It’s-a Me! Celebrating Mario Day with a Folded Tribute (#MAR10)
Happy Mario Day everyone!
Welcome to March 10th, the official day to celebrate all things related to Nintendo’s iconic plumber. If you are wondering why today, just look at how the date is written in many parts of the world: MAR10. It looks exactly like Mario’s name, and that clever little linguistic coincidence has become a worldwide celebration.
But who is Mario? If you’ve held a controller in the last forty years, you probably already know!
Originally known simply as “Jumpman” when he debuted in 1981, Mario (created by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto) is the undisputed king of video games and the definitive mascot of Nintendo. This Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn (who somehow keeps ending up in the Mushroom Kingdom) is defined by his blue overalls, red cap, magnificent mustache, and his endless quest to save Princess Peach from Bowser. He is courage, joy, and adventure, and he has been the star of some of the most influential games ever made.
The Fold: A Head-On Portrait
For this special MAR10 release, I wanted a design that was classic, bold, and instantly recognizable.
I chose a straight-on portrait design of Mario’s face. To execute this, I used my favorite technique: an inverted cut and fold.
Because the portrait itself is not colored (it’s done completely in monochrome), I wanted to ensure maximum contrast. To achieve this, I inserted strips of black cardstock between every single 180-degree fold. This creates deep, crisp, absolute black shadows within the cuts, making Mario’s features—especially that mustache and the iconic ‘M’ on his cap—really pop against the paper edges.
The Page Struggle
I am really pleased with the final result; the black cardstock makes a massive difference on such a iconic face. However, this book was a real challenge to fold!
The specific book I chose for this pattern had paper that was quite soft and very thin.
When paper is too thin, it doesn’t hold the tension required for standard 180-degree folds easily. If you look closely at the finished piece, you can see that the surface of the “white” sections is slightly uneven and wavy. Folding those thin pages made it incredibly difficult to get uniform lines. While it gives the final piece a unique, almost textured handmade feel, it was a battle to keep those cuts and folds precise!
Despite the struggles, Mario is sitting proudly on the shelf. If you would like to tackle this challenge yourself, the pattern is now available!
You can find the digital download for this head-on inverted pattern on my Etsy shop right here.
Have a great Mar10!
