Roman Diaz's origami owl was a delight to fold, so this year, I wanted to try more of the origami from the book "Origami Essence". The origami Wren (Ratonera) is the third origami from the book and a little more complex than either the panda or the owl.

The suggested paper size is 5-6 inches but since I had some foil-backed origami paper of 4.5 inches size, I decided to go ahead with that. A colour change is seen near the neck of the wren and at the legs.

I enjoyed folding this little bird and am delighted that I started the year with this origami, even though origami life-forms are not generally my cup of tea. I loved the colour change, the shaping of the beak and the tail. A very lovely model to fold.

I hope I get the chance to fold more models from the book.. Hopefully the cardinal, provided I get red/black kami paper!

Model Details:

Model: Wren (Ratonera) 

Creator: Roman Diaz 

Book: Origami Essence

Author: Roman Diaz

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4.5 inches

Model Size: ~3 inches in height

Happy New Year 2020!

The old year has passed and as we step into a new year, here's to a wonderful, peaceful and blessed new year to everyone out there!

PaperNPearlz has been doing pretty well this year! Posts have been fairly regular, with many posts on the wonderfully challenging technique of newspaper weaving.

We have started off for the first time on Instagram, became more active on Facebook and Pinterest. And a dormant account on Flickr! came to life finally!

The most liked posts on the various social media sites is what is posted here. As expected, Tomoko Fuse's modulars featured widely.

In this new year, hopefully we will see more origami modulars and other challenging projects. And I also hope to see some woven products. And maybe some tutorials too!

Once again, a happy New Year 2020!

Here is the list of models with links to more detailed posts:
1. Tornado designed by Aldo Marcell
2. Cassiopeia Kusudama by Uniya Filonova
3. Butterfly Kusudama by Tomoko Fuse
4. Little Turtle Kusudama by Tomoko Fuse
5. Octagonal Box by Tomoko Fuse
6. Petals Type II Kusudama by Tomoko Fuse
7. Hacky Sack by Winson Chan
8. Little Turtle Kusudama Variation by Tomoko Fuse
9. Patterned Icosahedron by Meenakshi Mukerji

This blue bowl is the first large-sized bowl that I have tried, that has come out reasonably well! The problem with bowls that I have found is that, while the start is pretty standard with the help of a form, it is inward curve at the top that causes trouble.

The reason being that a form can no longer be used! So this is more of eye-balling the correct curvature so that the bowl is shaped uniformly. I have always had a problem with this and usually my bowls turn out a little too one-sided for my liking! So I am quite delighted that for the very first time, I have done a decent job and the bowl looks more centred.

I also like the way the edging has been done. The edge with a whole bunch of 'V's is more attractive than the usual edges that I use and gives a good finish to the bowl, I thought.

Model Details:

Model: Woven Bowl

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Tutorial (making newspaper tubes): Youtube

Happy New Year, dear readers! 😊

I haven't been the most regular blogger these past few months, but I have been quite busy, making paper products, rather than working on origami! I make paper bags and pillow boxes and of late, this has been quite popular on my Facebook Page. So I have been inundated with orders to make these bags and boxes.

In addition to this, I have also been working on my origami jewelry. My favourite and most time-consuming one has been these leaf earrings. Each cluster is made up of 15 leaves, each leaf measuring 0.5 inch in length. Folding these leaves was an amazing lesson in patience! I worked completely with tweezers and tooth picks, for a total of 3.5 hours, to make these earrings. The earrings measure about 2.5 inches in length and are super-light.

Another personal favourite is the leaf earring. I love that these earrings can be made in a wide range of colours - washi and chiyogami paper is the best since it has the best print for these earrings. These earrings are delightfully unique and are sure to be conversation starters!

In addition to origami jewelry, I have been making quite a few paper bags, from handmade paper and scrapbooking paper. These bags measure 6*4 inches in size and are very colourful to look at. Every time I make these bags, I have to force myself to give them to my clients! With Valentine's Day just round the corner, I am now making valentine-themed bags, which look absolutely adorable :) More pictures on my Facebook Page. 

And finally, pillow boxes are also in demand. Right now, I am working on an order to make 50 boxes. Making such large quantities of handmade goods is tiring, which I am learning to my dismay! But these boxes are perfect for small gifts like jewelry, and add a beautiful touch of elegance, even to the simplest gifts. So I think I will get a whole lot more orders and I better find out more efficient ways of making them!

Finally, I am trying to understand Google+ pages. I have now created a page for Paper N Pearlz. I am yet to understand the repercussions of claiming a custom URL, though I do understand that Google can make it chargeable in the future. If you are on Google+, please do +1 Paper N Pearlz. I have also added a Google+ badge at the top of the page and hopefully that should make the process easier 😊

And with that I come to the end of my first post for this new year :)

The Kawasaki origami rose is something every origamist tries. I too did. But my first attempt, about 3 - 4 years back, was not much of a success and that put me off roses.

But recently, there was a post in one of the Facebook groups I belong to, with pictures of their origami roses. So I decided to give it another go. I started with a 6 inch square and ended up with a pretty good rose in pink. Then decided to see what would be the smallest rose I can fold. So worked with a 5-inch square next, then 4, then 3. After that, 2 inches looked quite small, so switched over to cms then! The next roses were with 6 cms, 5 cms and 4 cms squares. The 4 cms square resulted in a rose small enough to become an earring. And that would be my next project I hope. The pale pink rose (next to the smallest rose) is my favourite one, though it was quite difficult to fold.

After folding all of 8 roses, one thing I realised was that the creases were the most important part of folding these roses. I found that the softer my creases, the better looking my rose. So when I creased well, as I usually do, I ended up with an angular rose which isn't very appealing. And now I think I will get started on more teeny tiny roses and try to make them into earrings :)

Model Details:

Model: Rose 

Creator: Toshikazu Kawasaki

Book: Origami for the Connoisseur
 
Author: Kunihiko Kasahara, Toshie Takahama
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: varying from 6 inches to 4 cms

Model Size: varying from 1.5 inches to 1 cm

Tutorial: Youtube

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

 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.