Well, after a long time I worked on some modular origami - the origami football (soccerball). Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, cos I absolutely loved making the football. It helped that it very closely resembles a real football, so much so that my daughter wanted to kick it around! And everyone in my house is in love with it 😊

Unlike most modular origami, the individual modules are made from equilateral triangles. For my football, I had used A5 sheets (If you have A4 ie., the regular copy paper, cut it in half horizontally to give 2 A5 sheet). Each A5 sheet gives 2 white triangles and 3 black triangles. A total of 20 white pieces and 12 black pieces are needed. So that makes it 10 white A5 sheets and 4 black A5 sheets (In A4 terms, it is 5 white and 2 black A4 sheets).

The white and black pieces are folded differently, as we need white hexagons and black pentagons. While assembling the ball, each black pentagon will be surrounded by 6 white hexagons. You should be aware that of these 6 white hexagons, one side will have a pocket which will be empty. That is because of the combination of hexagons and pentagons and nothing to worry about :)

So give it a go and have fun with the football. It is pretty robust, so you can even throw it around a bit!

Unfortunately I am no longer able to find the diagram for this model. It used to be hosted on Mark Leonard's site but it is no longer available. But all is not lost! I have linked below a youtube tutorial for making said football.

Model Details:

Model: Football

Creator: Mark Leonard

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Triangle

Paper Size: A4 and A5 paper

Model Size: ~4 inches in diameter

Modules: 32

Tutorial: Youtube

Summer is a time for beach-themed projects and challenges I think. Last year, I had made a summer-themed origami composition. This year, a Facebook group had a challenge for May, which comes to a close today. I tend to wait till the last minute before completing projects! The theme was simple - Beach. Anything to do with the beach is good. The challenge was that we are not to use our usual craft medium. In my case, paper. That proved very complex for me!

Anything and everything crafty that I can think of, is of paper. I am pretty good with my sewing machine but I really couldn't find something that I could do easily. I finally chanced upon this beach-themed wreath that seemed do-able. So I went about collecting shells, pearls and more shells! And managed to complete my wreath today.. finally!!

I started off with a wreath base. After completing 2 wreaths, the base is turning out to be pretty quick to make. And very eco-friendly, to boot! And this time, instead of adding my shells directly to the base, I wound it in cream-coloured satin ribbon first. This gave me a three-fold advantage - the back of the wreath (see next pic) had a very smooth and neat finish, the gaps between the shells and pearls wasn't obviously seen and the sheen in the ribbon added a nice touch to the wreath. To wind the ribbon and to add the shells, I used my latest craft purchase - a glue gun :) Ah, the joy of getting things to stick well and quickly, without messing up your fingers! After the ribbon was done, I started adding the bigger shells, followed by the smaller ones and finally the pearls.

One thing I hadn't anticipated was the weight  of the wreath. So now I need to get some good thick ribbon to ensure that the whole thing doesn't fall down when I hang it! And that is my beach-themed project for this summer :)

The Little People's Festival, which was the event I was participating in, an event which I was eagerly looking forward to, finally happened on 27th April. And if you are wondering why I took so long to post details of the event, well, I just turned lazy after a month-long effort of preparing for the sale!

The day of the event started off bright and sunny as most days do in this part of the world! The event was mainly for little people, so we had a number of them participating in some of the games and events planned for them. And once their events were completed, a number of them visited the stalls that sold handmade things.

The PaperNPearlz stall was near the entrance, so we had a lot of visitors. My earrings turned out to be quite a draw too and I am ecstatic! A lot of people had difficulty believing that it was paper until I assured them that it really was :) Kids loved star earrings and I regretted not making more of them. Almost all my star earrings were sold by the end of the day.

Butterfly earrings were another hit. They were small enough for even kindergarten children to wear, so they also sold quite quickly. The geometric earrings and heart earrings were the next popular ones. Leaf earrings and wreath earrings weren't as popular as I would have liked. Smaller sizes would have been more appealing I think.

I had asked my sister-in-law to help out. She, being the amazingly creative person that she is, had worked on some very pretty handmade cards. She had a variety of punches which she had put to good use :) And our recent purchase of card stock paper was a true blessing! A surprising number of children were quite delighted with the cards and picked up quite a few! So did their moms.. and me.. and my parents.. I must say, it is lovely to know that people still give greeting cards in this age of e-cards and online greetings.

And finally, I had made a few hundred little stars and sold them in packs of 15, to be used as confetti, table decor, on gift tags or as I had done - to teach children to count! These star packs were also very popular among the little people. They loved the colours and that they could choose the colours they wanted :) I had a girl pick out only red, yellow and orange stars - amazing how children know exactly what they want!

Well, we all had a lovely time. It turned out to be all that we had wanted it to be. I am delighted that people liked the earrings. I made a lot of new crafty friends and I had a dozen or so people ask me if I would please conduct origami classes. A big thank you to the organizers of the Little People's Festival, for the invite, for their encouragement and their support :)

And of course, all this would not have been possible without a lot of support from my family - My husband, patient with me, even though he never understood why I spent so many hours making tiny little stuff with paper, my Dad, always a support and my constant admirer, my Mom, full of ideas and themes and our cashier, my brother, a source of inspiration who gave me a lot of tips on how to market better, my sister-in-law, a very creative person who helped out with the lovely cards, also my biggest critic encouraging me to go a step further, a fellow paper-buyer and paper enthusiast and my daughter, my biggest fan, my model who patiently helped with my trials to get my earrings to the right size. And finally, I cannot complete the post without thanking God, for the talent, for the opportunity and for all the support and encouragement that I have received.

And with that, I come to end of my first public event! Yay!

This month has been a busy time for me, as I am getting ready for an event. And here is what I have been working on..

These stars set in spirals are decided difficult to make! I wish there were some instrument that would make this easier, but for now, I make these spirals by hand. And those spirals add so much of beauty to these earrings. I have also made star earrings with a single crystal and a few with a coil as a dangler but these, I hope, will be the highlight of my star earrings. In addition to red, I am also making these earrings in rainbow colours.

Another of the star earrings. I must admit this is the first time I am attempting any wire work. And simple as it should be, it has its own challenges for a beginner. Considering the number I am planning on making, I think I should soon turn out to be fairly good at making these spirals! And these star earrings in spirals are by far my favourite in this collection! 

These heart earrings are another favourite of mine. Most of these earrings have a little dangle and are about 5-6 cms in height. Little Miss insisted that I make a few smaller ones too - she is very sure that kids will want to buy them and the ones with the dangle might be too big for them! :) 

Leaf earrings always, always catch the eye. Any time I have worn my leaf earrings, I always receive compliments on my earrings. And people find it so hard to believe that it is paper! I am making these earrings in 2 sizes - 3 cms and 4 cms. Most of them are made from pearlescent momigami paper which adds a beautiful sheen to the earrings. Once again, I am making them in a variety of colours. The little pearl on the top goes well with the pearlized paper :)

And finally, wreath earrings are something that I always make. Made from 16 little bits of paper, they are pretty difficult to handle but look great when worn! I am making these earrings in a variety of washi and chiyogami paper. The gold accents in the chiyogami paper adds definite appeal to the earrings. I am also trying to turn them into studs (earrings on posts instead of fish hooks), though I might not be able to work it out in time for the event. But even on fish hooks, these earrings aren't all that dangly or large.

I have more earrings that I am working on and will post them soon.

This origami bear head bookmark is designed by Klaus-DieterEnnen and isn't very difficult to fold. Duo-coloured paper with brown and black might work out very well I think. Brown for the head and black for the little nose.

The diagram starts with a square base (Instructions).

Model Details:

Model: Bear Bookmark 

Creator: Klaus-DieterEnnen

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 5 inch squares

Model Size: 3.5 inches tall and 2.75 inches across

Diagram: The Origamist - Klaus-Dieters Origami Site

This Easter, let us not forget that it is not about fluffy bunnies and chocolate eggs, but about what Jesus did for us. Happy Easter, dear readers :)

Well, I have been wondering what to fold this Easter and decided to redo Jared Needle's origami cross. It is a beautiful origami to fold and the more I have folded this cross, the more I enjoy it! There are quite a few sinks, both open and closed sinks. Initially the closed sink was a challenge but now I find it pretty easy. And I do like the way the cross is completed. All unnecessary folds are beautifully concealed, both in the front and at the back.

I am sure you are wondering why I have folded so many of crosses. Our BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) classes, for this year, are coming to a close. We are nearly at the end of Genesis (We have been studying Genesis this year) and should be done in a couple more classes I think. So I thought it would be a nice idea to fold this cross, so we can remember our group :) And it makes a handy bookmark, to it might turn out to be a useful addition to the Bible too! I am still not done folding crosses. I need at least 15 and have about 3 more to go.

Model Details:

Model: Cross 

Creator: Jared Needle

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inch squares

Model Size: 4.5 inches tall and 4 inches across

Instructions: Cross by Jared Needle

With Palm Sunday tomorrow, these crosses made from palm leaves should come in handy, I hope :) So here is a quick tutorial to make a palm cross, in 10 simple steps..

Let's start. All we need is half a palm leaf, removed from the central vein and a pair of scissors.

1. Measure and cut the palm leaf to 20 inches. It helps if the size of the leaf is more or less the same throughout. So cut off the top bit, where the leaf narrows down and the bottom bit where it is quite thick, and cut out 20 inches from the remaining leaf.

2. Holding the leaf straight up, fold down the top half of the leaf at 10 inches from the bottom. Fold the leaf forward and ensure that it is perpendicular to the straight  bit.

3. Fold the bit from Step 2 around and behind the straight part of the leaf. The fold will now be in the opposite direction to the previous step.

3A. This is a close up of the folded corner.  You should be able to see the little right-angled triangle, formed from Steps 2 and 3.

4. Fold the arm in the right, again to the left, so that the right-angled triangle (Step 3A) is now hidden. Ensure that this fold is in the front and not behind the previous folds.

5. Now, make a small look (about 2 inches) and again fold to the right. This forms the first arm of the cross.

6. Repeat on the left, to get the second arm of the cross. But ensure that this fold is inbetween 2 layers. You should be near the end of the leaf now. So the last bit will go behind the fold in Step 5 and before the crease of Step 4.

6A. This gives the side view of the layers where the 2 arms of the cross meet. You can see the last bit of the leaf tucked inbetween 2 layers.

7. Almost there! Next, fold down all the layers (the 2 arms of the cross), so that the back of the cross is now seen. You should now be able to see a little square where the arms meet. Ensure that you do not let go of any of the layers here.

8. Now take the other end of the leaf and insert it into the square of the junction of the 2 arms. This might be tricky the first time. If you look into the little square, you will be able to see a little triangle (folded in Step 3). Now the leaf should be inserted above the triangle and below the square. This is the most crucial step that holds the cross together.

9. Slowly pull the end upwards completely. When it is fully through, it will lock the two arms in place. Now the difficult bits are over :)

10. Reinsert the long arm (now at the top), back into the square, as in the previous step. Pull it down slowly and stop when you have about 2 inches between the top and the square junction. This forms the 3 arm of the cross. The bottom bit is the fourth arm.

The cross is now complete :)

The two side arms can be adjusted, in case you feel they are not proportionate. And once you have completed the cross a couple of times, you can just eye-ball the length and finish off the cross in a jiffy..

Hope you have a blessed Palm Sunday.