MY FIRST KUSUDAMA

The collection of loose paper flowers has eventually been battered into a ball. There were several glitches along the way.

First it went together like this.




This left triangular holes to fill which posed somewhat of a challenge.

After some considerable experimentation I came up with this filler. The elements are derived from the ones used for the square sections but a quarter of the paper has been "folded out" of the model. This caused some bulkiness.



Unfortunately it proved impossible to add these elements to the constructed ball. The minute the triangle became stretched and stressed the white flower popped out. This may have been the result of the thickness of the paper (copy paper). I reluctantly resorted to gluing the flower flaps into the pockets of the triangle.

This did not entirely fix the problem. This time I could not easily connect the surrounding flowers to the triangle. The angle made this difficult. Then when I succeeded in doing so they popped out when the ball was handled.

I experimented with different ways of connecting the two elements and came up with one which did not put as much pressure on the connection points. It was extremely difficult to achieve it "in the round".

There seemed no alternative but to pull the ball apart (after all that work) and reconstruct it, starting with the triangular sections and temporarily leaving out (or leaving unconnected) those square flowers which were only connected to other square flowers. This would remove some of the tension created by the model stretching into a curved shape. The square flowers were relatively easy to connect together via their "leaves" and I hypothesized that I could add them in at the end.

That worked. It involved propping the final stages up on overturned bowls and wide tall fruit juice bottles. The square connecting flowers were added in the final stages without too much drama. First I added all the leaf connectors to the surrounding flowers. Then I connected a flower to one of each of these points, except for the two polar points. After I had fully connected the four flowers around the circumference I supported the model and added the bottom flower. After removing the supports I upended the model and added the last flower.

Just to be on the safe side, I resorted to adding a little glue to part of the triangle/square flower connections. Not only did I feel guilty for transgressing the traditional commandments of the art form, but the process was a minor nightmare. I had to hold the glued spots with clips until dry. This was both awkward and time consuming.



Finally I had what I wanted. Now I need to find a place to hang it up. That assumes that I can figure out where and how to connect the hanging thread to the flower ball.

TOWARDS A GLUELESS FRAGRANCE KUSUDAMA

Perhaps you are familiar with the traditional Fragrant Blossom Kusudama, one of the most beautiful of the Japanese Flower Balls. Here is a photo of one made by Mio Tsugawa. You will find it on her blog, together with instructions for making it.
http://puupuu.ojaru.jp/zu/densyo/densyo1.html


It has long bothered me that this model, and others like it, use glue. Glue is just not a word generally associated with origami!

So I decided to design a model which did not use glue. Here is the copy paper version.





It has three different parts: two from a square and one (the central core) from a hexagon with the same diameter as the square sheets.

The peach colored material is a square which is folded almost identically to the traditional Fragrance model. The difference is that the peaks on either side are not folded down before the sides are folded over and brought together. When the sides are brought together these peaks are tucked into the pockets on the sides of the sections. One peak is folded into the medial (inside) pocket of its opposite partner. The other peak is then folded into the lateral (outside) pocket of its partner. The central section is now one, instead of three, sections but the petal stays together without glue. (You cannot see this in the photos because it is covered by material from the next piece).





The salmon colored material is made from another square which also begins its folded life by becoming a triangle. The central half is folded over and tucked into itself, in a similar fashion to what happened with the central sections of the petal. One of the side flaps is then posted through the slit in the front of a peach colored petal and wrapped around to the side of the stamen. Its tip is then pushed into the pocket at the top, which it now shares with the flap from the adjoining peach colored petal stamen. The other side flap of the salmon piece is inserted in similar fashion into the neighboring (next) petal. This leaves a triangular salmon colored section between the petals which, from the top of the flower, looks like another stamen.

Continue to add petals and connectors until the flower is complete. The resulting flower works best with six petals. Five seems a little loose.





The hexagonal cream center of the flower is formed from a hexagonal sheet. Once the central hexagon has been formed the rest of the sheet is carefully arranged into a tightly creased column and inserted into the center of the completed flower. The ridges of the hexagon column are held by corresponding ridges formed by the flower petals and their salmon colored connectors. A diagram would help, but it is more work than I feel like doing right now. Later, maybe.

I would rate this as a high intermediate model. It is not difficult to fold but it is tricky to put together. It requires helping instruments (I used a kitchen skewer) to push the flaps into the pockets. It is hard to keep the single thickness petal edges from being damaged by the tucking process happening in their vicinity. It needs patience to neatly arrange the folds of the stem of the central hexagon core.

Diagramming this model will not be easy and I suspect that I will restrict myself to teaching it in a class.

My next task is to create glueless connectors for the bases of the flowers so that the model can be transformed into a "proper origami" kusudama. This is complicated by the fact that my version of the flowers have six, rather than five petals. Six sided objects do not make a regular polyhedra without the addition of differently sided objects. I may have to find a way to modify the flower into a five petal version.

FLORAL DIVERSIONS

I find it hard to keep focused on one thing, especially if its development or production takes some time.

I still have not completed a display model of the Bounce and Tier Box. I have one section still to complete. Perhaps next week. Perhaps not.

I find myself easily distracted by other interesting design challenges or ideas which just have to be tried out before I forget them (damn my aging memory) or I get distracted from them, too (damn my ADD).

This week I found myself designing flowers with the intention of making a kusudama.

Never mind the fact that the Quad Lily is still waiting to be put together in this way and I have already designed the connector for it. But no! I find myself designing other things instead. It is slightly annoying. If my mind would just stop having fresh ideas I might get to complete those it has already produced. (Insert sighing sound here.)

So, back to this week's flowers.


I discovered that I could turn a double square twist into a variety of interesting flowers.

The original flower has a four-petal star-like center. It's the mauve one.



The next version has a central curled twist. It's the lilac one.




The third version has four raised points in the center. It's the peach colored one. It's also the one used for the collection.





The fourth version arranges the petals differently and looks something like a four-petaled rose. It's the shiny red one made from Stardream paper.




I found a way to provide them with connectors which double as leaves. All that remains to be done before they can be properly connected into a polyhedron is to design a triangular connector with bigger leaves. Undaunted by this unfinished task I have folded a box full of color coordinated copy paper flowers in readiness. Today's job is to begin folding the straight connectors.

SIMPLE CADDY BASKET

I am back after the next bout of illness. It is literally a pain being well past the middle aged bracket.






Here are photos of a caddy basket which is related to the Easter Baskets of the last posting. Most of them have the decorative end foldings on the inside of the box rather than the outside. The handles are modified for this contigency.

The blue and yellow basket is now owned by the person who also owns the hand holding it. It was made to match her choice of basket variation and in her choice of colors.

EASTER BASKETS - 2

Here are the crease patterns for the rectangular paper version of the Easter Basket.

The side wall V-creases have been omitted. You can add them if you wish. They help to shape the basket better when the handle is added but the model will function perfectly well without them.














The handle part is made from a piece of copy sized paper which has been cut in half width-wise (not length-wise). A half sheet of American Letter paper is thus 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches which is a little over a half square (which would be 8-1/2 x 5-1/4). When you make the diamond patterns on the handle be aware that the central diamonds are not at 45 degree angles like the diamonds at the ends. This is because the squarish sections on either side of the central crease are actually not squares.









In a day or so I will post patterns and pictures for a caddy version of the basket made from the traditional square with an edge-on handle made from a half square.

EASTER BASKETS

Here are some Easter Baskets.

They are made from two pieces of paper: a full sheet for the box and a half sheet for the handle. Three sheets of paper will thus make two baskets.

The creases in the handle may be folded in slightly different ways to create different looks. There are two different end plugs: one is diamond shape and the other fits the shape of the box when the apex is folded down to form a blunt edge instead of a point. See the darker pink basket for an example. Both are very sturdy but the second is exceptionally sturdy.

There are two slightly different designs, one for both the traditional square (see the copy paper pink version) and for rectangular copy paper (see the copy paper blue version and the pink petalic paper versions). The box made with the square has decorative pleats at both ends which act of runners on the base of the box. Use this one to hold heavy things. The handle on this one is longer than the handle of the rectangular version and is folded slightly differently. See the copy paper pink version for an example.

I will upload crease patterns for the rectangular copy paper in my next post.

SLOTTED BOX TOWER - 2

Here are the Crease Patterns for the Slotted Box Tower.

Start with a 9" square for the lid.

Make the wall shields about 8-1/2" to 8-3/4" wide by 12- 1/2" to 12-3/4" long, depending on the thickness of the paper you are using.

Make the slotted boxes 8" x 16".