THE FRAGRANT FLOWER: 2

I am still experimenting with the No-Glue Fragrant Flower.

I decided to try a different approach to the stamens so that the leaf connector would not interfere with the slotting of the stamen into the petal. This meant shortening the stamen. This was rather a headache. Here is the CP for my first attempt.



The shortened stamen still interfered with the leaf connector but this proved easy to fix. I simply folded the tip of the diamond shaped cup inside. This left a triangular cup for the petal to sit in. Part of the sides fitted neatly under the edges of the stamen, locking it in place. It helps to use a hair pin to keep the back wall against the back wall of the petal during the construction stage.



My solution to the stamen problem resulted in a piece which poked out further than one of the contour folds on the petal so these folds were deleted.



All the pieces looked good and seemed to work well. It was not until I connected the final piece that I discovered that there was a problem. Here is what I got.



Well, it worked and it looks good, but it's not very practical for use as a kusudama unit because it is too floppy and the petals are too far apart. Nor will it work with a LED in its center. In fact, the center was just too floppy for just about anything. It might work well when used as a decoration around a tall pentagonal cylinder. I may try this idea out sometime in the future. It could turn out to be an elegant vase or just a daffodil facsimile.

So I reorganized my fingers and started again. The final solution to the stamen problem didn't change much in the way of creases, most of which are simply redirected. Folding the last part is, however, a bit of a challenge.

The last piece has to be persuaded to sit over the top of its counterpart in order to form the little cup on top. It is difficult because of the fact that the sections which have been folded over to close off the gap at the back pull this section in the opposite direction until the unit is closed. And the unit cannot be closed entirely until this piece has been eased over the top of them. It requires a little patience. Tweezers help.

Perhaps I will find a more sophisticated way of folding this part after I have struggled with a few more of them.


The result, when it is finally achieved, looks good and functions well.