There are so many ways you can use this wonderful origami fold!

You can create a special embellishment to glue onto an art journal with a 'hidden message', like this book cover...

Cover of my "Office Art Book" created in 2010

Here is a variation of this art book cover embellishment made as a sweet and simple homemade greeting card...

I used a circle shape for this little greeting card, folded in the same way as the square squash fold.

You can glue it as a 'hidden message' into a page of your art journal like this...

Detail of 'hidden element' - full page of art journal - inner workings of the hidden 'message' in the art journal

This is another example using a coloring page where I record a daily gratitude, with coloring, in one of my art journals like this...

This is a coloring page I designed that I call "Gratitude Pie" which provides a daily slice for coloring and writing down something you are grateful for

You can find my "Gratitude Pie" coloring page in my Etsy shop - it's a wonderful way to practice creativity AND gratitude at the same time!

You will just need to cut off the excess paper to make a proper square for making the fold.

Here is an example of the folded circle shape, used for an art journal focal point and 'pop-up' element...

This is a fun way to add some excitement to your art journal!

This is an example of the Squash fold used to create a fully opening accordion-style book...

Squash Fold Accordion Book with doodle art illustration

This book contains 5 'pages' glued together. This is a small portion of the book as it opens to measure a little more than 27" in length. You could add more pages to make a longer opening book!

There are other ways to use this Squash fold to make books - check out the links below...

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Here is more visual inspiration you can find online...

This wonderful book created by book artist Kit Davey is made using the folded circle, glued back-to-back, which gives it a 'slinky' toy effect: 1/4 Circle Book Video

Book artist Marina van Gulik plays with this fold in TWO ways!

Here is a square squash fold book she made using vintage book pages

Here, she takes the circle shape one step further by cutting it into a heart! A fun idea for Valentine's Day!

Here is an example of one of my early Squash fold books, made for the monthly Are You Book Enough book art challenge. The theme was The Four Elements - I had fun putting this book together!

The possibilities for playing with this Squash fold technique are endless, so let your Creative Instincts lead the way!