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.
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.
Here is another kusudama which does not require glue to keep it together.
The construction uses a combination of regular pentagons and squares. Take a look at the table of pieces to see what these are.
The pentagons can be folded from a square and cut to size, or they can be drawn up on an graphic image program and printed out directly onto colored copy paper (used here) or onto plain copy paper which is then used as a template. Lay the template over decorative paper and attached with clips, magnets on each side of the paper or repositional glue. Cut out the pieces.
If you use the model as a lamp it is recommended that you use the new generation 7 watt LED globes which replace 60 -100 watt incandescent globes. At this stage of their development they are rather expensive although this will no doubt change as they become popular and production runs increase. Do not use cheaper globes as they are made to a different pattern and fail to give out much light.
True to form, I have been creating other models while struggling to finish large and time-consuming ones.
The kusudama displayed here is a good one for folding between major projects. It is really easy and quick to fold from pre-printed pentagons.
If you want to be more adventurous you can fold a pentagon from a square. Phillip Chapman Bell (known as Oschene on Flicker) has provided instructions for doing this which you will find here: http://origami.oschene.com/cp/Decagon%20SCP.pdf
My pentagons were created with the Draw program provided on Microsoft Word. I chose a pentagon shape from the shapes menu, clicked somewhere on the page to make it appear without ruining its aspect ratio, chose the "format autoshape" menu, locked the aspect ratio and then changed the size to suit. Mine has a height of five inches. I can fit two of these on a standard letter sized sheet of paper. The result is a ball of about 8 inches in diameter. I outlined the central star and filled it in. Unfortunately my laser printer only prints in black ink which results is a rather boring dark gray color.
There is a lot of room for improvement in terms of folding material. I made it from cheap and simple stuff to prove that the idea would work. I think I have succeeded there.
Making diagrammed instructions is a lot of work. Making and photographing a series of Step Folds is almost as time-consuming. So today's lazy solution is to describe the relatively easy process in words and hope that all of the excellent origamists who follow this blog will be able to figure it all out.
I wonder who will be the first to do this? My bet is on one of my many Brazilian fans. They are an enthusiastic and dedicated lot. But perhaps my French, Russian or Japanese fans might beat them to it. Now all these people have a language barrier to circumvent so by right of text the English speaking Brits, Aussies or US Americans might get there first. If we go by volume then US Americans have a distinct advantage because there as so many of them. But I am willing to be surprised.
Here is the challenge: be the first to provide a comment to this blog entry which contains a link to a photo of this model which you have folded yourself. One more thing: tell us how long it took you to fold and complete the model. Can you do it in under an hour?
Go to it, my folding friends.
The folding sequence is this:
On the "white" side, fold and unfold all points in half, extending the crease to the opposite side. Turn the paper over. On the "colored" side, refold as valley folds (and unfold) the part of the creases which extend from the center to the flat edge. Fold and unfold all points in to the center. Fold and unfold all points to the indented crease pattern on the opposite side. In other words, not quite to the other side.
That is all of the precreasing completed. Now let's finish the unit.
Turn over the tips of the five points at the ends of the extending crease lines. See the crease pattern for clarification. Reverse fold (make vally folds into mountain folds) the triangles on the five flat sides. Valley fold the side edges of these triangles to their opposite sides. That is, fold these triangles in half lengthwise. See the crease pattern for clarification. Collapse your flower. Reinforce the valley folds around the central star. Note: the inner pentagon creases are non-functional. They are marked as blue dotted lines on the Crease Pattern.
Make 12. Six coordinating colors works well.
Now for the construction.
Glue the tiny triangular points to the same points on the neighboring flower. (I used bulldog clips to help keep the tips together until the glue dried.) Work in units of three to make a twelve sided ball. That is, each "hole" has just three flowers around it. See the photos for clarification.
The Sunset kusudama has been modified. I took it apart and added a woven dodecahedron in the center. Then I threaded beads onto fishing twine and pushed the thread through the center of each flower. It looks good, but it was quite fiddly and I am not in a hurry to repeat the procedure on a different model.
Next time I make this model I will reverse the petals so that the seam runs down the middle of each petal and the connecting crease turns up in the center of the flower giving it the impression of stamens.
Here is another kusudama designed to be put together without glue. I almost achieved that goal. I resorted to a little glue on the last flower and its neighbour as the tension of the model at this stage of construction was a little too much for the joints. I also suspect that my folding had become a little sloppy by then. It was late at night and I had spent the entire day on the model.
First came the idea. Next came several prototype foldings to see if the design worked out in practice. I made a couple of modifications as the result. I tried out several slightly different patterns and finally decided on one which was almost the same as the one I started with. Next I cut up some pretty paper and started the folding process. Twelve five-petaled flowers where every petal is shared by a neighboring flower means that I had to cut and fold 30 pieces of paper.
I settled into a rhythm as I folded piece after piece. Nevertheless, it became tedious after the first dozen of them. I kept working because I wanted to see how it turned out.
Some time after midnight I finished the last two pieces. Unfortunately the last flower fell apart when I tried to slot in the final petals. Tired out and disappointed, I abandoned it and went to bed.
This morning I fiddled with the locks on the final flowers for a few minutues before deciding that the paper had lost its firmness and glue was required if I did not want to refold another five petals. Perhaps my readers will be more patient.
Here is the crease pattern for the model. The angles at the base of each petal are 60 degree (hexagon) angles. There are number of internet sites which provide graphic instructions on how to find this angle.
The hexagon angle works in this pentagonal flower because the flower is not flat. The pattern will work for a hexagonal flower as well which means it is suitable for kusadama patterns which use basketball design. The basketball polyhedron uses a mix of hexagons and pentagons.
I have been working on this model for several months now.
There were some design problems to overcome in the early stages. One of them was solved while waiting to see the eye surgeon Dr Todd Severin. His assistant, Tamie, left me in this dimly lighted man's office after dilating my eyes. Bored, I grabbed a sheet of paper from one of his notepads and worked on solving the problem of how to make the carrier case of this flower look like petals. The insight gained from this fiddling resulted in a solution which looked pleasing.
In appreciation for the use of his notepad and his office (among other things) this lilly-like flower has been named after Dr Todd Severin. I have named the ensuing kusudama ball "The T Lilly" after both Tamie who is also know quite simply as "T". Of course, the "T" title can be used to cover both of these T-beginning names.
The Severin practice is one of the most pleasant medical establishments I have ever visited. All the staff are relaxed and fun to be around. It is clear from the beginning that this is a place where miracles of vision happen on a regular basis.
There are artists in the Severin family and this shows in the decor. Sitting in the downstairs waiting room is like sitting in a comfortable lounge room in an artisan's house. I would recommend a visit to the bathroom. It is the nicest bathroom I have ever had need to visit in a doctor's office: art, flowers, dried plants pieces, wallpaper, interesting tables and decorated cupboards. It is a wonder the staff don't charge an entrance fee. The petals of the Todd Lilly are made from paper of two different tones of the same hue. The photos of the red flower do not show this well. It is easier to see in the original. The tonal difference gives depth to the flower.
The pink and red flowers are the original design. They have flower connectors which do not include "leaves".
The red flower ball was my first kusudama from this series. While I was completing it I used it as a model to teach folding enthusiasts at the July WCOG meeting in Los Angeles. You will find a record of that meeting and my mini "class" on Michael Sander's blog. http://havepaperwilltravel.blogspot.com/
Here is a link to Michael's video of that meeting. As you can see, it was a fun-filled meeting.
Michael is an amazing chap. He now posts from the future. Here is the evidence.
The second version of the Todd Lilly uses connectors with attached leaves. Here are two differently colored versions of this. The white and blue flower with copper, navy and aqua centers and teal connector leaves was made to fit the decor in the Severin Clinic. The blue petals do not contrast well with the teal petals and I am in the process of making a different, and much larger, kusudama using copper colored petals instead.
Here are the Crease Patterns for the model. For the sake of clarity I have omitted drawing the reflected creases in the center of the pattern for the central stamen. They will reproduce themselves if you fold the shown creases after blintzing the paper as shown.
A few posts back I dedicated an origami quilt to Paul Bachman, a presenter on Serius XM Pops radio. The other presenter is Vincent Caruso. Just so the two boys don't fight, I have dedicated this kusudama to Vincent.
Since the kusudama flower ball shape is cubic I have dubbed it the Caruso Cube. When I make a kusudama version of the Bachman Quilt I guess it will become the Bachman Ball. Alliteration is such fun, isn't it?
Like a number of things I have been designing lately, the Caruso Cube uses the same connection idea that I have been using for models using a carrier box method. In this case the flower itself is the "carrier". It is a little weaker than the full method but works just fine for light balls, especially when the intersecting angles are relatively sharp.
The leaves are formed by increasing the size of the basic connector piece so that there is enough paper to form leaflets at the ends. These form a pleasing triple leaf arrangement at the intersection points of the flowers.
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The flowers are a variant of the classic twist fold.
The stamens begin life as a variant of the classic frog base.
The blue flower is my first model I made in this series. The stamens in this model are relatively short, something which required that the paper for this piece be cut to a size which was not a natural factor of the other pieces used in the model.
In the next models I decided to make the stamens a little larger in order to keep the paper sizes relative to each other.
The Curuso Cube was made from 6 flower modules: 2 metallic cream, 2 metallic blue and 2 metallic navy. The stamens were made from similar colors with the addition of a paler blue.
The hanging method is different from the one used in traditional models. I used a small metal ring, the kind used in lampshade construction, as a way to attach hanging cords without straining the glueless connection points of the ball. First three threads were tied onto it. The threads were tensioned by tying another piece of thread around the cords about three or four times until it formed a ring. I then pushed this yarn ring down until it pulled the three cords to a point in the center of the metal ring. The completed cord and ring construction was inserted into the model just before the last couple of flowers were connected together. The resulting model hangs well without undue strain on its connecting creases.
My next entry in the origami flowers section is the development of a flower which I shall call the Passion Flower because of the emphasis on radiating stamens. This grew out of the Fragrant Flower of earlier postings.
I began experimenting with the fawn and green example. It has eight petals with alternating colors. Some of the most beautiful of Passion Flowers have alternating petals.
The model was folded while I a finger of my left hand in a splint so it is a little sloppy. At the time I was more concerned with the question of whether the idea was going to work than I was with how well I was folding the model. It is presented "as is" and I hope no-one will be rude enough to use it as an example of my folding prowess.
Instead of a separate petal connector, each petal is slotted into the side of its neighbor. It changes the look of the flower quite dramatically.
Since the Passion Flower has ten petals I created the pink version.
After this I progressed to the bi-color example which is made from sheets of paper with a different color on each side. There is a very limited range of double color papers in folding weight. How I wish the card weight tone-plus-darker-tone range was available in a text weight paper.
The purple/orange combination seemed to be the best choice at the time but the flower has turned out rather darker than I would have liked.
It is not difficult to fold but it helps to have a good supply of cushioned hair pins to hold the pieces together while folding.
Here is the crease pattern for this flower. This is a Model 1.2 version Crease Pattern so it includes a couple of additional creases that were not part of the pre-creasing process of the purple-orange model shown here. (They were added in a less precise manner late in the folding process.)
These additional creases in the inner petals (the ones that are not mirrored on the other side of the diagonal) help to more sharply define and separate the inner petals from their sheaths. They also help to pull the stamen parts together more firmly. The result is a crisper looking flower.
This flower worked well until I tried to connect it to another one. The first examples fell apart too easily, looked ugly, were excessively complicated or pushed the petals apart in a way which spoiled the overall effect. I finally found a sturdy and good looking connection. It requires a "male" and "female" petal - one on one flower and the other on its adjoining flower.
The connection has one drawback: it cannot be accomplished between the petals of finished flowers. Each connecting petal (every alternate one of the ten) has to be connected to a neighbor before being put together with the rest of the petals in its flower head.
Rather than undoing the completed flowers and refolding them I have decided to make new flowers. This time I will alternate the purple-orange double petals with single petals of a contrasting color. I am waiting for a roll of lilac/white craft paper to coordinate with the slighlty garish color-scheme of my precut paper. By the way, I am using 5-1/2" squares for this model. The flowers end up 4" wide and should make a reasonably sized kusudama when 12 of them are connected. The unattached alternate petals should poke out to fill in the small gap between these 12 petal flowers.
In the next posting I will upload CPs for the male and female connecting petals together with pictures of the kusudama as it is put together.
As usual, I am folding/designing more than one model at a time.
Much to my disgust, I STILL haven't completed the last section of the display quality Tier Box I started waaaaayyy back in these postings.
I have begun to put Type 2 flowers together to form a kusudama. I have three together so far. The leaf connectors, when pulled out sideways, nicely fill in the gaps between the flowers. (See the center of this photo).
I am starting to wonder, however, how I am going to get the last flowers into position. The connectors, you see, are at the bottom of the petals. This will pose some challenges.
The fall back position may be to leave out the top most flower and use the opening as an entry/exit for string and power cords. I intend to poke LED lights through the central hole in each flower, as I did in the earlier photos of this model (in orange and yellow on that occasion.)
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.
