New Origami Models!

Been working on some kusudamas, compass stars and other models lately.

Witch balls! These are from a diagram created by Tomoko Fuse, they are constructed by being sewn together in the traditional way.

On this one I overdyed the black paper with a pink glitter wash.

This one includes the heavy, gold-accented paper from India I overdyed the other day with shades of purple and blue.

A closer look...I love this paper.  The almost fabric-like quality of it takes up the color really well.  The black & white paper has been overdyed with a gold glitter wash.

This one includes some beautiful vintage wrapping paper with shades of rich creme and several blues.

Another kusudama model, this one in a compass star pattern.

More vintage wrapping paper, paired with the gold-washed black & white paper.

 The compass star again, made with a very fragile pink and gold vintage wrapping paper from the 1950's.

The blue paper is made in Florence, Italy by Rossi and has heavy gold accents, the color is brilliant and saturated. The design dates from The Renaissance.

A four-pointed star folded from a doily, with a second layer of gold.

More of the overdyed with gold, black & white paper for the smaller star.

A variant of the compass star model, this one folded with some gorgeous paper that my sister gifted to me.

This paper is overpainted with pink, white and purple glitter accents, the pictures truly don't do it justice.

And lastly another star folded from the same pattern, this one made from a heavy gold-accented paper from India, it also has a fabric-like quality to it and deep, rich colors that are dyed into it and painted on.

I like to mix my papers up in unexpected ways, it's surprising how well something like wrapping paper and specialty paper work together!

Now to get to folding with those 1970's waterproof fishing maps I found at the church rummage sale a couple of months ago...

...nothing is too weird to use!

Yay, Prizes!

Today I sent off in the mail a couple of prizes I'd donated to one of the Backyard Chickens photo contests, one was a kusudama and the other a little compass star.

The kusudama is modular and sewn together in the traditional way, the papers have a gold glaze brushed over them.  The compass star is double-sided, and I thought the feather design paper was perfect for a chicken contest!

New Kusudamas!

I've been busy folding kusudamas lately, they are a terrific winter evening pastime.  Some of the models I've folded before, some are new to me.

Two traditional flower balls, a third that incorporates the compass rose design I folded recently with a basic base.  All are folded with 2 inch square paper.

A Tomoko Fuse model, another flower ball and another compass rose, all three with 2 inch paper.

Three more Fuse models, this time with 3 inch paper, the fourth with 2 inch paper again.

Some of the paper I overdyed with several colors or added a metallic gold wash to, and on the flower balls I played around with the basic design a bit.

Some detail...

Some of the paper has a white back side, some is the same color on both sides.  It makes for quite a different look with the identical fold.  The black/white/blue model blends vintage wrapping paper with modern paper.

The blue and pink model incoporates pink vintage wrapping paper with some gorgeous Rossi Florentine artisan paper.

It was kinda overcast today and not the best light for taking pictures.  I'm playing around with various new overdyes on some of my paper and kusudamas with two or three models of varying sizes on the same cord.  These are simple kusudamas of 12 units each, now that I've folded these for practice I'm moving on to more complex models with 30 to 60 units each...

...and one with 144 units.  That one I'm not to sure about because it's coming up on a busy time of year for me, but we'll see.

Also...

I almost forgot, here is a pic of the finished kusudama ball I made from old map paper, strung on green cording and hanging in my front window with the others.

Two Kusudamas

Here are the two that were in progress the other day, finished. I still have to add some cord to hang them with:

Both use the same number of units and the same two folds, plus a common connecting unit. But with the two folds, one is inverted and one is not. This made for two quite different end products!

Neither is as nice as I'd like them to be, but are acceptable as first attempts. They went together easily enough but are hollow so are a bit flimsy--the one with the map pages I made before is rdiculously strong, like iron...and heavy! I need to work on making my folds crisper and on making the units fit together tighter.

Kusudamas!

Armed with fresh origami paper and a brand spankin' new book, I'm tackling my latest fascination: kusudamas. Kusudamas are modular origami paper balls, usually made in floral or geometric units and made in multiples of 3, 6, 12, 24, 30, etc. They can get quite complicated and look freakin' amazing, usually much more impressive than they actually *are* because they don't LOOK modular. Some of the kusudama diagrams are a tad difficult to decipher, but that's part of the fun--if it was easy it wouldn't be a challenge!

I've got two different kusudamas in the works right now, one a basic floral made from map paper I recycled from a 1966 world atlas (from the thrift store, previous owner wrote in it, tore pages and it was going bad, so I didn't feel bad about cutting it up)--here it is under construction:

And another in pink/blue/peach origami papers using three different folds:

My next one will be much more daunting, it's a pattern called 'Arabesque' and each modular unit takes 43 folding steps, THEN you have to put them together, another 23 steps. We'll see how much I ruin it--gonna for sure practice with plain paper before committing to the fancy, more expensive stuff!