Folds Within Folds

“Money Cat v2″ designed by Jo Nakashima. Folded by Annalisa from a US dollar bill (and a standard weight paper for the test fold). Video tutorial can be found here by Jo Nakashima.

“Money Rose” designed by Sok Song and Seth Friedman. Folded by Annalisa from a US dollar bill (and a standard weight paper for the test fold). Video tutorial available here from Seth Friedman.

After a brief interlude where the computer wasn’t working, we’re back to Christmas gifts! This was a gift for my sister-in-law, Aubrey. I’ve been wanting to make this since Seth Friedman originally posted his video, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it. Aubrey’s just one of those people you want to give flowers to all the time.

As opposed to the star for Joan, this is a complicated model. I highly recommend doing a test fold or two. It was really helpful to have made Kawasaki roses in the past, so if you haven’t made one of those before, I would try that first; it’s good to get the feel of the twists involved in rose-making before trying it on a real dollar bill. Oddly, though my dollar bill rose looked better, the test fold photographed better, which is why I’ve included both, so you can get a sense of how the ‘stem’ looks from the front. Though, to be honest, I didn’t do the stem quite right on either model, which probably contributes to why it lies differently.

“Waldorf Star Lantern.” I only know it as a design used in the Waldorf education system, so I think it’s a traditional design, but please correct me if you know better. Folded by Annalisa from an octagon cut from a 15 cm square of folia paper. Tutorial here by Lori of Waldorf Moms.

Last spring, I helped my friend’s kids’ school with their Mayfaire, so my friend asked me to help again with their Winterfaire. This time, they didn’t need me to teach origami, but they did ask me to make some “winter-y things” that they could have as prizes/gifts. While I did not end up making lanterns for Winterfaire, I did play around with a few designs while deciding what to make, which is how this lantern came to be. It’s very pretty, but, as you can see, the 15 cm squares of paper I had planned to use do not fit a tea candle, so I went a different direction. Perhaps next year.

“Money Star,” a traditional design, I think. Folded by Annalisa from US dollar bills (and some standard weight paper in the same proportions as a test fold). Photo tutorial available here by Homemade Gifts Made Easy.

And so the Christmas gift parade begins. This was a gift for my niece, Joan. She and her family are moving overseas next year, so my brother asked the family to avoid physical gifts that they would have to ship or store when they move. This kind of limited my options, since I’m--hang on, there’s a word for this...ah, yes--poor. But I figured even if I couldn’t give much, I could make it look pretty. Joan’s really into stars right now (there is nothing quite so cute as her excitedly signing ‘star’ every time she sees the top of the Christmas tree), so who am I to deny her one of her favorite things?

“Nativity” designed by Leyla Torres. Folded by Annalisa from tissue foil. Joseph is made from a 30 cm square, Mary is made from a 26.25 cm square, Baby Jesus is made from a 7.5 cm square, and the manger is made from a 15 cm square. Video tutorials are available from Leyla Torres for Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus and the manger.

“Santa Claus” designed by Camila Zeymer and Jo Nakashima. Folded by Annalisa from a 15 cm square of kami. Video tutorial here by Jo Nakashima.

“Square Weave” on a 32-grid designed by Eric Gjerde. Folded by Annalisa from a 7.5x15 cm (1:2) rectangle of duo kami. Instructions found in Origami Tessellations by Eric Gjerde.

“OASIS Star” designed by Francesco Mancini. Folded by Annalisa from 6 sheets of foil paper. Each unit was folded from a 7.5 cm square. Diagram by Francesco Mancini and Francesco Decio is available here courtesy of OrigamiUSA.

This is a really simple star, but very fun to fold. I taught it to some people at the guest house where I volunteer, and we had lots of fun putting together some cheery Christmas decorations for the house, and we’re going to do more next week. Tuesday afternoons have turned into a little origami club!

“Liść” (Leaf) designed by Rafal Sabat. Folded by Annalisa from a 15 cm square of folia paper. Diagram provided here by Rafal Sabat.

“8 Pointed Flowery Star” designed by Ilan Garibi. Folded by Annalisa from a 15 cm square of variegated kami and a 7.5 cm square of regular kami. Diagram by Ilan Garibi is available here courtesy of OrigamiUSA.

“Triphilia” on a 32-grid designed by Robin Scholz. Folded by Annalisa on a hexagon cut from a 15 cm square of harmony kami (after not doing it right on the folia paper). Video tutorial for a 16-grid version available here from Sara Adams.

There are all sorts of fun twists and turns when making tessellations, and this time it was figuring out how to repeat the single molecule on a larger grid. I had already made the 16-grid version, so, as I am wont to do, I immediately pulled out another sheet of folia and made a larger grid. Such is the madness of tessellators.

I got the triangle twists and the first molecule folded just fine, but then I made a judgment error. I tried to put the next molecule immediately adjacent to the first one instead of leaving some room for those rectangular squash folds on the back, so the paper was way too crowded and ended up a mess. Once I realized my error, I had to unfold the entire grid, refold the base triangle twists, then get back to placing the molecules. Unfortunately, the folia paper just isn’t robust enough to stand up to that much manipulation, especially when you have to then continue with more squash folds, so at that point it was ripping all over, and that’s what you can see in the pictures.

Hand-bound book, a traditional design (I think it’s called long stitch binding?). Bound by Annalisa. Made from drawing paper, a leather cover, and sewn together with waxed linen thread. I’m sure there’s a tutorial somewhere, but I learned from a friend of mine.

It’s a good think I didn’t name this blog after origami specifically, because I’m branching out into all sorts of paper arts. Fortunately they all involve folding still, so my handle seems remarkably prescient rather than merely a reference that only I find amusing.

“Four Seasons Quilt” designed by Christiane Bettens. Folded by Annalisa from kami. The main leaves are folded from 15 cm squares and the connectors are made from...smaller squares. I forgot to measure. Diagram by Christiane Bettens is available here courtesy of OrigamiUSA.

“Elephant” designed by Fumiaki Kawahata. Folded by Annalisa from a 15 cm square of kami. Video tutorial here by Leyla Torres.

“Snowflake” designed by Dáša Ševerová. Folded by Annalisa on a hexagon cut from a 20 cm square of glassine. Diagram by Dáša Ševerová is available here courtesy of OrigamiUSA.

“Dreaming Bear” designed by Giang Dinh. Folded by Annalisa from a 9 x 9.5 inch (or ‘slightly larger than square’) rectangle of Canson Mi-Teintes paper. Diagram provided here by Giang Dinh.

“Anniversary Bowl” designed by Lee Armstrong (aka @foldawayorigami). Folded by Annalisa from a 15 cm square of folia paper. Diagrams available here on Lee’s tumblr.