The woven paper heart (flettet julehjerte) is a Danish Christmas tradition. We strive to integrate the entire weaving pattern into the parts of the woven heart. Making the hearts conceptually strong and contemporary. We intend mainly to upload hearts of our own invention. We do not copy but find inspiration where possible. We hope that the hearts will likewise serve as an inspiration to you.
The joined hearts and baskets are easy to make. We have designed some very simple and some in many layers of different colours requiring quite a lot of cutting out.
We also work to revive the tradition of the woven paper cone (flettet kræmmerhus). The cones are made using traditional basketry techniques combined with what we have learned from constructing paper hearts.
Then we figured out how to make a woven closed form.
And stars!
And the Balloons!
© Do not commercialize pictures or models
Lene is a chemical engineer having spend more than 30 years preparing risk analyses for hazardous chemical industries, railways and other infrastructure systems. Anna decided to become an architect and graduated in 2009.
If you want to send PaperMatrix an e-mail, this is our mailbox: papermatrix.mail@gmail.com
PaperMatrix 
Thanks for your wonderful, generous site — I find it really inspiring and pleasurable to visit. Your teddy costumes are delightful.
I’m enjoying your variations on the Danish-style woven paper hearts.
cheers
anne
i second that. wow, i love the designs of the traditional hearts with a twist! mange tak!
mvh
kristina
Your beautiful designs and amazing creativity make me feel happy to be alive.
Mange tak!
These designs take my breathe away…thank you SO much for sharing your wonderful creations!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing your creations. I’m really looking forward to trying th closed forms like the spheres and was wondering if you had thought about doing an ellipsoid. I don’t think I could just squich a sphere though. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Well, Anna did also make a pattern for an egg form. I do not think squiching will do the trick. The form must be calculated using a programme like Rhino, as Anna did the other forms. Then you get exactly what you plan. I hope I may persuade her to make one or more elipsoides too.
Thank you for sharing, I love your stars and woven hearts.
Rosario
Helt og aldeles overvældende, ikke set noget lignende, jeg er SÅ meget fan..
Pernille
Hi Lene, hi Anna, thank you for your phantastic web page. Me and my mother did several designs from you and enjoy it so much. The woven hearts are our fafourite.
Just one question: in your last post you are talking about a cutting machine. What kind of cutting machine do you have? May be this is also an option for us.
Many greetings from germany!
I am always very pleased to hear from someone finding our work useful. My cutter is a Silhouette SD, a simple non professional craft machine. It was bought last Christmas on the Internet and send to Denmark by post from Sweden. I could not find a Danish supplier and this was the only type within reach. Easy to install and mechanically it has worked fine, no problems. This Christmas Anna bought a newer model, same manufacturer. I believe this one was supplied by a German company. This machine is much like mine, but able to handle a larger paper size – and it was less expensive.
Hi Lene & Anna
Are your items for sale? I want the jar boxes!
No, Jenny. The items on this blog are not for sale. At least not if made by us. Some are very time consuming to make (like the Jar Box) and our ambition is to develop new and pretty DIY items. We are of cause very flattered that you like the Jar Box so much that you would like to buy one.
Dear Lene, you are an absolute genius! I adore the things you have made – both for the apparent simplicity and for their detailed complexity. Absolutely gorgeous. Axxx
absolutely fabulous!
Wow! Fantastisk! Elsker luftballonen!
Your designs are amazing! I’m so glad that HowAboutOrange pointed out your site. I had played with the woven Danish hearts in the past, but you and Anna have gone great leaps beyond – I’m looking forward to trying out the jar designs, as well as some of your more fanciful hearts.
I’m sorry if this has been answered already somewhere, but what kind of paper do you use? Standard office printer paper is probably too flimsy for anything but practice, but it seems possible to get a paper too stiff as well.
Thank you so much for sharing your designs! 🙂
Thank’s Chris! You will find some information on paper type and size on the ‘Joined’ page and in comments here. If you need to know more please ask. Standard office paper is actually OK, but the colours don’t last well if exposed to sun.
*sigh* I think that was the one page I didn’t read through. Thanks! 🙂
Wow I love all the 3D paper art you’ve created. So beautiful and inspirational. I can’t wait to try this out with my daughter. Fantastic job.
I found your site on Pinterest and am totally blown away. I agree with Synthia (previous comment) that your work is beautiful and inspirational. I’m visiting with family in a few weeks and we are very much divided in our political beliefs regarding the US presidential race. I’m planning to take several of your patterns and papers so that we will have something to do together that will keep our minds and fingers busy, hopefully avoiding arguments that we would very much regret. We will still be family after the election! Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing your love-filled passion.
I’m in love with your designs. Thank you for so freely sharing them! I am attempting Heart 001 right now! Gotta work my way up to the onion dome. 🙂
Hej Lene, sikke en fantastisk side, jeg er vildt imponeret. Må prøve nogle af dine flettede bokse….
Thank you so much for this and for all the work that you have done to make it available to us.
From Mexico. Congratulations¡¡¡¡ All things are beautiful, I like me stars, will try to do it. All its very nice
Hello Lene ! Could you tell us more about your cutting machine ? Thank you and have a nice summer !
My cutter is a Silhouette SD, a simple non professional craft machine… as indicated in the answer to a question above. There is really not much more to tell. Anna loaded the driver, plugged the machine in, and it started to work. It has cut hundreds of sheets. It may require some computer skills to figure out the exact process for preparing the cut files from a pdf file – different machines require different formats – but when you have learned what to do – perhaps you need to download some additional programs – then the procedure is likely to be that same all the time.
you are very generous, thank you so much!
Love Love Love your site, your art, your creativity! Thank you for sharing!!!
Det er de flotteste papirfigurer, jeg længe har set.
Tak for det. Lene
Hej PaperMatrix
Jeg er vild af beundring for jeres kreationer.
Jeg laver selv kræmmerhuse til jul og overvejer at købe en Cameo som jeres. Kan den skære glanspapir, eller trevler det eller knækker når det skal af måtten?
Tak. Jeg har ikke den store erfaring med glanspapir; det er efterhånden så vanskeligt at få fat i god kvalitet og ordentlige farver. Men jeg kan ikke huske, at der skulle være problemer. Normalt bruger jeg 80 g/m2 mat printerpapir, som fås i utallige omend mest lysere farver. Her er der kvalitetsforskelle, og det meget billige kan flosse og er ikke altid skåret helt igennem, så man må klippe lidt selv. Hvis man bruger godt (dyrt) brevpapir er der ingen problemer. Her kan man også være heldig at finde nogle mørke farver. Der er mulighed for at justere knivens tryk alt efter papirets hårdhed. Her må man prøve sig lidt frem. Trykker man for hårdt hænger papiret fast og trækkes i stykker af maskinen, når den kører. Maskinen skærer fint i metalpapir og tynd metalfolie. Kalke har jeg ikke så gode erfaringer med; det er sejt.
I first saw your delightful art on Pinterest, which led me to your site. Your designs are very beautiful! Thank you for being so generous and sharing them with the world. The onion-domed jar boxes are my favorite. I will practice with your simpler designs and work up to one of those.
That appears to be a very prudent approach. Have fun!
What beautiful artwork! I love Origami and when I saw these I was thrilled for something else 3 dimensional to do with paper. I thank you for sharing both the finished product photos and the patterns. A question though, when I try to print the patterns to attempt to make any of the artwork, it prints incomplete pages like the pattern is centered off kilter. Has anyone found this and figured out how to correct it?
I can’t wait to start making cones. What great Holiday gifts they will make!
I have not heard of this problem before. When I print the files from the blog they work fine. First open the picture/pdf from the blog and save the file to your computer. Then open the file using ‘paint’ ‘paint shop pro’, ‘illustrator’ or any other drawing software. Print (a preview). If the picture does not look OK I think it is a local problem and you have to change the size or position of the picture in the printer menu. Possibly your problem might arise because all my pictures are meant to be printed in the format A4. If your printer makes some sort of automatic scaling to other formats and proportions it might go wrong.
live in dubai and want to make the dome and balloons designs, do you think scissors will do or I have to have a cutting machine
Scissors will do very well for these items. Just take your time and cut out the patterns precisely. It is rather simple if you print the pattern directly on the paper you want to use.
Thank you for sharing these wonderful and amazing 3d models such a lovely variety
Do you by any chance have an SVG file of these please
I own a digital cutter and can obviously trace the templates you have kindly provided ……. however if the file already exists?
A little cheeky request but your work is truly gorgeous
Pandora
WordPress only supports uploading the most common types of file. Thus I provide simple vector-PDF cut files for download. You may transform them into the file type apt for your specific type and issue of cutting machine. In your case I would download and save the PDF file to my computer. Open the PDF in Inkscape or some other program that can edit vector files like CorelDraw or Adope Illustrator (Inkscape is free). Then save the file as DXF or SVG and open in Silhouette Studio or RoboMaster. Cut! It is simple and you might as well learn. It sets you free to make your own designs.
Thank you so much for the reply, I use inkscape and will be able to import the PDF into that and trace the image ready for my cutter there
REally going to enjoy attempting to follow your wonderful examples
Hej från Thailand!! So excited to find this blog!! I generally do multi-layer papercut, and always think there must be some ways to weave it. I really find this site very inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
I look forward to see what you will come up with from your side of the World. Lene
I just wanted to say how much I love your site and have been enjoying making your designs. Your a genious of paper!
Thank you, Viki!
Dear Anna and Lene.
I am so excided that I found your blog, it is so inspiring. Actually I was so excited, that I went a little over bord and instantly wrote a little post about you and your work on my blog. In oder to show some of your incredible pieces of paper art, I used some of your pictures, without asking for permission first. So well, I guess I’m asking now. 😉
You can find the article here:
https://mylittlecraftaddiction.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/geflochtene-papierherzen-und-mehr-woven-paper-hearts-and-more/
Oh, one more thing. I teach papercraft to occupational therapy students in germany and now I finally found exercises about paper weaving that aren’t boring at all.
Thank you so much.
Sincerly your,
Kerstin
Kerstin! Your use of the pictures is fine with us. We like how you present them. We also much appreciate that you introduce more German DIY’s to our work. Hope the templates will be usefull in your work and that you all will have fun!
Thank you and I’ pretty sure there will be a lot of fun. 🙂
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I love your site! its like a Christmas pressie for myself :D. Will keep my little hands occupied for umm longer than i can imagine.
I have a Silhouette SD and i love it, to copy the PDF files into it, i load up the PDF, and copy the screen, I have a laptop and press fn (holding it down) and then press prt sc and then paste it in the free paint program that came with my laptop. Save it then open in Silhouette program and trace! easy 😀
Thank you for your hard work I appreciate it very much.
Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year!
Hej Anna og Lene
Tak for dejlig meget inspiration. Jeg har netop fået min silhouette SD, og har downloaded inkscape til min Mac. Det viser sig imidlertid at den version af inkscape der er beregnet til Mac øjensynligt har en fejl, den kan ikke gemme ordentligt i dxf format. Har i hørt om nogen der har fundet en løsning på det, eller fundet et andet sharewareprodukt der kan konverterer fra Pdf til dxf på en Mac. lige nu bruger jeg min gamle windows pc, men den har mange fejl og mangler, så jeg ville foretrække at benytte min Mac.
Godt Nytår
Jeanne
I have no experience at all with a Mac. Maybe someone else reading this may help? I suggest that you Google “Mac” and “DXF”. Then you may meet other with the same type of difficulties. Lene
Hej Jeanne, i stedet for at konvertere til dxf, så kan du konvertere til svg, silhouette studio skulle også være i stand til at læse det format. Mvh. Anna
Bonjour, votre site est vraiment une merveille….Félicitation !!!! Ce ne sont que de modèles fabuleux…..Quel travail ! Pur grandeurs !!!! Merci pour tous ces beaux patrons.Extraordinaire…….. 10000 MERCI!!!! Marie
This is my new favorite site!!!! Thank you for sharing your amazing talent with the world! This is what making art is all about. I plan to tackle a good amount of your projects.
Jestem Wasza fanką od niedawna. Mam 70 lat i jestem wolontariuszką w szpitalu dziecięcym / oddział onkologii/, razem z dziećmi robiłam już łatwiejsze serduszka a obecnie pracujemy nad wycinankami. Pozdrawiam i życzę dalszych wspaniałych pomysłów.Swoją obecnością sprawiacie, że nawet w pochmurny dzień świeci słońce. Dziękuję.
Thank you. It is a big award to learn that our work is of use and puts about a bit of delight. Lene
Ola tudo bem grato
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Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Dear Anna and Lene, I am so pleased to finally come across such a wonderful site. Thank you also for your generosity in sharing your precision knowledge with the rest of us. On my own in my own simple way I have attempted and only partially achieved efforts to pake a paper Christmas Bauble, with no weaving. Unfortunately maths has never featured in my field of knowledge, so I had quite a battle. I have sprayed some light board with gold and silver aerosol spray and am itching to try your beautiful woven balls. I am just a little bit stretched for time, since my second craft job only takes place after my full time nursing job. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Regards from Louise
Thank you, Louise. Before you start weaving the sphere, do consider watching our YouTube video on woven balloons. Starting to weave a sphere is the same. Have fun. Lene
I found you via Pinterest. Beautiful designs! Thank you for sharing them: I start trying right now…
simply it was awesome . can i want to buy also
Hi Rasalika
Thank you. The blog is our hobby. We do not sell our items. We love to try out new ideas and develop more items. Lene
Thanks for your wonderful blog! Any plans for a London workshop?
Hi Susan, Sorry not at the moment, but I frequently visit London, so perhaps sometime in the new year… 🙂 -Anna
Just discovered your site. Thank you! This is such an inspiring, beautiful site. I want to share some of these projects with students of mine, once I master one. Do you have training videos available?
Joy
We have made a few. Press the link to “PaperMatrix on YouTube”. On our page HOME you find it in the upper part of the bar to the right. At YouTube you will find one video for making the hot air balloons and one for making the peakock. Lene
Thank you for your web page I have show the page to my motherinlaw (Inge) who is 87 and born in Alborg and loved the hearts that I made form your site. She said so of them remide her of the heart that her dad made when she was a kid.
Thankyou
Jeanne Jeppesen
Hej begge 2
har lige en forspørgsels om silhouette cameo
hvordan kan man finde ud af hvilken nr kniven skal stå på. jeg har taget klokken fra jerse dejlige bog men når jeg skær den i maskine går den itu hvad gør jeg forkert
på forhånd tak
Anette
Ja, det kræver jo lidt forsøg, at stille hastighed, skæredybde og tryk (tykkelse, thickness) korrekt. Hvis papiret går i stykker, så trykker du for hårdt i forhold til papirets styrke. Når jeg bruger alm. 80 g/m2 kopipapir på min maskine er min kniv på 1, hastigheden på 10, og thickness på 4. Men Annas maskine, som burde være helt mage til, kræver helt andre højere tal, for at virke. Du må prøve dig frem, og så huske at skrive ned hvad der virker til de forskellige papirkvaliteter du jævnligt bruger. Jo tykkere papir, jo højere nummer for kniv og thickness – og så lidt lavere hastighed. Lene
I did not know the tradition of the Danish woven paper hearts and ornaments. I am impressed with spherical ornaments very much.
The theatrical sets paper design reminds me of those in Japan in 17-18th century for Kabuki Plays.
This is a greate project. Thank you for being so generous!
I Love your page
Love to see vídeos for the wooden hearts
Thank you! We shall consider that. In particular the heart with the circles. Lene
Hej begge 2
vi snakke sammen på et tidspunk og I snakke om der muligvi kom et kursus her i efteråret
Er der stadig plan for det . jeg er meget interseret
hilsen Anette
Hej Anette, ja for søren, vi har planlagt workshops i efteråret, du kan se mere her:
https://papermatrix.wordpress.com/2014/09/26/fall-workshop-tour-in-denmark/
Der er fletteworkshop i København d. 15 november og Silhouette workshop søndag d. 16 november. Håber vi ses, Anna
Hej igen er det muligt at komme lidt senere på jeres kursus skal lige have fri fra arbejde .
Eller er det mulig at lave et privat kursus og hvis ja h ad vil det koste
Hilsen Anette
Du må komme, når du har mulighed for det. Vi er 2 undervisere, så det skal nok gå. Lene
Hej Lene og Anna
Mange tak for 2 gode kursus i kbh. Har lært en masse. Håber i kunne finde på at lave et flette kursus i København i foråret 2015 . Hilsen Anette
I have just discovered your site and I must say that I am so very impressed with the quality and beauty of your work! Thank you for introducing me to this type of paper craft. And thank you for sharing your patterns with those of us less talented
Hej Lene og Anna.
Jeg har lavet en del af jeres luftballoner over de sidste par år, de er fantastiske! Kan også se jeg har lagt en besked i 2012;) Nu har jeg henvist til jer i et indlæg på min blog, så det vil jeg lige dele med jer, I kan læse det her http://interiorlovin.com/luftballoner-i-alle-afskygninger/
Tak fordi I deler jeres skabeloner og for inspirationen:)
Mange hilsner Katrine
Hej Katrine
Tak for det. Jeg har “Pinnet” et af dine billeder på “PaperMatrix by You”. Lene
Thank you both so much for running this site! It’s fantastic that you spend the time to make the tutorials and patterns and give free pdfs of the patterns so that we can try to replicate your lovely creations. Keep being awesome!
I’m in love for the art of weaving paper and your site is amazing! It’s so nice of you share your work with people all around the world. You have no idea how your work has helped me to find inner peace. Thank you so much. Greetings for Brasil.
Coming late to the party…just found your website, but am enjoying it immensely! Thank you for your creativity.