The kusudama spiral, which looks to me to be less of a kusudama and more of a modular design, is created by Irina Krivyakina. The design is very similar to Tomoko Fuse's spiral origami.

In this design, the 6 sides of the cube are first assembled individually and then put together using connecting units. Each side of the cube is made up of 4 units which are folded together to form the spiral. A total of 24 units are required for the cube faces. The connecting unit is basically a bird base. 12 such units are required for assembling the cube.

3 inch squares are the perfect size for making the cube. I would not suggest a single-sided paper for the units used for assembling the cube. When using single-sided paper, while forming the spiral, I discovered to my dismay, that however I folded it, a little bit of the white was visible at the corners of the spirals. And it was very obviously seen in the completed cube :(

Model Details:

Model: Kusudama Spiral

Creator: Irina Krivyakina

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: ~4 inches

Modules: 36

Photo Tutorial: Stranamasterov

Tutorial: Youtube

I am not sure of the creator of these origami pleated boxes. My guess would of course, be Tomoko Fuse. But I am not able to find any reference to the box in any of her books. Unfortunately I do not remember where I learnt to fold this either. And I do not remember the name of the box either. Since it has got a whole bunch of pleats, I just call it the pleated box. So, not knowing any of these details, I have had little success in finding out the creator. But for now, I am tagging it as Tomoko Fuse.

The box can be made from a variety of paper. I have tried mine with wrapper paper, hand made paper, origami paper, printer paper and it turned out well in all of them. The one made from origami paper (the variations-in-blue one) is my favourite. I tried it out in a variety of sizes too. From 5 inch squares to 2 inch squares. All look fantastic I think :)

Model Details:

Model: Pleated Box 

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Modules: 4 for the base and 4 for the lid

The truncated icosahedron is another of Tomoko Fuse's modular creations. This is from her book Unit Polyhedron Origami. The model is fairly easy to do. It rather reminds me the origami football I had folded nearly a year back!

The model is made of a combination of hexagonal flat units and connecting units that connect the hexagonal units. Usually modular units have a pocket and a tab - each tab fits into its adjacent unit. But in these models, the hexagonal shapes have 3 pockets and no tabs. So the connecting units fit into the pockets of adjacent hexagons and hold the model together.

I like the little windows in the model as well :) Also, though the backs of the hexagons can be seen through the windows, the reverse side of the paper is not seen in the completed unit. So single-sided paper works perfectly well. I had used 80 gsm paper which turned out to be great for this model. The completed truncated icosahedron is sturdy - so sturdy, in fact, that my brother suggested we use it as a football! 😮

Model Details:

Model: Truncated Icosahedron

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Unit Polyhedron Origami
 
Author: Tomoko Fuse
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inches for the hexagons; 1.75 inches for the connectors

Model Size: ~5 inches in diameter

Modules: 50

The rabbit by Stephen O'Hanlon is another easy rabbit to do. And I found it a lot more realistic than the traditional rabbit. Love the super-long ears of these rabbits!

It takes very little time to complete - about 10 minutes or so. So I think it will also make a great kids project.

Model Details:

Model: Rabbit 

Creator: Stephen O'Hanlon

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inches

Model Size: 3.25 inches in height and 2.5 inches across

Diagram: Fishgoth.com

Tutorial: Youtube 

The traditional origami rabbit is pretty easy to make and there are plenty of tutorials out there to help out. I have been trying out other rabbits as well, and am amazed at the number of origami rabbits there are - everything from the super simple to the super complex! I think I can make these every day for a month and still have pending designs!

Model Details:

Model: Rabbit 

Origin: Traditional

Difficulty Level: Simple

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: ~2 inches in height and 1.5 inches across

Tutorial: Youtube 

If you are familiar with folding the traditional origami crane and the origami Kawasaki rose, then why not try out the Origami Tsuri Rose - a modified crane with a rose in the centre.

The tsuru rose has been on my to-do list for quite some time. And finally I was able to try it out - mostly because the monthly theme at the Origami Society of Madras is a crane and I didn't want to end up folding the traditional crane :)

The crane is not easy to fold - I would rate it as a high intermediate. And the reason for is, once the pre-creasing is over, immediately on starting the folds, the model becomes 3D. So almost from the beginning (Step 10 in the diagram), we end up folding in the air. And as the folding progresses, there are quite a few layers of paper to fold, which makes it harder to fold or get crisp creases. And getting a good, well-creased crane without crushing the rose in the centre was pretty challenging for me. That said, after I had tried it a couple of times, I was quite happy with the outcome :)

Model Details:

Model: Tsuru Rose

Creator: Satoshi Kamiya

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inches

Model Size: ~ 5 inches wingspan and 4 inch from head to tail

Instructions: Coisas de papel

I love reading and, consequently, love collecting bookmarks. But since it was Valentine's Day a couple of days back, I wanted to make heart shaped bookmarks. So off I went, making a whole bunch of these heart bookmarks for everyone I know! Wonderful V-Day gift for a book lover, huh?

The bookmarks are pretty easy to make, thanks to the tutorial by Jo Nakashima, who is also the creator of this model. They are made from a rectangle in the ratio 1:2 but from the tutorial, I understand any rectangle will work just fine.

Model Details:

Model: Heart Bookmarks 

Creator: Jo Nakashima

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Rectangle

Paper Size: 6 * 3 inches

Model Size: ~4.5 inches long by 1 inch heart

Tutorial: Youtube