THE ACCORDION FOLD Have you ever watched an accordion player The musician stretches and squeezes the accordion's middle section to push and pull air through the instrument This middle section is usually made of paper The paper is folded in a way that allows the instrument to expand and contract The accordion fold is a method of folding paper to look like an accordion This method uses alternating folds to create multiple sections of the same size When you accordion fold a sheet of paper the sheet can contract and expand like an accordion
The accordion fold is sometimes called a concertina fold A concertina is an instrument similar to an accordion Other names for the accordion fold include fan fold zigzag fold and Z fold The name Z fold is an especially helpful illustration of this fold Folding a sheet of paper to look like the letter Z is the most basic accordion fold This fold is the foundation of a lot of cool paper art
MATERIALS Using the accordion fold method you can make rosettes fans pinwheels and more All you need is paper cutting tools adhesives and some decorating supplies PAPER Most of the projects in this book use regular colored paper Unless a project calls for a specific type of colored paper you can use whatever you have on hand This includes printer paper construction paper card stock and scrapbook paper You can also make cool accordion fold art out of magazine pages newspapers and other papers you would recycle CUTTING TOOLS There are paper trimmers that help make straight cuts You can buy them at craft stores However you also can use scissors
ADHESIVES Glue sticks work well for paper projects They are easy to use and the glue dries quickly and is strong enough for most paper You might want to use a stronger adhesive such as hot glue with heavy paper DECORATIONS Some of the projects in this book also call for decorative craft materials These include googly eyes chenille stems and ribbon or string You'll also need markers crayons or colored pencils for drawing
