A Coloring Page You Give Away
Rave culture already has a handmade gift ritual. You make kandi, you find someone, you trade it. This page is the paper version of that: color it, cut out the square, fold it into a heart, and hand it to somebody.
It is the L in PLUR, which is where the name comes from. It is free, there is no email signup, and you can print it as many times as you want.
What Is on the Two Pages
Page one is the part you color: diagonal rows of kandi cube beads, stamped with smiley faces, hearts and peace signs, with a big PLUR heart sitting on top of them. It is a kandi cuff laid out flat, which is a lot of small satisfying shapes to fill in. A dashed line shows you where to cut, and a solid black corner tells you which way up to turn the square before you start folding.
Page two is the fold diagram, drawn properly, with a legend for valley folds, mountain folds and creases you have already made. Six steps.
How to Print It
The art is square, 8.5 by 8.5 inches, which is the trim size of the book it comes from. That is deliberate: a square page gives you an origami square with nothing to trim off first.
- Paper size: US Letter. The square sits inside it with space to spare.
- Scale: actual size, or 100%. If your printer clips the dashed cut line at the edges, switch to fit to printable area instead.
- Sides: single sided. The back of the art needs to stay blank, because the fold puts the white side face up while you work.
- Paper weight: standard printer paper folds best, and the folds are the point. If you want to use alcohol markers without bleed, go up to a light cardstock rather than a thick one, and expect stiffer creases.
- Color: black and white is all you need. It is pure black line work on white, no grey and no shading.
How to Fold It
The diagram on page two is the real instruction, but here are the steps in words as well, for when the printout is not in front of you.
- Color the page, then cut along the dashed line so you have a square. Turn the square so the marked corner is at the top.
- Colored side down. Crease the square both ways, then open it out flat again.
- Fold the top point down to the middle.
- Fold the bottom point up to that new edge.
- Fold both bottom sides in to the middle line.
- Round the two top corners by folding them behind, if you want to.
- Turn it over. That side is the one you colored, and it is the front of the heart.
Do not aim for perfect. A slightly wonky handmade heart reads as handmade, which is the entire point of giving one to someone.
What to Do With It
Print a stack before an event and hand them out. Write a name on the back. Leave one somewhere for a stranger. Fold them with friends in a hotel room the night before, which is genuinely a better pre-game than it sounds.
The link below is an affiliate link. I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The printable itself is free and contains no affiliate links.
If the paper version makes you want to make the real thing, kandi is beads and stretchy cord and very little else. A starter kit is cheap and one kit makes a lot of bracelets.
Beads, letter beads and elastic cord. The paper heart is the practice run; this is how you make the ones people wear home.
Check Price →Where This Page Comes From
It is a free sample from Color Me PLUR, a kawaii rave and festival coloring book built around fold-and-gift pages. Bold outlines, one big subject per page, lots of white space, single sided so the back of every illustration stays blank. It is made for markers and for people who find intricate adult coloring books more stressful than relaxing.
The fold pages are the part that makes it different. Most coloring books end at the coloring. This one has six origami projects folded into it, of which the kandi heart is the one you are getting free. The rest are a fortune teller, a butterfly, a box, a dove and a fan.
The book is in production and is not on sale yet. It is heading to Amazon. Follow @colormeplurbook if you want to know when, and this page is not going anywhere in the meantime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the kandi heart coloring page really free?
Yes. It is a two-page PDF, free to download, with no email signup and no account. Print it as many times as you like, color it, and give the folded hearts away. It is free for personal use and for handing out at events. Please do not resell it or include it in anything you sell.
What paper should I print a fold-and-gift coloring page on?
Standard printer paper folds best, and the folds are what make this page work. Heavier cardstock takes marker ink without bleeding through but gives stiffer, less crisp creases, so if you want to use alcohol markers use a light cardstock rather than a thick one. Print at actual size if your printer allows it, and switch to fit to printable area if the dashed cut line gets clipped at the edges.
What is kandi and what does PLUR mean?
Kandi is handmade beaded jewellery that ravers make and trade with each other, usually bracelets. PLUR stands for Peace, Love, Unity, Respect, and it is the phrase said during the handshake used to pass a kandi bracelet from one person to another. This page is a paper version of the same idea: something you make by hand and give to someone rather than keep.