kusudama: new floral kusudama (ii)

Happy new year! I sincerely hope everyone has had a merry Christmas and entered the new year joyfully!
After a long delay of posts I welcome new year with a remake! I’ll try post the other new stuff as soon as possible. Have in mind that I am entering exams time (that lovely time of the year…) and therefore will be busy with studying, going to the last classes of the semester and praying for the teachers to have mercy on us, poor students who once upon a time had severely injured our heads and decided to be architects… I’ll be also meditating to calm myself down so you get the idea, right? The good news: after exams, in February, I’ll have two free weeks :D well not entirelly free but since I don’t have classes I can do origami :D I have 10 things I want to fold. Most are kusudamas but there are also animals. I’m going to try and do a pig and a rat as tributes for the old and new year. We are leaving the year of the pig/ boar and entering the year of the rat according to the chinese calendar; the japanese are already there and the koreans, well I don’t know about the koreans… Feel free to enlighten me, but not in korean please! Do korean people “use” the chinese calendar? I only know that instead of the year of the rabbit/ hare they have the year of the cat…

Another remake of a previously showed kusudama. This time I used 7.5×7.5cm/ 3″ double faced chiyogami. Very cute paper. I just love japanese paper, really, it’s just gorgeous… Once again the picture does no justice to the paper.

There isn’t much to say about this kusudama that I haven’t mentioned previously except that I recently knew there’s a variation of it. Hunting season has opened again: I’m gonna hunt that diagram down! :D
Hopefully that two weeks in February will stretch. A lot!

origami: santa claus

Christmas is almost here. I already have my Santa :) and you? This is a diagram by 小松英夫/ KOMATSU Hideo. It’s simple. So simple, in fact that my first Santa was folded from a CP! My first CP, too… The front totally resembled the original but the back… I couldn’t find an image of the back so I didn’t turn out so fine… Actually my folds were about 90% accurate what I consider very good for a first try :) Anyway, it’s a simple Santa, especially when you have the folding sequence to follow :)

This is for the ones who got the CP on the net and didn’t find enough photos to understand how was the Santa’s back. It’s my smallest Santa and utterly cute, too :) This was made from 7.5×7.5cm/ 3.9″ and is 5cm/ 2″ tall.

The bigger redish one came from a 15×15cm/ 5.9″ square sheet and the green from 10×10cm/ 3.9″ sheet. They end up with a height of 9.5cm/ 3.7″ and 6.5cm/ 2.6″ respectively. Use paper that’s white on one side and has colour on the other. The bigger Santa is made by paper that is red on the corners and white in the centre. I also made one green since it was Santa’s costume colour before Coca-cola decided to revamp Santa’s closet a little… ;) But a red Santa is definitively more appealing. This is diagrammed, step by step so don’t be afraid, on 折紙探偵団MAGAZINE 通巻100号/ Origami Tanteidan Magazine 100.

kusudama: butterfly

This kusudama is named “Butterfly Kusudama” in YAMAGUCHI Makoto’s book Kusudama Ball Origami and in FUSE Tomoko’s book, 最新 くす玉折り紙 教室/ latest kusudama origami classroom, it is refered to as 花のくす玉/ flower kusudama and is marked as a traditional kusudama.

No matter how this kusudama is known it still has 60 units. As most flower kusudamas it has 12 flowers of 5 petals each (the same as Morning Dew, for example). This kusudama shows it’s true colours when folded in a somehow stiffer/ heavier paper; for units of 7×7cm/ 2.8″ a paper or 60grams per square meter is not advised; in my opinion even a 80grams paper isn’t! I used a 100grams paper. I want to fold it again with 5×5cm/ 2″ and I’ll use regular paper to see how it works… Just a note about the paper: it’s a blueish white with “dots” and really small bits of other papers in it.

kusudama: morning dew (i)

This is my very first Morning Dew kusudama! The diagram is in a book by YAMAGUCHI Makoto/ 山口真 named Kusudama Ball Origami. I believe this is a traditional diagram.

This one is actually quite bad looking. I mean the paper is nice and all but I assembled hurriedly and it shows. The photo doesn’t help at all, too. I mean all three photos of this kusudama are somehow blurred! I would take another photo but the kusudama isn’t with me any more so this will do to show you this model… And to tell that things don’t always turns pretty/ ok!
I am already searching for the paper for the second version of this one, so stay tunned! There’s more origami on the way here, too… :D

kusudama: mosaic box (ii)

First of all: I’m sorry for the long delay. Actually after I got my net connection back I had such an overload of work and things to do that I’ve been quite absent from the blog :( but now I am back and fear not I did origami/ kusudamas! The red sakuradama has been finished, see the post before this one, these are also finished and I started four other kusudamas: two are finished and two are almost finished. I also have origami, other than kusudamas, in line for appearing here! Let’s see what shows up first :D
Most of the comments are now answered! Yay! Now, onto more kusudamas!
These are photos of my second version of Mosaic Box/ モザイクボックス! Go get it at The Kusudama! I’ve made a post about it before: here (in January).

Here are those same kusudamas on the look who’s still alive post but finished up with beads and tassel. I think I could have chosen better looking beads but I only had these with me. I have to buy a new stock of beads for my kusudamas and dye for the tassels… Oh, and my paper is almost gone too… I need to shop for a lot of things to make my kusudamas prettier :)

Some technical info: made with 6 square sheets of 15cm/ 5.9″ the kusudama has a 7.5cm/ 3″ diameter. The “new” thing about this kusudama is the paper I used, as I mentioned earlier, I used origami paper, double faced patterned origami paper. Isn’t cute? One is stamped/ printed with traditional geometrical patterns on one side and a somehow traditional “drawings” on the other; the other has flowers on both sides, one being colourful and the other face in a more “one-colour-version” print. I also added a tassel and two beads on one and one bead on another… If I hadn’t used beads the tassel wouldn’t stay in place…
If you’re new in the kusudama world you might try this one out! It’s very simple to fold and since it has only 6 units it’s also very simple and fast to join together :)
Yes, I tend to say that the kusudamas are simple and fun to do, but they are! And this one is one of the simplest! Really! Go try to do one ;)

kusudama: cherry blossom ball (ii)

My newest version of てまり桜 by 布施知子 (see this post for more info). I hope this calms the visitors down ;) I’m back on track with this red kusudama!

It isn’t quite totally to my liking yet but it’s quickly approaching :) This cute kusudama was made with 7×7cm/ 2.8″ red kraft paper and has a diameter of 8cm/ 3.1″; as I expected it’s so much cuter in red! The next one will be with some floral pattern… Or perhaps with a simple traditional pattern… What do you think will be the best?

look who’s still alive…

After some (long?) time without news/origami here I am! I folded only some boxes and two simple kusudamas… I spent some time with my parents (without net!) and I had one more exame, one than I wasn’t expecting but it’s done and the I know I passed it so… happy me! :)

The boxes are from 山口真 / YAMAGUCHI Makoto and the kusudamas are モザイクボックス by TSUGAMA Mio. I wanted to do some other colour versions since I tried the diagram the first time :)

Oh, I’ll be without net for some more days but I have read the comments that some of you left and next week (by one way or another) I’ll have my internet back so I’ll answer, give you some more origami goodies, etc, etc! Untill then, be good! Or not… ;P

An apology…

My sincere apologies to Fátima Granadeiro: the butterfly she has done is not a variation of YOSHIZAWA Akira’s butterfly! It simply turned out to be a butterfly similar to the one by Y. Akira… She has just made me notice this; actually she has mentioned this in the “Amigos do Origami” (origami friends) meeting but I totally forgot about it. I have just edited the title in the pdf file to reflect that. If you got the first one please replace it by this butterfly diagram! I have replaced all the links in the blog, too…

origami: Y. Akira’s butterfly variation by Fátima Granadeiro

Fátima Granadeiro is a portuguese origamist; she was of the first in Portugal and has done much to this art through the years here! Actually she was recently awarded by the japanese ambassador in Portugal :)

She has done, among other models, a variation of (吉澤章) YOSHIZAWA Akira’s butterfly. In the last meeting of “Amigos do Origami” (translated as origami friends) she has explained how to do it. After 2 days, however, I had some trouble recollecting how it was done… I had to make two butterflies to make a “decent” one. So, I decided to make a diagram and since I’ve done i might as well share it…
Here it is the nice butterfly. Hope you enjoy :) This butterfly is folded better with double faced paper: be it two different colours, two different patterns or such… With the same coulour on both sides the butterfly won’t shine that much. This wasn’t supposed to be in the origami goodies but since I’ve gone to the trouble, not that much actually, of making it… The format is for viewing only! Unless you have a plotter, that is… And since I’m repeating myself I’ll just shut up… ;)

Oh, somewhat important note: at step 17 if don’t crease well the butterfly will be with a more rounded and 3D shape. Since I barely used text in the diagram, any doubts refer to Yoshizawa’s butterfly: they are very alike! Any more doubts? Ask me!

PS: As soon as I get my pc running without errors and with some decent programs I’ll “upgrade” this pdf file… If you saw the original file, it is so much more prettier than this one :(

PS2: contrary to what I’ve posted before I have now decided to post the origami goodies/ diagrams not at once. Since I am quite busy, and slow too, I believe this is for the best. Now, go try to fold these diagrams! After that say something :) I will love to see your origami! :D

edit: this butterfly isn’t, after all, a butterfly variation of Y. Akira; it wasn’t created with that purpose in mind, it just turned out like that… Refer to the apology post for more details…

kusudamas, and more, on the way here! :)

I had been super busy with school work and well, life in general… However I got the time to “test” two new kududamas :) They are both by 布施知子 /FUSE Tomoko and they are so beautiful! Well, enough of me… Check the kusudamas!

I also learnt a cute butterfly (variation of 吉澤章 /YOSHIZAWA Akira’s butterfly) and a star kusudama that isn’t in the photos, the batteries for the camera are dead…
In another completely different subject: folding with lots of people is the best! If you like origami and live near some kind of “origami meeting” test it out: it’s great :) weather you are a beginner or a seasoned expert it’s worth a try…
Oh, rest assured I did not forget my promise of origami goodies! I am just being the usual slow poke that I am… Actually a tiny part of the new contents are ready but I plan on sharing when I have a bit more… Next week? Yes, I hope so!