everything down, and there you have it, the traditional origami blintz base! Pretty easy, right?
The Blintz Base: Continued Folding
You now know how to fold the blintz base and have an excellent starting point for many other origami designs. But what origami creation should you fold this base into?
Below is our collection of origami guides that can be created using this particular base.
You can click the images below to visit each step-by-step guide!
Easy Origami Box
There are few origami designs as useful as the origami box. You can use these little boxes as personal storage or as a container to hold a gift—such as another cool origami design! Check out our easy origami box guide here!
Closing Thoughts
Origami bases are a fun and easy way to memorize all your favorite folds.
If you would like to learn how to fold more origami bases, check out our beginner’s guide to origami base folds. Or, if you’re looking for some cool things to fold, check out our growing collection of origami designs here.
Happy folding!