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.

It’s been a long time since I posted any update on my origami blog. I have been busy with things at home and have been unable to devote time to folding. There are a couple of half – finished models lying about at home, too, which I am hoping I will get around to finishing shortly.

I have also ordered a few large sized tissue foil paper and a special washi paper from Nicolas Terry’s shop. I am yet to decide what to fold out of these. These are few books and diagrams I thought of sharing with you all this week.

Shuzo Fujimoto’s book on tessellations – Tesselations Hortensia Origami – was released in 2010 and can now be bought from Origami-shop.com. This book contains diagrams to 29 models , is a soft cover book having 96 color pages and is in the Japanese language. However, the diagrams are quite clear and one should be able to follow to the steps irrespective of the language gap.

Diagrams to the Clover, Hydrangea and many more are included in this book; you can check out a preview on the origami-shop.com website. Designs with color changes also exist in this book. I have only just ordered this book myself, so I am yet to find out more about the designs in it.

Origami Flowers Patterns – is a new book by Tomoko Fuse which contains diagrams to 41 models and is also in the Japanese language. You can see a preview of the book on Nicolas Terry’s site, too. The rosettes are really pretty and can be folded from kami or other kinds of paper of your choice. Each of the models are folded from a single piece to paper, too.

If you are a fan of her work and have been folding her much loved modular origami pieces, I’m sure you will like to have this book for your library, too. The rosettes look really pretty when folded, especially when you choose delicate and the right kind of paper to fold.

Joshua Gautam, who you would know from his cute designs on his Flickr album, has finally released his book – Works of Joshua Goutam Vol. 1 – which is also being sold through Nicolas Terry’s shop.A good thing about this book is that its a ebook, which allows you to download soon after your payment is made. The book has diagrams to 11 models in it and is in the PDF format. Instructions and steps are in the English language, too.

Valentine’s Special – Kissing cranes heart picture frame – is a good design for upcoming valentine’s day tradition. This is a lower intermediate model and the link to the diagram is in the post I’ve linked to here.

The Fold – Second edition of the Online Origami Magazine by OrigamiUSA has been released. This edition contains diagrams to Fernando Gilgado’s Owl, Artur Biernacki’s Koala, commentary on folding and installing a Triceratops Skeleton by Jason Ku, going about requesting permission to record an instructional video by none other than Sara Adams, a book review on Quentin Trollip’s Origami sequence by me and much more.

Creased magazine for Paper folders – is a new bi-monthly publication that features never before published original Origami diagrams from creators all over the world. Creased is available in both print and digital versions – as per the website. It would cover models from simple, intermediate to complex and the first issue would be launched on the 1st of February 2011. Do check out the website for subscription details, rates and other information.

Spiral Star (Design by Tomoko Fuse)

Spiral Star (Design by Tomoko Fuse)

This is a design from Tomoko Fuse’s book – Shells and Spirals 3 – which is available in Japanese language. The technique used in this model is same as that of Tomoko Fuse’s Spiral design and is pretty easy to fold, too.

What you need:

3 square sheets of origami paper, wrapping paper or any other paper of your choice. It does not matter what kind of paper you use to fold this model, because the folds are pretty simple and repetitive. However, it would be beneficial not to use card paper or very thick paper for this as it would become difficult to fold the repetitive folds towards the end.

You would also need a paper cutter or a craft scissor for this model. Don’t worry, there is no ‘cutting’ involved during the folding process. However, each of the sheets you have selected to fold this model, requires that they be cut into half diagonally.

How to fold this model:

I have recorded an instructional video on this model and am hoping that you will find it easy to follow. 5 pre-creased units are required to fold this model; and it requires that the placement of the units are done carefully when starting to fold them together to form the star.

Have a good week ahead!

Nautilus (Design by Tomoko Fuse)

It’s Spring time here or towards the end of it, rather, and this got me thinking about beaches and sunny days. So I got this idea into my head that I should be folding something from the sun kissed shores of home…

These are few sea shells, the designs of which I have picked up from one of Tomoko Fuse’s book – Spirals, Shells, Boxes, Snails - which has been published in the Japanese language (that I know of).

The ‘Nautilus’ shell and the common sea shells look really pretty when completed. Most of these use the technique of ‘pleating’ to form spirals (such as the Nautilus) or the technique used in Tomoko Fuse’s ‘Espiral’ Model.

Paper to use:

You can fold these pretty shells from wrapping paper or from common origami paper which you might have. I have used square sheets of foil paper which I bought from Michaels, not long ago. This gives the shells a nice gleam I also used single side colored common origami paper for some of the shells and these came out quite nicely, too. The size of the paper (in both cases – foil and common origami paper) are at 15 cms or 6 inches. I find that this particular size is really convenient to fold most models which are not too intricate by nature.

How to Fold these shells:

Barbabellaatje has posted a good instructional video on the making of these shells. I am sure you will find it easy to follow, too. You can also find the diagrams to these models in Tomoko Fuse’s book – Spirals, Shells, Boxes, Snails .

To fold Tomoko Fuse’s Nautilus, you can use the following video as a guide:

Butterfly on a leaf (Design by Tomoko Fuse)

This is a pretty design I found in one of Tomoko Fuse’s books – Shells and Spirals 3. It is folded from a single piece of paper, single side colored and depicts a small butterfly siting atop a round leaf.

The size of the paper is 15 cm or 6 inches, square shaped. I think this is the ideal minimum size of paper which you can start folding this model from. Anything smaller will make it difficult and untidy. You can also try folding this model from common wrapping paper or any other paper of your choice as long as it is no stiff or too thick to fold.

One thing you need to be careful about, though, is the direction of the creases you make at the beginning. If the direction changes in your attempt at pre-creasing, it will create problems at the time of collapsing the model at the end. I have also curved the wingtips of the butterfly for added effect, as you can see in the image above.