In my teenage years, *cough* made me feel old, but I’m a young adult now *cough* I used to make lots of handwritten letters and handmade gifts. Even if I had to stay up late, it didn’t stop me to work on each piece. Stumbling on crafts while doing syndication tasks made me interested to unleash whatever creativity again. Let’s start with something easy – origami.
Origami
Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding with the goal of producing a finished sculpture without the use of cuts or glue. The most popular origami is the crane (which is a sacred bird in Japan).
Etymology: ori means “folding” and kami means “paper”
Kusudama
I made a Kusudama, which translates to medicine ball (kusuri + tama respectively). Used for incense and potpourri, today it is typically used as decoration or gifts.
It was fairly easy to do, but is time consuming since every piece you make is just a petal of the whole flower. I don’t have origami paper so I used four square cuts of paper, in this case a pink one, for practice. The first one I made is the one on the lower right. Look clockwise from there and see my progress 😛
The tutorial I was reading on StumbleUpon got me confused with one of the steps. So I looked for one with images that has arrows pointing in what direction should I fold the paper. Good thing I found Origami Instructions website and you can use that as a reference. The tutorials usually use glue to keep them together, but I used double-sided tape on mine.
If you’d rather watch a video, here’s a good tutorial:
Credits to MandyKStar, she used paper with a cute design! Your finished product can look as simple as the one below or more complex in terms of number of flowers or color variation to name a few. It depends on your imagination (and patience, I guess :P).
Do you also know to make origami? What can you make in particular? Were the links useful? Share your thoughts in the comments below! ♥
The origami really looks well made and crafty. People are gonna love this to used as display.
Yeah! I found a lot of interesting end products on the internet and I can’t wait to make a bouquet-like one 😀
I think you can make a good business out of this.
Nice project. i think my daughter will want to try this. she has been following origami and other craft videos before. will suggest this to her. thanks.
Cool! Hope she enjoys it 😀
I have a book of simple origami at home and I can only do just a couple of them, nothing beats a video tutorial. 🙂
I was thinking of buying one from National Book Store. I always swing by the crafts book section 🙂
Know what? I tried doing these origami flower arts when I was prepping up for our wedding.hehehhe. Kaso it didn’t work as it takes too much of my time. But pwede ito sa mga ibang occasions lalo na yung mga girly stuff 🙂
Wow! I’ve never been to a wedding that has origami included in the set up. Sayang naman. But there will be other occasions for it 🙂
Nice! I enjoy doing origami and this one seems to be an interesting project for the girls
There are different kinds of origami. Maybe you can show us your creations 🙂
Thanks for the tutorial, will consider making one when Im in the mood to be cheesy and all. 🙂
This is a good way to pass time 😉
This is so creative. I liked it! Maybe this tutorial can help me to make a craft using origami too. Cool.
Thank you! I love your DIYs by the way 🙂
This post Dems reminds me of my childhood years creating paper airplane, frog, and boat. Now it’s only the boat I know, oh not it’s not, it’s paper airplane, the simplest. You have great work here. What a hobby and talent.
Thank you Earl! I only know about the paper airplane from grade school. Never tried doing a frog but my classmate would do that for me and we would all play who can make their frog leap the farthest.
Those are really nice handicrafts and the video tutorial is helpful for those who want to learn some origami basics.
i tried making this before but I was hopeless I cant follow the instructions in the video or somewhat mislead me haha Someone have to teach me inperson haha xx
I looked up the instructions with pictures because I can’t seem to follow the video. Doing this with someone is fun and is easier to understand 😀
I’m interested to know how this art form has evolved from being a potpourri art to what it is now. Do people still use scented materials to create new kusudama pieces?
Some people do. That would be nice if you give it as a gift or use these as decoration for events 😀
I remember making origami stuff back in high school. So I could definitely relate as to how this piece of art (the Kusudama) can be so tasking yet very fulfilling-exciting all at the same time.
Origami.. whah I got a failing grade on this during my high school days. I am not really good making one. But I love and adorn the finished crafts. Yours is a very nice one.
The pink one? Thank you po! I hope to make it more so it’s a bouquet 😀
i have thought that maybe i’ll get addicted with doing origami once i have began learning it. 😀
It’s a good hobby to get addicted to 🙂
Great post, I wanna learn these things. I can use this art knowledge when I am bored or share to my students.
It’s easy Teacher Jo-Ann 😀
My nine-year old son and his little sister just love origami! They would watch video tutorials on Youtube and spend their play time making beautiful paper arts. I’m sure he’d love to try Kusudama!
Ah, already creative while young ♥ Hope to see their creations 😀
As a fan of Origami, I would definitely give this a try and share it with my friends here. ^_^
I can make good origami at my elementary days. Today, I don’t know, haven’t tried it. I might do one if my time allows it. Nevertheless, great artistic skills you got Dems. Nice!
Thanks Kuya Ron! I have to practice and practice since I’m out of touch hehe 🙂
My kids esp my daughter loves origami!!!! I’ll show her this post!!! thanks!
Thank you! Enjoy making them! 🙂
I have been trying for some time to make a presentable origami finished product but it seems my young daughter is better at it. I’ll show this to her.
Hope she likes it! 😀
Oh beautiful post. My family and I are big Japanese fans. I would like to learn how to make Kusudama. May I ask is there a specific kind of paper that I should use to make these medicine balls. We have Japanese papers here in the Philippines but I think they are too thin to keep the form these decorations should have.
P.S. I like your post so I will share it in Special Education Philippines Facebook Fan Page. I hope that kids, parents and teachers will visit your post and add this in their arts and crafts project. 🙂
Hi Ms. Ia! As far as I know, any origami paper is fine. You can actually use different kinds in one batch. Though here I used construction paper 🙂
Thank you for sharing this post 😀
Origami , paper-folding is a wonderful hobby .. nice and colorful, creative . 🙂
My daughter loves origami. Thanks for sharing the video on how to make flowers. The folds look complex but it is not.
I remember once when I was at the office. Making paper tanks and paper planes has been my past time during break. I would make dozens of those, arrange them on my desk. Then I would imagine myself as a commander in battle. I love origami since I am a kid and until now, I’m still fascinated with this kind of craft
*salutes*
is it easy to make those? 🙂
ooh, i love making origami, my daughter enjoy making it too but the complicated one is really hard to create.
Cool! There was a time when I was into Origami. I borrowed a book from mom’s friend and never got to return it. LOL. That is a pretty looking thing. 😀
Thank you! I hope you find time to delve into origami again. 🙂