Seniors Practice Art Of Iris Folding

By Nancy K. Crevier

In a quiet back room of the Newtown Senior Center on Riverside Road, three women visit while they snip narrow strips of colored paper, carefully fold them, and adhere them to a paper pattern with transparent tape. They are practicing the art of iris folding, a craft that originated in Holland, and Sylvia Krug, Terry Curry, and Sarah Mazzuchelli are part of a larger group that meets every Thursday afternoon to create colorful designs that will become the front pieces for handmade cards.

The carefully placed strips of paper fan out from a center, or iris, of the pattern, in a manner not dissimilar to that of the eye of a camera lens. The patterns, which they get online, consist of simple shapes such as fruit, flowers, leaves, animals, tea pots, and seasonal designs. Any kind of colorful paper can be used to create the designs, said Ms Krug, as long as the paper is not too heavy in weight. “You can use craft paper, wrapping paper, origami paper, tissue paper, cut up magazines, even ribbon,” said Ms Krug.

Designs, such as the evergreen tree, have a triangular “iris” in the center of the design. Those designs require three colors of paper. Other designs, like the cowboy hat or apple, end up with a rectangular “iris” and are made up of four different colored strips of paper.

On this particular afternoon, Ms Curry was experimenting with her evergreen pattern, using only strips of paper cut from a magazine depicting a winter scene, rather than the three different colors usually selected for the pattern. She was very pleased with the result, the snow from the picture giving the tree the appearance of a snow-covered fir.

The folded paper designs are then adhered to the card fronts. After only three weeks of meeting, the group had already finished a tall pile. “It’s a fun way to spend the afternoon,” said Ms Mazzuchelli, “and very relaxing.”

All of the cards will be sold at the fall autumn bazaar, an annual fundraiser for the Senior Center.