HEART FLOWER 2 -- KUSUDAMA

Here is a cubic kusudama folded from the heart flower variation.

There are some pluses and some minuses. The flower petals are longer and wider. This hides the connecting pieces quite well. On the other hand, this is a difficult model to put together. At first the connections between flowers were folded into pockets on the back/inside of the model. This became more problematic as the model neared completion. The last five folds were folded from and into pockets on the front.

A VARIATION ON THE HEART FLOWER

Here is a variation on the heart flower. In this model the heart shape is formed on the corners instead of the center sides.

Once again, the differently colored sections provide information about the size of the five paper additions to the basic flower unit. There position on the crease pattern are an approximation of their final place in the flower unit. Once again, the side additions connect the flowers together without glue but this time they are folded slightly differently from those used for the other heart flower. (See the photos in the following posting.)




By the way, many of my creations appear on my Flicker Photostream before they make it into my blog. If you are curious about what is in my origami pipeline you can look there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46625176@N00/
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THE HEART FLOWER KUSUDAMA

Recently, a reader requested information about one of my origami lanterns which she hoped to fold for her upcoming wedding. Unfortunately the item has not been diagrammed yet and the lid section is not an easy component for a near novice folder to fold or to put together.

I informed the reader that many kusudama models an be easily modified to become lanterns and I referred her to a kusudama of Russian origin which featured heart shapes, a theme which seemed appropriate for a wedding.

Contrary to the conventional rules of origami, that model required that the folder make cuts in the paper. I guess this cross between Kirigami (the art of paper cutting) and Origami (the art of paper folding)could be referred to as Kirorigami.

I found myself wondering if the model could be modified so that it was not necessary to make cuts in the paper. So I experimented.

I came up with the following model. It has a number of features which differentiate if from the Russian original, including the fact that it incorporates several pieces into each flower unit and that these units can be connected without glue.

The CP is included for those who can follow such things. The differently colored squares are the same size as the additional pieces required, and in approximately the same position from which they will be folded into the model. The center piece is not folded and simply sliped into the center of the flower. The corner pieces connect the flowers together. One of the photos shows how this is folded. A folded corner is folded together with a corner of the flower. This is held firmly in position when the sides of the heart shape are folded over at the back.