Iris folding is a paper folding technique. It's easy to do and is used often in scrapbooking and cardmaking. Derived from patchwork, iris folding consists of placing strips of paper over each other, following a pattern, to put a design into relief. The name comes from a camera shutter (the iris) and the pattern is folded along marks drawn by hand or pre-printed. Cath explains this technique as done with a pre-printed template. All of the assembly is done on the back of the piece.