How to Make Origami Tulips (Folding Instructions + Video)

This origami tulip is the first flower you’ll fold for the Fold a Paper Flower Garden series, and it starts simple: one square of craft paper becomes the bloom, a second becomes a stem that actually holds it upright, no glue-gun theatrics involved.

In the finished garden, tulips do the height work: fold five to seven of them for the tall back row, since their straight stems and upright shape hold up the rest of the display. Once you’ve got a batch folded, the origami lily comes next, adding bold color through the middle.

Outside the garden, a single tulip still earns its keep. Glue one to a gift box, group a few into a permanent Mother’s Day bouquet, or set a handful in a vase as a centerpiece that never needs water. The fold is beginner-friendly, and the trickiest part is a set of thin folds along the base rather than anything like the delicate twist an origami rose asks for.

Origami Tulips at a Glance

• Difficulty: Beginner
• Time: 25 to 35 minutes, including drying time for the glued stem and leaf
• Cost: Under $1 (two sheets of paper)
• Ages: 8 and up; younger folders will need help with the scissors and gluing steps
• Best for: the tall back row of a paper flower garden, Mother’s Day bouquets, gift toppers, spring decor

What You Need to Make Origami Tulips

Materials

• Square colored craft paper, 15 cm x 15 cm (6×6 inches) — one sheet becomes the whole flower, so pick real craft or origami paper rather than thin printer paper; it holds a crisp crease through all the folds ahead.
• Green craft paper, two pieces at 12 cm x 6 cm (4.75×2.25 inches) — one piece becomes the coiled stem, the other becomes the leaf, so cut both from paper that reads clearly as foliage.
• Craft glue — secures the coiled stem and holds the leaf wrapped around it; a thin white or craft glue dries clear.

Tools

• Scissors — for the single trim at the base of the flower and for cutting the green paper to size.
• A round craft stick (a chopstick, skewer, or thin dowel works too) — gives the stem paper something to coil around so it holds a round shape instead of flattening out.

Watch How to Fold an Origami Tulip with Stem

The video walks through every fold in real time, including the thin base folds in Step 6 and coiling the stem in Step 9.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Crease the Base Lines

Fold your 15 cm square paper in half vertically, crease, then unfold. Do the same horizontally, then fold corner to corner on both diagonals. When you unfold everything, you should have eight creases meeting dead center. Bring one corner in to that center point and press the fold flat.

Step 2: Bring In the Remaining Corners

Fold the other three corners in to the center the same way, so you end up with a smaller square. Fold that square in half diagonally, tucking the folded corners inside rather than out, and crease the fold firmly.

Step 3: Open One Side Into a Diamond

Keep the closed triangle folded shut along its middle crease, then open one side (either one) and press it flat. It opens into a diamond shape on that side. Work slowly here, since this step sets up the tulip’s petal structure.

Step 4: Open and Shape the Other Side

Open and flatten the other side the same way, so both sides now form matching diamonds. Fold the two open corners of the top flap in slightly, angled a little away from the middle crease rather than lined straight up with it.

Step 5: Flip and Repeat on the Back

Turn the whole piece over. Fold the corners on this side the same way you just did on the front, then flip and swap the folded flaps so the folded parts sit tucked inside instead of on the outside.

Step 6: Fold the Bottom Edge Thin

This is the fiddly part: fold thin strips along the bottom, closed edge of the shape. Finish one side first, then turn the piece and fold the same thin strips on the other side. Small, even folds here matter more than fast ones.

Step 7: Cut and Widen the Base

Snip a small piece off the very bottom, closed tip of the shape with your scissors, just enough to open a small hole. Work your fingers into that opening and widen it gradually.

Warning: a too-big cut here is hard to undo, so trim a little at a time rather than all at once.

Step 8: Open the Petals and Cut the Stem Paper

Open the folded shape out into the tulip’s petals, gently and evenly, then set it aside. Cut your two pieces of green paper to 12 cm x 6 cm if you haven’t already; one becomes the stem, the other the leaf.

Step 9: Coil the Stem Around the Stick

Take one piece of green paper and coil it around your round craft stick at a slight diagonal rather than straight across. The diagonal wrap is what keeps the finished stem round and sturdy instead of loose. Coil the whole sheet, then glue the loose end down to hold the coil in place.

Step 10: Fit the Stem Into the Flower

Snip four evenly spaced slits, about 1 cm deep, into the bottom end of the coiled stem. Spread the slit sections out slightly and add glue to their outer faces. Slide the stem up through the hole in the bottom of the tulip from the inside, then press the glued sections against the inside of the flower’s base to lock the stem in place.

Step 11: Start the Leaf

Let the glue set before you move the flower around. While it dries, curl the outer tips of the tulip’s petals outward with your fingers for a more open bloom. Take your second piece of green paper and crease it in half along its longer side.

Step 12: Fold the Leaf’s First Corners

Fold in two corners on one end of the creased strip, then fold the diagonal edges in again so they line up with the center crease.

Step 13: Finish the Leaf Shape

Fold those same diagonal edges in once more along the center crease, then fold the bottom half of the strip in half along that crease too. You’ll end up with a pointed tip at one end and a straight edge at the other; that straight edge is the bottom of the leaf.

Step 14: Attach the Leaf to the Stem

Run glue along the straight bottom edge of the leaf, then wrap it around the stem just below the flower. Hold it in place for a few seconds so the glue grabs before you let go.

Tips for Folding Origami Tulips

• Use a true square of paper and 1:2 ratio strips for the stem and leaf pieces; paper that’s even slightly off-square throws the center point off for every fold that follows.
• Make the base creases in Step 1 as sharp and accurate as you can. Every later fold builds on them, so a loose crease early on compounds into a lopsided tulip by the end.
• Keep the cut in Step 7 small. It’s much easier to widen the hole a little more than to fix one that’s already too big for the stem to fit snugly.
• Craft glue or white glue holds the stem coil and the leaf attachment better than a glue stick, and dries clear enough not to show.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make a stem for an origami paper flower?

Coil a rectangular piece of paper diagonally around a round stick or skewer, gluing the loose end down once you reach it, then slit the bottom of the coil into sections and glue those against the inside base of the flower to attach it. That’s exactly how the stem for this tulip comes together in Steps 9 and 10, and the same method works for coiling stems on other origami flowers too.

Can I make origami tulips without special origami paper?

Yes. Any paper that holds a crisp crease works, including colored printer paper or craft paper cut into a 15 cm square. Skip tissue paper, since it’s too soft to hold the folds, and skip thick cardstock, since the layers get too bulky to press flat by the later steps.

How long does it take to fold an origami tulip?

Your first tulip takes about 25 to 35 minutes from the first crease to the glue setting on the stem, most of it spent on the base folds and letting the glued joints dry. Once you’ve made a couple, the folding itself goes faster, though the glue still needs its own drying time.

What if the hole at the bottom of the flower ends up too big?

A too-wide opening leaves the stem loose instead of snug once it’s glued in. Cutting a little at a time in Step 7, and only widening the hole as much as the stick actually needs, is the easiest way to avoid it. There isn’t a good way to shrink the hole back down once it’s cut too far, so go smaller than you think at first.

How are these different from your paper tulips tutorial?

These origami tulips fold entirely from one square of paper into the flower shape itself, with a separate coiled-paper stem, no wire or curved cutting involved. The paper tulips tutorial takes a different approach, cutting individual petal shapes and wiring them onto a floral stem for a more true-to-life look. Origami tulips are quicker and need fewer supplies; paper tulips look more realistic up close.

More Origami Tutorials

• Origami Rose in Bloom, for the finishing detail flowers in the garden
• Easy Origami Lotus Flower, the beginner lotus that fills out the base
• The full origami tutorial collection
• More origami flowers and nature folds

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