Category Archives: Flora & insects

Rose (Design by Evi Binzinger)

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Rose (Design by Evi Binzinger)

Rose (Design by Evi Binzinger)

This is a design diagrammed and shared by Evi Binzinger on Flickr. This design is a lot easier than other Rose designs out there, but there is effort required to get the curves for the petals especially – as with all origami floral designs which emphasize on the beauty and bloom of the flower.

I found this design quite easy to fold and shape – the folding sequence is easy to follow and the instructions are very clear. You can combine this design with a design for leaves by other origami designers to get a prettier look, too.

Paper to use:
The designer suggests the use of foiled paper, wet folded paper and duo colored paper for folding this model. I used 15cm sized square sheet of duo colored tant paper which I purchased from a quaint little Japanese shop in Little Tokyo, LA, a few weeks ago.

How to fold this pretty rose:
The designer – Evi Binzinger – has taken the trouble of diagramming the folding sequence for this design and has also generously shared them on Flickr.

 

Have a great week ahead!

Origami Lotus (Traditional)

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Origami Lotus (Traditional)

Origami Lotus (Traditional)

Browsing the net for folding ideas and instructional videos, I came across this pretty Lotus which is a ‘traditional’ design. It is a very model to fold and takes about 10 to 15 minutes in all.

You need 4 square sheets of Origami paper – Kami or any other paper of your choice. You will use these to fold the petals for the lotus. You then have to fold each of the sheets into half and cut. Cutting 4 sheets into half gives you 8 rectangular pieces which you then proceed to fold as per the instructions in the video below.

For the leaves, you need 2 square sheets of paper (same size as the petals), which you then cut into half. So you will have 4 papers for the leaves, now.

How to fold this design:

Tadashi Mori has recorded a pretty good instructional video on folding this design and I am sure you will find it easy to follow.

Floral Perpetua (Design by Dasa Severova)

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Floral Perpetua (Design by Dasa Severova) - Backlit

Floral Perpetua (Design by Dasa Severova) - Backlit

A few weeks ago, Dasa Severova designed a very pretty Perpetua flower design; what’s more is that she also took the pains to take a series of photo diagrams of the folding sequence and share it with everyone.

This floral design is indeed very pretty and if you are at ease with squash folds, and multiple collapses of paper, you should be fine.

Paper to use:
For my rendition, I have used duo colored tant paper measuring 35 cms in size. You can choose to fold this design with Kami paper, tissue foil or any paper you like. Paper measuring a minimum of 9 – 10 inches should be used as this design has a series of folds which will become quite tough if you fold it using a small sheet of paper to begin with.

Floral Perpetua (Design by Dasa Severova)

Floral Perpetua (Design by Dasa Severova)

From the square, you will have to cut out an Octagon, which is what you will begin your folding with. When starting to fold, in case you are using single-side colored paper, remember to start with the colored side facing you / upwards.

The completed model of mine measures approximately 9 inches in size.

How to fold the Floral Perpetua:
Dasa Severova has generously shared the instructional album on Flickr. She has demonstrated 3 levels of collapsing / folding and she does mention that you can increase this number if you feel like it. Tips on variations are also provided by her in the folding sequence.

Have a great week ahead!

Origami Rosette (Design by Tomoko Fuse)

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Origami Rosette (Design by Tomoko Fuse)

Origami Rosette (Design by Tomoko Fuse)

This book – Origami Flowers Patterns – is the latest addition in my Origami Library and though I received it last week, I only got around to selecting a model to fold from this book, today.

None of the designs in the book have any special names, but this particular rosette, is one of the prettiest. I don’t think I did justice to it with the Kami paper I chose to fold it with, but nonetheless, I thought of posting it anyway.

This is my first fold of this particular model. Most of the designs in this book are intermediate requiring a lot of pre-creasing and collapsing to form the petals of the flowers. Another thing about these flowers is that all of them (except 1) are from a single sheet of paper. This book has 41 designs in all accompanied with step-by-step instructions.

Paper to use:
I think Kami paper is not a good option for these rosettes as it just doesn’t make the finished model look delicate and exquisite enough. I would try to fold my next rosette with glassine or any other thinner / delicate paper (such as tissue paper) in order to be able to back-light the model at the end, too.

This rendition of mine was folded from an octagon cut out of a 9 inch square sheet of single side colored kami paper. The end result is a model measuring approx 4.5 inches across.

How to fold this model:
The diagrams to this model are available in Tomoko Fuse’s book – Origami Flowers Patterns. Since all of the models in this book start with a octagon, you will be able to find the instructions for cutting an Octagon out of a square sheet of paper in Sara Adams’ blog.

Carambola (Design by Carmen Sprung)

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Carambola (Design by Carmen Sprung)

Carambola (Design by Carmen Sprung)

I was in the mood of folding patterns today so after I got back from work I dug out Carmen Sprung’s Carambola, which Sara Adams so kindly shared the instructional video for.

These flowers look really pretty when completed and they are pretty easy to fold, too.

Paper to use:
You can select any paper of your choice, including wrapping paper. However, you should remember that the paper you choose should be heavy and not the tissue paper kind. This is because, the petals are formed solely on the basis of the paper you have chosen. A flimsy or thin paper will not allow you to form the petals, at all.

I have used single-side colored kami paper to fold the flowers and as you can see from the accompanying image, it does not really matter whether the paper is single-side colored or duo-colored.

Each of the flowers are from a single sheet of paper and that too, from a pentagon shaped sheet. It takes around 20 mins to fold a flower and this time includes cutting out your pentagon.

How to fold the Carambola flowers:
You have to start with the white colored side facing up. Or if you are using duo-colored paper, the color you wish your flower to be, should be facing downwards and not towards you. Sara Adams has also recorded a very good instructional video on this model. Further, she has also demonstrated how to obtain a pentagon from a square sheet of paper. Do check out the video below:

Carambola Kusudama:
If you like modular designs, you can make a floral kusudama out of your carambola flowers. Leyla Torres of Origami-Spirit fame has blogged about it and in there detailed out the process of creating the final floral kusudama. You can read it here.