This is an origami ornament that I had done a few months back, that kindled my interest in origami. It is a piece from Lew Rozelle's book Origami Ornaments. The book describes a set of units (Base, Clip, Joiner, Hinge and Insert), which are combined to form modular origami ornaments.

The ornament that I have done is called a star flower ball and is made of 6 bases and 8 joiners. The work is time consuming but I liked the end result a lot. We had hung this decoration in church and it was much appreciated.. Adding Christmas colours of red and green really adds to the beauty.

Model Details:

Model: Star Flower Ball

Creator: Lew Roselle

Book: Origami Ornaments

Author: Lew Roselle

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 5 inches

Number of Modules: 14

Quite a few origami baskets are very simple to make and have a utilitarian value as well. And since my last post on baskets, a few of my friends wanted me to try out some simple baskets. They are pretty new to origami, so keeping it simple was my aim.

The first basket I tried out was this simple Easter basket. It comes complete with a handle. Glue the handle in place so that it can be used to carry little eggs.

The next is a very cute Pointed Basket that I found on Youtube. I loved making this one, since it was quite easy to make, but it should be creased properly and accurately. It looks good when made with a big piece of paper. I used a square of 10 inches for this one. Rather than a regular basket, I think this will make a great bread basket.

The last basket that I tried was one that we had done as kids. We used to use these bags to carry small stuffed toys. Quite easy to make. The handle needs to be glued so it does not keep popping out.

Model Details:

Model: Simple Baskets

Difficulty Level: Simple

Paper Ratio: Square

Tutorial: Easter Basket, Pointed Basket

An arabesque is an ornament that is made of intertwined floral and vine figures in an intricate design. And the origami arabesque does look very intricate and delicate. It was designed by Mio Tsugawa and is made from 30 modules. It looks best when folded from a variety of solid colours, though I made mine from wrapping paper. There are quite a few variations to the arabesque and all of them are quite popular.

Model Details:

Model: Arabesque 

Creator: Mio Tsugawa

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4 inch squares

Model Size: ~4 inches in diameter

Modules: 30

Tutorial: Youtube 

To tell the truth, I am not sure of the name of these spirals, since the book from which I followed instructions is in Japanese. But since the spirals have a square shape, I ended up calling them Square Spirals!

Tomoko Fuse's book on spirals 'Origami Spirals' contains instructions for making a lot of different spiral ornaments. Ornaments from both squares and triangles (half a square, cut on the diagonal) are both easy to make and the end result is intricate looking. I tried out both the square and triangle spirals, but unfortunately was not able to photograph the triangular ones. The spirals from the square paper are made of 4 modules and the ones from the triangular paper are made from 3 modules.

I liked the colour combination of red and white that I had used and am quite happy with how it came out.

Model Details:

Model: Spirals

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Origami Spirals

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Language: Japanese

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper size: 5 inches

Number of Modules: 4

Tomoko Fuse is probably the queen of origami boxes and my favourite origamist. So I had recently bought yet another of her books, 'Fabulous Origami Boxes'. While browsing through the book, the triangular boxes caught my attention. I think they are better looking than the usual square boxes. These boxes are made of 3 modules and are quick to make, not more than half an hour.

Solid coloured paper will best bring out the folds. 3 different colours would be required. Thick wrapper paper is also great if you intend to gift the box to someone. In that case, a simple 3-unit triangle box would be good.

Model Details:

Model: Triangular Boxes

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Fabulous Origami Boxes

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 7 inches

Number of Modules: 6

The Ishibashi Ball, better known as Japanese Brocade, is created by Minako Ishibashi and is a variation of the Sonobe unit. It is a relatively easy model to complete and can be made using 6, 12 or even 30 squares!

The Japanese Brocade makes a beautiful ornament and when made small enough, it can even be made into earrings. The one I had tried was the 6-unit brocade. I first used 4-inch squares, then 2 and later 1-inch squares. The 1-inch square brocade was small enough to be made into earrings.

Both solid coloured paper and duo-coloured paper works great for this model. For both sides of paper to show up, there is a slight variation in the folding. Check out the next image for the brocade folded from duo-coloured paper.

There are quite a few tutorials available on the net. I have provided one of the links below. A number of books are also available, which contain the instructions.

Model Details:

Model: Japanese Brocade

Creator: Minako Ishibashi

Books: Origami - The Complete Guide to the Art of Paperfolding, A Handbook of Origami, Action Origami all edited by Rick Beech.

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper size: 4 inch modules in the first image and 1 inch modules in the next one.

Number of Modules: 6

Tutorial: Youtube.com

A cute little flower basket, complete with a handle too, to carry Easter eggs! This flower basket is made from 2 squares of paper. One forms the basket and the second one is cut into quarters and each of them for each of the 4 centre petals.

The basket can be made with or without the handle. If the handle is included, it needs to be inserted into the centre petal. It might have to be glued down if the handle isn't only for show :)

For more colourful baskets, sturdy wrapper paper should help. If using solid colours, it looks much better if the 4 petals are in a different colour from the rest of the basket.

Model Details:

Model: Flower Basket 

Difficulty Level: Simple

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4 inch squares

Tutorial: Youtube 

Tomoko Fuse's spirals and shells are elegant looking pieces that look very complicated but are in fact, not all that difficult to make. This design can be found in her book 'Let's Fold Spirals'. The book is in Japanese but the instructions are pretty much self-explanatory. And in case one gets bogged down by any of the steps, there are a number of tutorials on Youtube, which will provide adequate support.

In this post, I have posted 2 different spirals and each of them is made from 4 modules that are twisted into the spiral shapes.

Model Details:

Model: Origami Spirals

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Let's Fold Spirals

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Language: Japanese

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4 inches

Number of Modules: 4

Tutorial: Youtube

This Japanese lamp shaped-bowl, is one of my favourite creations of Tomoko Fuse from her book, 'Fabulous Origami Boxes'. The bowl can also be made into a series of nesting bowls by folding nearer or further from the centre. The lid can be made with or without knob at the top.

I felt the bowl and lid looked best when using patterned paper instead of a single coloured paper. And the bowl I have made here was done using gift wrapper paper.

Effort required would be about an hour or so for a beginner, since the bowl is made up of 8 modules in total, 4 for the bowl and 4 for the lid.

Model Details:

Model: Lamp-shaped Bowl

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Fabulous Origami Boxes

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 7 inches

Number of Modules: 8

Tutorial: Youtube

The origami cake box by Tomoko Fuse, is one of the earliest boxes that I folded. It turned out to be an elegant box and was not too difficult to fold either. The dome comes out very well, without any creases and the little flower-shaped knob at the top adds to the beauty. Not only is the cake box beautiful to look at,  it also makes a fully functional cake box!

Model Details:

Model: Cake Box

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Home Decorating with Origami

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Difficulty Level: Simple

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 7 inches; Quarter of a sheet for the flower knob.

Number of Modules: 2

Tutorial: Part 1 and Part 2