Tag Archive for: DIY

DIY: Make a Puzzle Purse

Words | Holly 

How sweet is this Victorian Puzzle Purse, addressed to a loved one? These ‘puzzle purses’ originated in Japan, where they are called ‘Tato’, and were often used to keep small bits of thread, buttons, or other useful items. In Victorian times, they were often illustrated with little ornamental pictures. 

To make your own tato, or puzzle purse

1. First you’ll need to fold your puzzle, so you’ll know where to illustrate and write. Puzzle purses are essentially paper pin-wheels, which are then folded into a small square. You’ll need a square piece of paper to begin with (you can download a template at the bottom of this post).

2. Fold your square piece of paper into thirds. You can estimate this, or you may choose to mark and measure.

3. You’ll also need to fold your paper into thirds horizontally. Make sure to keep your folds crisp & as neat as you can.

4. Now we’ll need to add in some diagonal folds. Fold opposite corners of your paper to meet. 

5. Repeat for the remaining corners. Before you move to the next step, flip your paper over. 

6. Now we’re going to take the bottom corner of our paper and fold it to meet the bottom right hand corner of the top left square. Unfold your paper once you’ve made a crease.

7. We need to repeat this for all for all four corners. Your paper should have the following marks.

8. Now things get a little trickier. You need to pinch the corners of your paper in, moving the piece into a pinwheel shape. Some of your folds will come in front, while some get moved behind. Play around with your paper here and you’ll see how it all fits together. Your centre square will be covered up by the arms of the pinwheel.

9. Your paper should start to look like this! 

10. Now we will fold each of the pinwheel arms into the centre. You can begin with whichever arm you like.

11. When you get to the final arm, tuck it under the fold created by the other arms, so it doesn’t spring back up. 

12. Perfect! You should end up with a little square that looks like this. 

13. It’s time to decorate. Going layer by layer, illustrate your puzzle purse, starting with the front and unwrapping each layer as you go. Many Victorian Puzzle Purses were decorated as love letters, with snippets of poetry and promises of love. 

You might like to look at this poetry collection for inspiration (collected & illustrated by Chris Riddell in a beautiful hardcover book), or perhaps this one (online & free to all!). Or perhaps borrow from Shakespeare, with one of my favourite poems:

“Doubt thou the stars are fire,

Doubt that the sun doth move,

Doubt truth to be a liar,

But never doubt I love.”

– William Shakespeare –

Some suggestions for making mini illustrations:

Select a limited colour palette

Illustrating with a limited colour palette (try 3-4 colours), will make your illustrations appear sophisticated and easy on the eye. You can learn a little more about colour theory through here! 

Decide on a theme

Find a theme to tie all of your illustration pieces together – perhaps hearts & flowers, animals, autumn, carnival, camping, or something entirely different! 

Combine detailed & non-detailed elements

To create a sense of balance in your illustrations, combine detailed elements with non-detailed ones. Looking at the historical puzzle purse, the illustrator has combined a large heart painted in a single colour, ringed by smaller & more detailed flowers. Working in this way gives the eye places to rest and places to peer closer, which makes your illustrations feel easy to look and beautiful. 

I’d love to see your creations, so please do share!