While origami kusudamas and other modular oriami pieces are great decorations for Christmas, one must admit that they are not the simplest of decorations to work on. They are usually time consuming and, in my case, unless I start preparing for Christmas at least a month in advance, I find that I have very few pieces to decorate my house with.

That is where paper crafts help me out a lot! Paper craft decorations usually include glue and cutting and snipping but they are simple to make and I can get my daughter, Little Miss, to help me out as well!

One such is this modular star that I had done last year. I had also meant to post a tutorial but never got around to it. With Christmas around the corner, now is a great time for this tutorial! I hope you enjoy making this star :) Here are the instructions (Click on the picture for a larger one)

What is needed: 

• 5 or 6 squares of paper – about 4 – 5 inches is ideal. Thick paper is the best for making these stars, preferably card stock. 5 squares will give a 5-armed star and 6 would result in a 6-armed star. 
• Glue
• String
• Glitter, colours, paints, anything else that can add beauty to the star

Steps: 

1. For each of the squares of paper for the star, 
2. Fold in half, left to right, and unfold.
3. Fold in half, bottom to top, and unfold. 
4. Turn over
5. Fold one diagonal and unfold. Turn the paper over again
6. If you press the center of the square, the paper will start to fold down by itself, along the diagonal and the folds of steps 2 and 3.
7. Flatten down the folds to form a square. This is a square base in origami.
8. Repeat for the other 5 or 6 squares
9. Place one square base on top of the other and clip them together
10. Continue clipping the squares for the remaining pieces. Add the string in between 2 square bases. 
11. Once you are satisfied with the arrangement, apply glue to each of the clipped surfaces – ensure that glue is applied to the whole surface, else there will be a big gap in the middle of the star. Apply some extra glue to the string to hold it securely in place. Clip the glued star till the glue dried completely.
12. Decorate the star to your heart’s content and hang on your Christmas tree!

The Ari Jigoku or Ant Lion’s Nest is a modular origami, designed by Silvana Betti Mamino. The units are made from rectangles in the ratio 1:2. A total of 30 units are required. The curls should be completed before the assembly. The completed kusudam is very sturdy and does not require any glue.

The origami looks best in solid duo coloured paper. I also tried one with wrapper paper but unfortunately, the curls do not show up very well, so it wasn’t much of a success.

Model Details:

Model: Ari Jigoku

Creator: Silvana Betti Mamino

Book: Unit Origami Fantasy

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Rectangular in ratio 1:2

Paper Size: 3 inches * 1.5 inches

Number of Modules: 30

Tutorial: Stranamasterov.ru

Roman Diaz's book "Origami Essence" is a very cool book with a number of origami animals and birds. The first of them is this panda, an easy, geometrical version.

The diagram is easy to follow. The suggested paper size is 15-20 cms and I used 15 cms square. A smaller square, I thought, would have resulted in a smaller and more appealing panda!

Model Details:

Model: Panda 

Creator: Roman Diaz 

Book: Origami Essence

Author: Roman Diaz

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inches

Model Size: ~3 inches in height

Tutorial: Youtube Part 1 and Part 2

Recently I tried the origami barracuda from John Montroll and Robert Lang's book 'Origami Under the Sea'.

The model is designed by John Montroll and is a complex one to fold. I started with a large square of paper, 14 inches side. I didn't want to get stuck in the middle because the paper was too small! But I think a 12-inch square would have worked well too.

This is the first time I am folding a complex origami animal. I hadn't realised that they would turn out to be quite that thick! I am not too happy with the way the fins turned out. I think they are  a bit displaced. And the eyes aren't too prominent but other than that, I am quite happy with my first effort 😀

The paper I have used is a very crisp and thin banana paper. This is the first time I am using such a paper and it worked out really well for a complex origami.

Model Details:

Model: Barracuda 

Creator: John Montroll

Book: Origami Under the Sea
 
Author: John Montroll & Robert Lang
 
Difficulty Level: Complex

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 14 inch squares

The Origami 4-star box is one of the very few models that I was able to fold from the Origami Tanteidan Vol 17. I was actually quite delighted to find that I could actually fold one of the models, given the complexity of the origami!

The box is a modular pattern, 4 modules for the lid and 4 for the base. The lid and base are folded in the same way except (1) the walls of the base are higher than the lid and (2) the spiral of the base is folded into the model so that it isn't visible at the base.

I found the model interesting to fold in that, usual modular boxes are folded as 2D and in the final step they are converted into 3D. But in this one, the model no longer lies flat from the second step after the precreasing. And of course, the folding the spiral into the base wall was also something new.

Model Details:

Model: Four Star Box

Creator: Toshikazu Kawasaki

Book: Origami Tanteidan, Volume 17

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 5 inches squares

Modules: 4 for base and 4 for lid

I found Roman Diaz's house a unique design to fold and enjoyed folding it! The design is such that the height and width of the house can be changed, so I guess it is possible to make houses in an ascending order of size! Instructions can be found in Volume 17 of the Origami Tanteidan.

The lock that holds the roof in place is quite interesting.

Single sided paper might not give you a very good result, since part of the house would end up in white, with the rest of the house in colour. Solid colours on both sides or print and single colour, like what I have used, would be good.

Altogether, a very good origami to fold :)

Model Details:

Model: House 

Creator: Roman Diaz

Website: Dosis Diaria de Origami
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inches

After trying Yuri Shumakov's vase yesterday, I decided to try out the next vase - or rather, box - by Katrin Shumakov.

The Bonsai Box is a popular origami box, designed by Katrin Shumakov. As boxes go, this is a complex origami, one that I have always been scared of trying, thinking that it will be too complex for me.

Now that I finally tried it out, I realised that it wasn't as complex as I feared! The best part of the box is that, unlike the other boxes/vases from Oriland, this has a good, wide mouth, that makes it a very convenient box to hold little things that are always scattered around my house.

Model Details:

Model: Bonsai Box 

Creator: Katrin Shumakov

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 8 inches

Tutorial: Youtube