Yet another design by Martin Sejer Andersen that I recently folded :) This was initially named 'The Unnamed Ring'! and has recently been christened the Braided Ring.

The ring is made from 14 modules. The modules start off with folding into fifths. So a template comes in handy. I quite like the little bits of colour (white in my case) that can be seen at the edges and at the centre of the ring. Btw, the ring is a 3D ring, but can easily be converted into a flat 2D version. But I did find the 3D version more stable than the 2D one!

Model Details:

Model: Braided Ring 

Creator: Martin Sejer Andersen

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: ~ 4 inch diameter

Tutorial: Youtube

Modules: 14

I am sure most of us have tried our hand at weaving paper mats, at least when we were kids. I have made quite a few paper mats and then moved on to making little bowls by using the same technique.

Recently, my sister-in-law, whose office is eco-friendly, wanted me to try using newspapers to make an eco-friendly waste paper basket for her office. It appealed to me very much, so I got to work folding newspaper sheets into thick strips to form the basis for my woven basket. Unfortunately, the end wasn't very appealing!

I searched around for another way and with Youtube to my rescue, finally figured out how to roll newspaper tubes and use these as the basic material for making my basket. This tutorial gave me a good start. I made a bowl initially and since that turned out quite fine, I then made a basket.

As per instructions from my daughter, Little Miss, I coated the finished products with a layer of glue/water mix - apparently that is how it is done in some of the art shows that she watches on TV! The end result was a very stable, recycled, eco-friendly bowl/basket, that is great for storing a variety of things. I am yet to make the waste basket though!

I recently ordered a lot of origami paper from Kim's Crane and am now thrilled with my supply of beautiful origami paper :) And since I had so much of variety, I decided to start off making Christmas decorations from them. And, I think the most common origami decoration for Christmas must be the Sonobe!

So here are a whole lot of origami sonobes made in a variety of colours and patterns, all set for Christmas. I am yet to add satin ribbons for hanging them from and I will be all set. I also ended up making a few Christmas stars, which you can see scattered around.

I worked on both 30-unit and 12-unit models. All using 3-inch squares, so all of them ended up pretty much the same size.

Model Details:

Model: Sonobe

Creator: Mitsunobu Sonobe

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inch squares

Model Size: 3-inch in diameter

Modules: 12 or 30

Tutorial: Youtube 

Continuing from my previous post on handmade envelopes, here are more of these envelopes. I made a couple of sets of these envelopes with little origami decorations. The paper used, both for the envelopes and the decorations, is thick, handmade paper in antique gold and copper gold. Thick paper = simple origami! So I had to discard quite a few ideas I had. I am sure I will try more of these envelopes with slightly more complex origami decorations soon :)

The first of them have a little cherry blossom in one corner of the cover. The toughest part of folding these little flowers, turned out to be snipping off the corners, since I had to cut with multiple folds, without distorting the shape. Quite a task!

The last set of envelopes had a little origami hearts in them. The hearts were pretty simple to fold. And while the cherry blossom envelopes look lovely, I love the sentimentality of a little heart on the cover 💓

I love folding wreaths and rings, especially the 3D variety. And recently, I found this Alpha Centauri Ring, designed by Martin Sejer Andersen, a good and easy ring to fold. It is a 3D ring, made from 8 units. The fold starts with dividing the paper into thirds. You can of course, approximate it and fold, but much simpler to fold a template and use that to fold the other modules. The Youtube tutorial (link towards the end of the post) clearly demonstrates the way to go about it.

A great Christmas decoration I think. And with Christmas fast approaching, I think I should get busy making these in Christmas colours :)

Model Details:

Model: Alpha Centauri Ring 

Creator: Martin Sejer Andersen

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2.75 inches

Model Size: 2.5 inch diameter

Tutorial: Youtube

Modules: 8

I am sure you are wondering whatever I have been doing for the past one month, without posting anything on the blog!

I have actually been quite busy working on quite a few pieces made to order. While making the pieces haven't been a problem, for some reason I am having quite a bit of trouble photographing them and posting pics on the blog!

These little gift envelopes are made from copper gold and antique gold handmade paper and decorated with little punched decorations and origami flowers and hearts.

In this post, I have added the envelopes with punched decorations. I'll post another one with the envelopes with origami decor. Punching tiny little decorations isn't that easy, I now realise! They are packed in set of 4, with 2 envelopes in copper gold and 2 of them in antique gold. 

The origami lotus is yet another traditional, modular model and one that I had tried out recently. The assembly for the lotus is different from what I had done till date.

After folding the individual modules (there are a total of 8 modules for the flower and 4 for the leaves), we assemble the modules in sets of 3 (2 flower modules and 1 leaf module) and tie them together. Once everything is held tight in place, then we start forming the petals and leaves.

The beauty of the flower lies in the way the petals are shaped. The inner petals can be closed into the centre to give the appearance of a flower just starting to bloom. I think mine has the look of a fully opened flower.

Altogether, an interesting and ingenious model to fold.

Model Details:

Model: Lotus

Origin: Traditional

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Rectangle

Paper Size: 5.5 inches * 3.5 inches

Model Size: ~4 inches

Modules: 12

Tutorial: Youtube 

The peacock is a beautiful bird and I have been trying to fold it for quite some time now - ever since I got the book 'Origami Sculptures' by John Montroll. And I did manage to fold it on 15th August. That is the Indian Independence Day, and in case you did not know this, the peacock is the national bird of India - an added incentive to fold!

The paper I had used was blue/dark blue origami paper, 9 inches square. The resulting bird had a height of about 6.5 inches and a wing span of 6 inches. Double-sided paper works well, especially the colour combination I had selected :)

Making the peacock stand by itself was quite impossible for me. The reason being that the wings turn out to be quite heavy. So the bird kept falling backwards! But other than that, I am pleased with this peacock..

Model Details:

Model: Peacock 

Creator: John Montroll

Book: Origami Sculptures
 
Author: John Montroll
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 9 inch squares

Model Size: 6.5 inches tall, 6 inches wing span

In case you are wondering what I have been doing with that bunch of cherry blossoms I had done previously, here you go..

All those cherry blossoms were made specifically for some special invites. My brother and sister-in-law had recently constructed their office (till now they have been renting out a place) and were planning a small ceremony for dedicating the office to our Lord Jesus Christ. So these invites were sent out to some relatives, some of their clients and other well-wishers.

Both of them had wanted a handmade card which would imply a personal touch. So, being creative people, they made these beautifully personal, hand crafted invites. The paper used was handmade paper in lavender and white. As you can see, the invite was made of 2 layers, the one on top was slightly shorter than the layer below. We had used brown twigs for the cherry blossoms, to give it a more authentic feel. The company logo and name (Capstone) were visible in the left corner, along with the words 'You are cordially invited'. The inside of the card has the actual invite and a list of services provided by Capstone.

I grew quite fond of this card - my sister-in-law and my brother at their creative best, and I quite enjoyed helping out with the card. And lot of those who received the invite were also very appreciative of it :)

One of the first earrings that I tried was, naturally, the origami star earrings. Once I became more adept at making these tiny earrings, I tried my hand at more complex pieces and that is when these rainbow earrings came into existence.

These are made with 16 units each and once assembled, I glazed them to give them added strength. The best part about origami earrings is that they are super light! So Little Miss is quite delighted to possess it, though it is a tad too big for her little ears!!

Origami Lemon and Green Sun Earrings

Cherry blossoms are beautiful flowers that grow in abundance in Fall. When one thinks of a cherry blossom, one tends to think of Japan :) These flowers, called Sakura in Japanese, have a variety of uses including culinary ones. The flowers are usually white in colour with pale pink near the stems.

And I wanted to give these lovely flowers a try. I found a very simple traditional design for folding these flowers. It involves a little cutting though.

The reason I have made so many of these little flowers is that, I have a project in mind; or rather, my sister-in-law has a project  for which she needs these flowers. Will be posting on that soon :)

Model Details:

Model: Cherry Blossoms

Origin: Traditional

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 inches

Model Size: 1 inches

Diagram: Origami-club

Here is the final cube from the book 'Modular Origami Polyhedra'. The Ninja Star Cube is also made from 12 modules. The one I tried is the second cube. This one is a bit more ornate than the original ninja star cube. It has got a couple more folds which gives a little variety to the folds.

Each face of the cube has the shape of the star in the middle. The star is clearer in the next picture.

Model Details:

Model: Ninja Star Cube 

Creator: Lewis Simon

Book: Modular Origami Polyhedra
 
Author: Lewis Simon, Bennett Arnstein, Rona Gurkewitz
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: Square cube with approximate side of 2.25 inches

Modules: 12

Before trying the Ninja Star Modular Cube, I tried out one last cube. This is again from the book 'Modular Origami Polyhedra'. As before, this is from the chapter on Decoration Box System. Almost all the cubes have the same heading, namely, 'Modular Cube', so I am also using the same name :) To be more specific, this is the 8th cube in this chapter. The design is by Lewis Simon.

When I looked at this model, I liked the shape which is different from the usual cube shape. This looks a little like the last modular cube I did, but with more pronounced truncated corners. Assembling the model is different from usual for me. An interesting model to fold :)

Model Details:

Model: Modular Cube 

Creator: Lewis Simon

Book: Modular Origami Polyhedra
 
Author: Lewis Simon, Bennett Arnstein, Rona Gurkewitz
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: Square cube with approximate side of 2.25 inches

Modules: 12

Since making my last cube, I have made a few more cubes from 12 sheets of paper. All are from the book 'Modular Origami Polyhedra' . This one is a Sonobe Cube formed from Decoration Box modules. We start off folding as for the decoration box module and then add a few more folds to get the final module.

I first tried this model from 2-inch squares. Quite a tough job!! Folding these thin creases are quite painful, but not as painful as creasing paper that has already been folded 4-5 times!! My thumb took quite a beating! I would strongly advice a bone-folder for this model. Unfortunately, I don't have one, so had to make do with my poor thumb :(

Model Details:

Model: Sonobe Cube from Decoration Box Modules 

Creator: Lewis Simon

Book: Modular Origami Polyhedra
 
Author: Lewis Simon, Bennett Arnstein, Rona Gurkewitz
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 inches

Model Size: Square cube with approximate side of 1.25 inches

Modules: 12

As I had mentioned in my previous post, I tried out the modular cube variation, this one in orange. The assembly is the same as the modular cube. The only change, in fact, is the way the initial fold is done, so that the reverse of the paper becomes visible. So it is a good idea to use paper coloured on both sides, in contrasting colours. I preferred using single-sided orange coloured paper. I think it has turned out quite well :)

But in reality, folding the modules turned out to be an unexpected challenge! I had used the same paper size as in my previous cube (1.25 by 3.5 inches). Unfortunately, this model had a couple of additional folds, resulting in really thin strips. And folding those thin strips in such a small paper turned out to be painful!! I used a ruler to ensure that I got the folds right. Thankfully the paper was quite strong, I am sure I would have ended up tearing quite a few modules otherwise!

Model Details:

Model: Modular Box Variation 

Creator: Bennett Arnstein

Book: Modular Origami Polyhedra
 
Author: Lewis Simon, Bennett Arnstein, Rona Gurkewitz
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Rectangle in ratio 1:2

Paper Size: 1.25 by 3.5 inches

Model Size: Square cube with approximate side of 1.25 inches

Modules: 12

The decoration and modular boxes from the book 'Modular Origami Polyhedra' are beautiful and very tempting! The boxes are all cubes made from 12 modular units. They are quite easy to make as well. And I love the little windows in the cubes.

I had previously tried out the original decoration box and was quite pleased with the results. This time, I tried out the first of the modular cubes, which is actually a variation of Lewis Simon's decoration box.

This turns out to be much more economical than the decoration box too, since it is made from 12 rectangles in 1:2 ratio (a square cut in two). The decoration box, on the other hand, is made from squares. So you can make 2 of these modular cubes for each of the decoration boxes :) Naturally, the size of the cube is also smaller than the decoration box.

While folding the cubes, the one issue I faced was that, the backside of the paper (white in my case), can be seen peeking out in quite a few places! No matter how I folded it, the white was visible :( I guess paper coloured the same on both sides would have been better.

Well, I will be folding a few more of these cubes. The next variation of the decoration box is the next on my list, followed probably by the Ninja Star cube.

Model Details:

Model: Modular Box 

Creator: Bennett Arnstein

Book: Modular Origami Polyhedra
 
Author: Lewis Simon, Bennett Arnstein, Rona Gurkewitz
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Rectangle in ratio 1:2

Paper Size: 1.25 by 3.5 inches

Model Size: Square cube with approximate side of 1.25 inches

Modules: 12

 After the tutorial for making the masu box, here is the tutorial for the lid :)

The lid is made from a square the same size as the base. In spite of that, it needs to be slightly larger than the base so that it fits well. And I like my lid to be of a lesser height, so that it is easy to open the box. So with a few changes to the masu box, here is the masu lid! :)

I have explained in a lot of detail, so that all steps are clear. So though it make look like a lot of steps, it isn't very difficult to do. Please drop a comment if any step is unclear.

Time Required: ~10 minutes
Difficulty Level: Simple
What is needed: 

• 2 squares of paper, both measuring around 8 inches.
• Pencil or pen to make some markings
• Paper clips
• Glue

How to Fold:

1. The green square is the one that will be used for the lid.

2. Follow Steps 3 to 7 in the masu box tutorial, so that all four corners are folded to the centre.

3. Unfold the masu box completely and fold the four corners to the centre. The yellow one is the unfolded masu box. We need this so that we can fold the lid slightly larger than the base.

4. Place the 2 pieces face-to-face so that the folded corners are inside. We are going to align the pieces so that the folded edge of the lid lines with the first crease of the base (marked with a dotted line in the base).

5. Align the lid exactly on top of the base, as shown. Use a paper clip to hold the pieces in place. Once you get the hang of this, you will no longer need the paper clips :)

6. Turn it over so that the base sheet comes on the top and the lid at the bottom.

7. Now fold the part of the lid that is projecting out, over the base. You will notice that the edge of the lid does not line up correctly with the crease in the base. This will ensure that the lid is just a tad bigger than the base. Repeat Steps 5 to 7 for the remaining 3 edges.

8. Open up completely and place the paper so that the coloured side is facing you.

9. Fold in half so that one edge meets the other but don’t crease fully. Only crease from the edges to the next crease. Repeat for the other edge.

10. Unfold and turn over so that the white side faces you.

11. The next crease is going to be made using the 2 consecutive creases, marked in Step 11.

12. Fold and align the marked creases, so that you have a new crease mid-way between them. This will be the actual height of the box. You can play around with this fold, to make the lid a little taller or shorter than this. Repeat the fold for the other 3 sides.

13. Open up. You have now made all the creases necessary for folding the lid.

14. You can reinforce the crease made in Step 12 to ensure that the sides of the lid is sharp.

15. Fold opposite corners as shown and life up to form 2 sides of the lid. The corners will not meet in the centre, as in the base, but rather, will overlap and touch the opposite edge.

16. Now, the steps are the same as the base. Push in the the corners on the third side. The paper will naturally fold in on existing creases. Use paper clips, if required, to hold in place.

17. Fold down inside and crease well. 3 sides now completed.

18. Repeat on the 4th side. Crease the edges well. Since the sides are shorter than the base, you will need to glue down the parts that were folded in.

19. Refold your base. Cover the base with the lid, it should fit perfectly :)

When I had posted these masu boxes earlier, a friend of my mother's, a very creative lady herself, had remarked on my Facebook page that these boxes very amazingly beautiful :) Well, that gave me quite a high! And got me busily working on the tutorial that I had promised in the post.

On an aside - If you have followed my previous tutorials, I usually make them from Google's Picasa's collages. But lucky me, I found a new collage maker called 'Picture Collage Maker Pro'. I found the software remarkably easy to use and am quite fond of this new tutorial! What do you think? Is it better than my previous ones?

Well, to continue with my tutorial, today I will post the one for making the actual masu box. It is relatively simple and can be done in 10 minutes, tops.

Time Required: ~10 minutes
Difficulty Level: Simple
What is needed: 

• 2 squares of paper, both measuring around 8 inches.
• Pencil or pen to make some markings
• Paper clips
• Glue

How to Fold:

 

1. I am using paper coloured on a single side, yellow for the base and green for the lid.

2. Well, the yellow will be the one in this tutorial.

3. Flip the paper over so that the white side is facing up.

4. Fold along the diagonal and pinch the centre. Don't crease the entire diagonal. You are just trying to find a centre point.

5. Open. Fold along the other diagonal and again, pinch the centre.

6. The two pinches from Steps 4 and 5 should have intersected at the centre. I have marked it with 2 perpendicular lines. You can mark it with a pencil if it isn't very clear.

7. Fold the 4 corners to these markings and crease well.

8. Unfold 2 opposite flaps.

9. Fold the folded edge to the centre as shown.

10. Repeat for the opposite flap.

11. Open up fully and turn it over so that the coloured sided faces you.

12. Fold in half so that one edge meets the other but don't crease fully. Only crease from the edges till you hit the creases made in Steps 9 and 10. Repeat for the other edge.

13. Unfold and turn over so that the white side faces you. You have now completed all creases for folding the box!

14. Fold opposite corners to the centre.

15. Lift the 2 sides on existing creases (made in Steps 9 and 10) and push in the the corners on the third side. The paper will naturally fold in on the crease made in Step 12. Use paper clips, if required, to hold in place.

16. Fold it down inside and crease well. You now have 3 sides completed :)

17. Repeat on the opposite side and you are done!

The flaps inside the box can be glued down for a cleaner look. If you wish to do that, please hold on till my next tutorial, cos we need to undo this box a bit, to get the right side for the corresponding lid.

This wreath is from David Petty's book 'Origami 1-2-3'. I have previously tried out a few projects from this book and promptly lost the book! That is, till I found it during some house cleaning :)

This modular piece sounded interesting, so I tried it out. But as per the design, the wreath does not end with pointed ends. The ends are folded down into the neighbouring module to form a kinda blunted wreath. Check out the next picture for the actual wreath - the one in yellow is the way to go. The pointed end one is not very stable and needs to be glued in place if you actually want to use it somewhere.

I used regular copy paper, cut into 2 inch squares. It resulted in a pointy wreath measuring about 4 inches in diameter and a blunted wreath about 2.5 inches in diameter.

The most curious thing for me, about this wreath was that it requires 13 units! I have never come across another model that required 13 modules :) For the blue one, I did add 14 modules though - it was just a tad more stable with 14!

Model Details:

Model: Wreaths / Flower Wheel

Creator: David Petty

Book: Origami A-B-C

Author: David Petty

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 inch squares

Model Size: ~4 inches (blue one) and 2.5 inches (yellow one)

Modules: 13 or 14

I have previously made a butterfly bookmark designed by Grzegorz Bubniak. And today, I tried out his elephant bookmark, which clearly shows an elephant's head. It is quite easy to make out the ears, trunk and tusks. I like the colour change in the tusks.

The bookmark works best with duo coloured paper - grey and ivory would be the most ideal colour choice, in which case the elephant would be in grey and the tusks in ivory. I have used a 4.5 inch square which resulted in a bookmark that measured 2.5 inches from head to trunk tip and 2.75 inches from ear to ear. The size was ideal to use in books :)

When the bookmark is inserted in a book and the book is closed, only the ears can be seen outside the book end. This, I felt, was better than the butterfly bookmark, where more than half the bookmark is visible, which makes it very easy to crush it! In the elephant bookmark, since only the ears are visible, and that too a pre-creased end, we would, in most probability, end up folding the ear along those creases.

Model Details:

Model: Elephant Bookmark 

Creator: Grzegorz Bubniak

Website: GregOrigami
  
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4.5 inches

Model Size: 2.5 inches long and 2.75 inches wide

Diagram: Dev.Origami

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you would know that I love making boxes :) And the easiest boxes to make are masu boxes. Masu boxes are actually traditional Japanese wooden, square boxes that were used to measure rice.

The origami masu box is made from a square paper and results in a square box. These make great gift boxes, if a lid is added to it. The lid can also be made from paper the same size. Some minor variations to the regular masu box folding results in a slightly larger and shorter lid. Tutorial for this is coming your way! So stay tuned :)

As for the box, it is fairly sturdy if made from scrapbooking paper, printer paper or gift wrappers. If you want sturdier boxes, then it is better to cut out thin cardboard paper (say, from cereal boxes) and insert them into the base and sides of the box.

Model Details:

Model: Masu Box 

Origin: Traditional

Difficulty Level: Simple

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: Any size from around 3 inches to 12  inches

Model Size: ~ a third of the paper size in width and a fifth in height. So if your paper is 6 inches, then the resulting box will be approximately 2 inches wide and 1.2 inches high.

Instructions: Origami Instructions

I have been thinking of trying out an origami composition which is an assembly of various origami, around a common theme.

The composition that I worked on was a beach with boats and houses along the beach and here is what I finally managed to come up with :) I hadn't realized that making a composition could be quite this time-consuming! Finalizing what I wanted to make was the simplest part of the process. I then had to decide on the size, then try out quite a few times to get the proportions right. Finally I set everything in place to complete the arrangement. So given the pains I took to get it done, I must say I am quite proud of it! I think it has come out very well :)

If you want to give the composition a try, I have posted on most of the individual origami earlier. So do take a look :) The composition is made up of

• Sun / Kalami Star
• Catamaran
• House
• Duck
• Beach Chair
• Tulips

I love folding spirals and I think the queen of origami spirals would be Tomoko Fuse! So since it has been a long time since I folded boxes with spirals, I tried out this little 4-sided box, from her book 'Let's Fold Spirals'. This box is the second of the 2 square boxes and is a pleasure to fold. It took me about 15 minutes to complete the full box, pretty fast I think.

I had used fairly sturdy paper (4*4 memo paper) to fold it, so the end box was also quite sturdy. I like the shape - the height is greater than the usual origami boxes. The spiral also gives the impression of an even taller box. And the slanting lines add a great touch.

Altogether a delightful box to fold :)

Model Details:

Model: Square Spiral Box

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Let's Fold Spirals

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Language: Japanese

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4 inches

Model Size: ~2.5 inches tall (the spiral adds half an inch) and 2 inches wide

Number of Modules: 4

The origami sun was one of the designs I started folding in the beginning of the month, but was pleasantly side-tracked into folding a Compass Rose, which to me, looked kinda like the sun!

But I finally got around to folding the sun, designed by Jo Nakashima. It wasn't exactly a piece of cake and I still don't think I have got it quite right. There were a lot of pre-creasings and I think I might have missed out a couple, cos the shape isn't as nice as what Jo Nakashima demonstrates in his video.

The paper I had used was a 4-inch square and the resulting sun was about 3 inches in size.

Model Details:

Model: Sun

Creator: Jo Nakashima

Creator Online: Youtube, Facebook
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4 inches

Model Size: ~3 inches

Tutorial: Youtube

This duck origami is a traditional design and it can be folded in a variety of sizes. I folded mine in 2 sizes - 3 and 2 inches. It resulted in ducks that were around 1 inch in height. Since they can be folded into such a small size, they make great additions to cards. A mamma duck and a row of her little ducklings would make a great Mother's Day card, I think :)

Model Details:

Model: Duck 

Origin: Traditional

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: ~1 inch in height

Tutorial: Youtube

Beach chairs are, I am sure, great to use on a summer day and beach chairs are equally great to fold on a very hot summer day! These beach chairs are courtesy of Yoshihide Momotani, from his amazing book 'Doll Houses with Origami'. Every time I open this book, I am tempted to make one of those beautiful doll house rooms! And this time, I was able to complete these chairs, from the garden scene.

The folding is pretty straight forward. The instructions are in Japanese, but the pictures by themselves are pretty clear. There is also a slight variation to this chair, which results in a chair with a tall back.

Model Details:

Model: Beach Chair 

Creator: Yoshihide Momotani

Book: Doll’s House with Origami
 
Author: Yoshihide Momotani
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 7 inches

Model Size: ~6 inches long and 1.5 inches wide

A catamaran is a boat with two structures that are joined together by a frame. It is a stable boat and quite fast as well, and is a common sight on seas and beaches, especially during summer.

The origami catamaran is a great design to fold on a hot summer day. The design is by Maarten van Gelder. The sail is in a different colour than the rest of the boat, so paper with a solid colour on one side and print on the other is great.

I had some trouble when I folded this initially, at Step 7 of the diagram, where the model is collapsed into shape. I had thought that the creases from Steps 3 to 6 were only for the top layer. I discovered, after fighting with Step 7, that the creases for the layer below as well!

Model Details:

Model: Catamaran 

Creator: Maarten van Gelder

Website: Maarten van Gelder
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 7 inches

Model Size: ~5 inches * ~4 inches

Instructions: Diagrammed Models

Summer is a hot, hot time here, with temperatures touching 100 F (~ 38 C). So I am hardly in a position to go out. The next option for me is of course, to fold something. And what is the most appropriate origami to fold, than the sun?

The first origami sun that popped up was Jo  Nakashima's sun. But before I started working on this one, I chanced upon an Origami Compass Rose (Wind Rose), made from 8 squares of paper, designed by Paolo Bascetta. When I tried it out, I thought it looked more like the sun than a compass rose, with the rays of the sun in alternating colours of yellow and orange. :)

So here is my origami sun/compass rose. I used thick paper, similar to printer paper, essential to hold the sun/rose in shape. It isn't very stable, because the fold that holds the units, is small. That is not to say that you need glue, the shape holds together without glue, but it is wise to use some if you plan on hanging it up.

Model Details:

Model: Compass Rose

Creator: Paolo Bascetta

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 inches

Model Size: ~4 inches

Modules: 8

Instructions: Origami CZ