While I love folding origami kusudamas, over the past few years, I find it more pleasing to fold geometric modular shapes. And for those who are interested in polyhedral origami, Tomoko Fuse's book 'Unit Origami Essence' is an absolute treasure trove! As is the case with most of her other books, this book too is entirely in Japanese. But that is no hindrance, since the pictorial steps are very clear and fairly easy to follow. And in the few places that one might get stuck, Google Translate comes to the rescue.

One of the drawbacks of using a Japanese books is that I was not able to figure out the names of each of the models. The book is divided into 4 chapters. The first chapter is on cubes. The second chapter deals with solids made from triangular bases, the third - solids made from pentagonal bases and finally, the fourth deals with solids from star-shaped bases.

My first attempt from the book was from the Cubes section. I tried out pretty much all the cube models. The individual modules are pretty easy to fold. The second of the models (in brown and yellow in the pic) was very unique - made from boat-shaped units, 4 units in all. Most of the other cubes were from 6 modules. A couple of the cubes were pretty nice variations.

All the models have a recommended size listed. For all the cubes I had tried, it was given as 15 cms * 15 cms (6 inches * 6 inches). But I had used 9 cms * 9 cms (3.5 inches * 3.5 inches) squares and didn't have much difficulty folding or assembling the pieces.

Model Details:

Model: Various Cubes

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Unit Origami Essence

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Language: Japanese

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inches

Model Size: ~1.4 inches side

Number of Modules: 3 to 6

With summer just around the corner, Little Miss decided that she wanted me to weave her a hat.. So naturally, I got cracking and used my trial tubes to make a trial hat.

Whenever I roll tubes, I segregate them into 3-4 categories - the no-print tubes, tubes with only black print and the rest of the coloured tubes. The coloured tubes are used for all my trials. I don't paint them, so they are not very strong. Anyway, I always have a couple of bunches of these trial tubes.

The procedure was pretty elementary - round box for form, started with 16 tubes in the centre and wove around the form till I was happy with the size, then I flattened out the tubes and wove the rim of the hat.

Here's Little Miss, modelling the hat. Unfortunately, a round hat doesn't really fit our heads! I did not realise this till she tried it out. Apparently, according to a few hat-related videos that I subsequently watched, the top of the hat needs to be more oval than rounded. So though I am happy with the initial output, there is much work to do before I can start making hats in various colours for Little Miss. She has already given me the colour combinations that I need to start working on 😄

This origami star, designed by Enrica Dray, is a modular star made from 8 modules. It is really simple to fold and beautiful and elegant when completed. The star has a slight 3-D effect, since the top layer does not lie flat against the lower layer. The back of the star (Second pic), I thought, was as beautiful as the front!

2 contrasting colours work best for this model. Since I have a very bad eye for colour selection, I used the net to find out 2-colour combinations and liked the black-beige yellow the best. Origami 60 gsm paper, 3 inch squares, 4 of black and 4 of beige yellow, resulted in a star about 4 inches across.

Previously, I have folded the Mina Kusudama, also designed by Enrica Dray. Like the star, the mina kusudama was also easy to fold and assemble. It is of course, made from 30 modules, so it is more time-consuming than the star, but equally satisfying to work on.

Model Details:

Model: Star 

Creator: Enrica Dray

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inch squares

Model Size: ~4 inches across

Modules: 8

Tutorial: Youtube 

Since my last couple of woven projects have been fairly successful, I decided to try out another shape - an oval container. I used a used oval ice-cream box as the base and started working on the box. My primary reason for trying out this shape was to figure out how to weave the base. Since the base is not circular, there are some calculations involved to figure out the initial weave.

Suffice it to say, for me, the base was a disaster (hence the absence of photos of the base!! 😀). But once the walls were formed, the task was much simpler. Since I had two shades of blue, I wanted to use both and so decided on using the Layer-wise Rope Style pattern. A detailed MK (MasterKlass, for the uninitiated) on Youtube (link below) by the talented Elena Tishchenko provided all the help I needed.

Overall, not too bad for a first attempt. One area that I really need to work on is uniformity of height! As is obvious from the picture, in some places, it is too short and in others, too tall! I also need to figure out how to hide the cut ends near the top edge. Well, practise makes perfect and I really need to practise! 😊

Model Details:

Model: Woven Oval Container

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Tutorial (Layer-wise Rope Style Pattern): Youtube (Part 1, Part 2)

We had recently been on a short trip to the sea, for the summer. And while doing some shopping, I came across an amazing shop which had some fabulous wrapper paper in some awesome colours and patterns. So I ended up picking up a whole lot of paper and now I have enough to last me a lifetime!!

The cream and chocolate brown papers in this hexagon box were a couple of sheets I picked up there. The moment I saw the paper, I fell in love with it and have been trying to decide on the model. Finally I decided to make one of Tomoko Fuse’s beautiful boxes from her book on spirals.

The paper was thicker than regular origami paper, so the box turned out to be quite sturdy, though it required more effort in folding and assembling. The spirals were difficult because of handling 6 arms simultaneously but the end result was so satisfying that I just sat and admired the box for about half an hour after I had completed it!

Model Details:

Model: Hexagon Box 

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Let’s Fold Spirals
 
Author: Tomoko Fuse
 
Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 inches

Modules: 12 (6 + 6)

Well, well, well, it appears that I have completed 2 newspaper weaving projects in a month! This was yet another order that I had received. And I must say I was initially tempted to say no! I mean, I have never worked on a tissue holder, my magazine racks to-date were not really a success, so I was not sure I would be able to pull it off. But finally, after much research on Youtube and Pinterest and quite a few trials, I am done with it 😊

Of the three, the magazine rack was definitely the toughest. I started off with a plywood base with holes drilled every 2 cms. Walnut wood stained newspaper tubes formed the vertical racks. After that, it was just a matter of mixing the green and lavender tubes to form the pattern.

The pen holder was quite easy - circular base, raised the side tubes and used green and lavender to complete the sides. The tissue holder was a challenge because I have never done one before. I think I can improve on this in my next attempt. I added a little handle to hold the 2 sides and to keep the tissues in place.

Couldn't resist posting yet another picture of the magazine rack. I covered the plywood base with brown wallpaper to give it a more professional look. A closer look will give a better view of the base. 

How about that? An order for a serving tray and 4 coasters completed! Very happy with the way the project has shaped up 😊 The tray is 12 inches in diameter and the coasters are 5 inches across. I had made the tray with a couple of handles on either side, making it easier to carry it. I ended up using a total of about 250 rolls for the tray and 200 rolls for the coasters - 50 per coaster.

Also, notice the origami stars scattered on the tray? Courtesy of Little Miss, who decided that the tray will look even more beautiful with the stars scattered randomly. Well, can't argue with her, so there you go...

The best part of the project for me? The edging of the tray. Can you make out those long loops that form a thick edge? This was something I have been practising for some time now, but failing more often than not! So when it turned out perfect for this tray, I was over the moon! 😎

Finally, once all the gluing and drying was complete, I varnished the tray and the coasters and allowed them to dry over night and now, all I need to do is pack and send them to their new owners 😊 An exciting end to the day! Yay!