





As soon as I saw the Marauders' Map unfold when I was watching the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, I whispered to my friend next to me in the darkened theatre, "I see some new paper engineering in my future for my next party invitation!" ;)







Please keep scrolling down the page to see more photos of how my map folds and read about how and why I created it, including "behind the scenes" details!







My map download is now protected by a violent curse worthy of one of Voldemort's Horcruxes because of abuse by eBay sellers violating my copyright. I provide my map free for fellow fans for NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY. Sale or distribution of this material is prohibited without my express authorization. If you violate my terms & conditions, the curse will get you. I watch eBay every day!







Now, onto the cutting & folding instructions. The folding is complex enough that you really need to pay careful attention to your creases or the drawing doesn't meet up properly for the design. If you have origami experience like me, that helps immensely, since you'll already know that quality origami is all about accuracy and precision. Even though I couldn't ever get quicker than about 5 minutes per map, cutting & folding included, I folded all 80 maps that I used for my invitations, since I wanted full quality control myself. I had worked so hard on the drawing that I wanted to be sure the final results met my high expectations! ;)







1. Print out your map on a sheet of 8.5x11" parchment paper.







2. Find the faint lines near the edge of the patio and the Honeydukes coffeetable to make gentle mountain folds (fold backwards) in approximately thirds lengthwise. Do NOT crease these folds!







3. Find the faint lengthwise lines that mark the outline of the front cover image and cut only to where you just folded. You will notice that on this cut line, the design doesn't match anywhere until after it's folded into the final pattern.







4. Find the faint lines that mark the inner edges of where the front covers meet in the middle. You will see that the design changes at the same line. Make mountain folds on those lines.







5. Bring the last two mountain folds together to meet in the middle. Carefully adjust the middle until the design meets, then press down to finger-crease the outer edge folds. Don't worry about a crisp crease yet, since you still might have a final adjustment at the end.







6. Turn over and you'll see your top flap edges hang over the folds from the back view.







7. Trim the front cover flaps either now, or you can wait until after the final folding.







8. Turn back over so you see the drawing again. Unfold the front cover you just folded so it is out of the way. Use the cross-marks where the inner ends of the cuts are to fold the top and bottom strips across in valley folds as shown. Your original gentle mountain folds should meet up with the side folds of the front cover. Adjust a little if necessary, since sometimes the cuts can end in slightly different places.







9. Find the faint lines and design edges for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry lettering on the edges of the horizontal flaps. Mountain fold all four ends as shown.







10. This step is a bit tricky. Take the pair of end flaps from one side that match together, i.e. "Hogwarts School." Pull the flaps around so that the folded edges meet and the lettering matches up, then gently smash down so you end up with the angled folds, taking care that you don't stress the corners so much that they rip. This will require some adjusting of the angles and the edge where the front cover will fold over this section. Your priority is that the lettering matches up with the front cover still able to fold over everything, since you can trim the other edges for a clean look. Repeat this with the other side lettering so all your lettering meets in the middle now.







11. Due to the paper printable area, you have overlap at the middle, so make a cut through all the flaps as shown to trim the overlap, but be careful you do NOT cut through too many layers. You do want to cut through the angled folds, but you want to be careful not to go through the other side, so it's easiest to cut from the outside in for each side. Depending on your cuts (and how much you care!), you might want to open the map back up and trim all the way across to have a clean final exterior edge when unfolded. Yes, I painstakingly trimmed all my maps because I'm that picky. ;) It helps the map stay flat to use a folding bone on the school lettering layer before folding the whole map.







12. Carefully fold everything together, making sure that you haven't caught anything misfolded inside. Holding the front cover together to be sure the design meets properly, then use a folding bone to make crisp folds and to help keep the map flat.







Voila! My own Marauders' Map!



