Self Closing Boxes & Tato

This page is about self closing boxes and traditional “tatos”. Tatos are of Japanese origin: they are flat, decorative packets used to store small items such as buttons, thread, and needles. Interesting similar paper constructions are made in Germany (called “Patenbriefs”) and you can find evidence of them in the form of Victorian Puzzle Purses. Instructions to make origami containers are divided into 3 sections:

Self Closing Boxes

• Bodleian Box (Melisande)
• Box (MV Anglada)
• Closed Pentagon Box (Melisande)
• Cubic Box (Gerardo)
• Double Compartment Box (D Brill)
• Dibs Box (Chapman-Bell)
  Double Layer Box: pg 1 , 2 (J Caboblanco)
• 4-Leaf Tato Box (Melisande)
  Geneve Tato Box: pg 1, 2 (Melisande)
• Gift Box (R Glynn)
• Hexagonal Twist Box (David_paperfold)
• Iso-area Rect. Solid (T May)
  Jasper’s box: 1, 2, 3 (Jasper)
• $Origami Boxes (J Beebe)
• Rose Candy Box (leidygra)
• StarPuff Box (I Garibi)
  Temate Baku: 1, 2 (van Gelder)
• Triangular Gift Box: page 1 , 2 (A Tubis)
• Twist Top (Flower) Box (C Giusto)

Crease Patterns for Self Closing Boxes:

• Compase Rose Box (Chapman-Bell) photo
• Guiness Box (Chapman-Bell) photo
• Movie Reel Box (Chapman-Bell) photo
• Octogonal Tato Box (Melisande)
• One Piece Twist Box (AnC Christensen)
• Petal Box & variation (Ekiguchi/Jaramillo)
• Tato Box of NY (Chapman-Bell) photo

Tatos & Envelope-like Packets

• 2×2 Envelope (Gerardo)
• Butterfly Tato (M Brina)
• Classic Tatos (origaminojikan.com)
• Claudine’s Ur Tato (Chapman-Bell)
• ^*Flower Tato Blossom: 1, 2 (GM Gross)
  ^*Flower Tato Star: 1 (GM Gross)
  ^*Pinwheel Tato: 1, 2, 3 (GM Gross)
  ^*Pleated Triangle: 1, 2 (GM Gross)
• Oozeq Triangle Tato (W Zicker)
• Pumpkin Tato (M Brina)
• Spiral Data Tato (Chapman-Bell)
  ^**Tato: pg 1, 2, 3, 4 (D Mitchell)
• Trio of Tatos (T May)
• Victorian Puzzle Purse (ORC)
  [From ^*MiniGami by Gay Merrill Gross;
  and ^**Complete Origami by David Mitchell; posted with permission.]