CantotoMando: Red Envelope Project: Red Envelope Flower Ball 紅包花球

Do you like this "flower ball" 花球 (Cantonese: faa1 kau4, Mandarin: hua1 qiu2)? Do you want to make one?

This 花球 is made out of "red envelopes" 紅包 (Cantonese: hung4 baau1, Mandarin: hong2 bao1)

Thanks to Helen Man and Tina Lee, instructors at ALESN, I was able to learn how to make such a beautiful flower ball decoration out of Chinese red envelopes.

I have attached a link here in case you want to download the FREE PDF file that I made for this project.

Red Envelope Flower Ball

Otherwise, the online instructions are below! Enjoy!

Materials Needed:

30-pack of red envelopes

Scotch tape or a mini-stapler

Red string

Chinese-charms, keychain, or anything decorative for the bottom of your flower ball

Step 1: Making Creases/Preparation

Facing the front of the envelope, fold the envelope backwards in half from top to bottom

Step 2: Making Creases/Preparation

Open the envelope again to the original position and fold the envelope backwards with the left side of the envelope meeting the right side of the envelope.

Step 3: Making Creases/Preparation

Open the envelope again to the original position and this time fold the middle-crease at the edge with the middle crease-at the bottom. Folding the creases will create an imperfect triangle.

If you don’t want your flower ball to have any gaps, fold as close as possible to the creases. You can also use a ruler as a guide to fold the perfect crease.

Step 4: Making Creases/Preparation

Repeat Step 3 with the other corners of the envelope.

Though, it is not necessary to press hard on the crease, I find that doing so makes it easier in crafting my flower ball during the scotch taping/stapling later on.

Step 5: Making Creases/Preparation

Repeat Steps 3-4 with the other 30 envelopes

You can do it!

Step 6: Taping/Stapling the Ball

At this point, you can either use scotch tape, a mini-stapler, or any other tool that would allow you to permanently hold two pieces together in order to begin constructing the flower ball.

Personally, I enjoy using scotch tape so that the staples wouldn’t show on the ball.

Take two red envelope pieces and tape/staple the top upper corner flap together.

If you are taping, use half of piece of tape on one side of the triangle flap along the crease and then fold the other half of the tape to the other side to hold the two envelopes in place. Repeat with the other bottom side of the triangle.

If you are stapling, staple near the bottom corners of the triangle, one staple per side to hold it in place.

Step 7: Taping/Stapling the Ball

Repeat Step 6 three more times, each time connecting a new red envelope with the previous envelope.

This is the end result.

A star. The top of your ball.

5 pieces used so far.

If you find that you have a big hole in the middle of your star, try to fix it so that it is closer together. We will need to put the red string through this hole, but we don’t want it too large.

If you find that you messed up, you can always use a pair of scissors/stapler remover to undo the tape and staples and then redo the problem areas.

Step 8: Taping/Stapling the Ball

Now, it is time to add five more red envelope pieces to the star. This time, turn your new red envelope piece sideways and match up the flaps with the star. Again, tape or staple the flaps together.

This is the end result.

You will start to see that your flower ball is becoming 3-D. If you use larger red envelopes, it could be as big as a hat.

Step 9: Taping/Stapling the Ball

Put your existing flower ball aside.

Using new two red envelopes tape or staple the bottom corner together.

Step 10: Taping/Stapling the Ball

Repeat step 9 four more times to make a total of five sets.

Step 11: Adding the Red String

Now is a good time to add the red string. First, make sure your string is long enough to go through the lantern and more after your fold it in half. The length of the string is up to you, but you will need extra string to make a loop on top and to hook the charm on the bottom.

Fold your string in half.

Determine how big of a loop you want for hanging your lantern and create a knot at the bottom of your loop. I also recommend making four extra knots on top of the knot to make the knot way bigger than the hole in the middle of your flower ball. That way, the knot won’t go through the hole in the ball.

As you can see, I chose to make a big loop.

Step 12: Adding the Red String

In the underside of the ball, place a piece of tape over the knot to secure it in place.

I like to add extra pieces of scotch tape to the knot for further reinforcement. Fixing the string after the ball is already constructed would be a hassle.

Step 13: Taping/Stapling the Ball

Now is the time to add the new red envelope pieces from step 10.

Line up two side ball flaps with the bottom of the new red envelope piece. Tape or staple the flaps.

Repeat this step four more times with the other pieces from step 10 as you go around the ball.

Make sure the bottom of the red string isn’t accidentally taped or stapled in between flaps.

Step 14: Taping/Stapling the Ball

After adding the side pieces from step 10, you may have noticed that the side flaps are not taped like the example flap at the bottom of the example picture on the left.

Go ahead and tape the five side flaps.