Before I had children who think a jam sandwich is gourmet, I used to host some rather nice dinner parties. If the menu was remotely Asian I would often set a single fortune cookie tied with a piece of red ribbon or yarn, on each entree plate. Perhaps they're better served at the end as a desert, but I found them the perfect ice-breaker; everyone had something to fiddle with if they were nervous, they'd read their fortune, laugh or sigh and then agree or disagree with who had the brightest future while I finished plating the first course in the kitchen.
While pinning on pinterest I realised that fortune cookie craft is alive and well. Good. It's a fab idea. So I decided to give it a go. I did a search for a video and followed along. I'm often writing about activities to do with toddlers. This is not one of them. I found the tutorials challenging, and I like to think of myself as smart, albeit sleep deprived.
I started photographing the steps but it's almost impossible to show you the way to fold the fortune cookies shut. The basic system is; trace a circle onto paper (I used an old CD as the guide as it's the perfect size). Cut the circle out and fold it gently in half so you get a bit of a line where the middle is. Now fold it the other way, sticking a bit of double sided tape in as you do. Got that? Hmmm... as I said; a picture tells a thousand words, and moving pictures are even better for something like this.
Once I had figured it out however, I got faster at it, and decided to experiment with different materials. I used plain colours while I experimented, to save on more expensive paper and because the folds etc are more obvious when you photograph them. Of course you can use whatever textured or patterned papers you like, but I do recommend practicing on recycled paper first.
So then, the 4 materials I used were; paper (in orange), card (yellow), felt (dark red) and foam (bright red). If I had to pick my preferences, I'd say;
- The paper was my favourite; it was easy to work with and the result was fine. It was also the only one that stayed in shape for more than 24 hours.
- The foam was also great; lovely and tactile, and even resembled the edible material.
- Felt was lovely too, but if you decide to go this route, look for the felt video, as there is an additional step with a ribbon covered piece of wire to hold it closed, and as such, it's more fiddly and time consuming. I tried without the wire and it worked, but it needed more tape... perhaps a glue gun would work.
- The cardboard was tricky to work with and needed a lot of tape to hold it in place, it came close to being classified a craft-fail.
While the rest of the world celebrates Chinese New Year, I've got other holidays to craft for, so I'll be moving right along; there's Australia Day, then V-Day, and Easter not far behind... at least I'm assuming Easter's only days away since my local supermarket has been FILLED with tempting goodies for some time now.