Well, a recent order for a pot holder made from newspaper rolls with order to 'go crazy!' gave me the liberty to try out this cute snail pot holder. Since I wanted the newspaper print to be visible, I coloured the paper with print in brown and cream and ended up with a real cute holder.

To hold the snail shape, I threaded the tubes with wire - that meant I was able to shape it well and it also made the weaving a lot easier! Finally 2 too big eyes and a coat of varnish and the holder was ready 😊

Here is the holder with a small pot in it. The picture really does not do justice to how well it turned out! And once the order was complete, I needed to make one more, since Little Miss had fallen in love with it. So the next one I made was smaller and was more of a pen stand. I reused some of the newspaper tubes from another project and ended up with a yellow and purple snail pen holder.

In recent times I have made quite a few of Tomoko Fuse's modular origami. So for a change, I decided to try out Tom Hull's Bouncy Ball.

The Bouncy Unit Icosahedron, better known as the Bouncy Ball is made from 30 square modules. The folding starts with creasing into fifths. Once the paper is folded into fifths, the strip is folded to form the modules. So thin origami (60 gsm) paper is recommended, as we will be folding 5 layers of paper together.

Assembly is a little challenging, but once fully assembled, the model is really strong. And makes a great bouncy ball!

Model Details:

Model: Bouncy Ball 

Creator: Tom Hull

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inch squares

Model Size: ~4 inches in diameter

Modules: 30

Tutorial: Youtube

The Edge Unit A is the first of the modular origami designs from Tomoko Fuse's 'Unit Origami Wonderland'. The edges form a 90 degree angle on either side.

I have folded the cube, made from 12 such modules. The model is quite firm and assembly was not too much of a challenge either. Overall, a pleasing modular to work on.

Model Details:

Model: Cube from Edge Unit A 

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Unit Origami Wonderland
 
Author: Tomoko Fuse

Language: Japanese
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: ~3 inches side

Modules: 12

By far, my most professional attempt at my paper weaving projects, this orange and grey newspaper woven cup and saucer is my personal favourite. 

The tubes were actually part of my previous project - a coffee themed oval container. I loved the colour combination, so decided to make another project using the same. 

A lot of planning went into this set - from the way to start off and the method to interchange the colours, the reverse rope pattern in the centre, the edging of the saucer and also the cup - everything was planned. And I must say I am quite happy with the way it turned out. Specifically, I love the cross-pattern of the bottom and the beauty of the edging for both saucer and cup. 

To add durability to the handle, I ended up threading a wire through the 2 main anchoring tubes. So once I varnished it, the handle became incredibly strong. And overall, the cup can hold quite a bit of weight. 

I believe I have waxed eloquent about the project!! I do realise that the height is not even and this is my biggest problem. I am yet to figure out a way to maintain consistency, but I believe I will get there 😊

A modular origami, made from 30 modules, from Tomoko Fuse's 'Unit Origami Fantasy'. I apologise for the quality of the picture. It was just one of those days when no picture came out well! And the poor quality of the paper didn't help.

But to move on to the model, this is a continuation of one of my previous posts, way back in 2014. I got a sudden hankering to make the 30 unit model and voila, here it is! The modules are folded in the same way and assembly was fairly easy.

Model Details:

Model: 30-Unit Modular 

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Unit Origami Fantasy
 
Author: Tomoko Fuse

Language: Japanese
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inches

Model Size: ~5 inches

Modules: 30

Restarted folding some models from Ekaterina Lukasheva's book 'Modern Kusudama Origami'. The model I tried now is titled 'Serenade', found on page 28.

The modules are pretty easy to fold. Either 12 modules or 30 modules are needed for assembly. As always, I did the 30-unit Icosahedron assembly.

The instructions suggest using origami paper with colour gradient. Surprisingly, I did have such paper, so I went right ahead and used it! And as can be seen, the paper is lighter at the centre points and gradually get darker near the curls.

The other models I have folded from this book are Rio and Centaurea Cyanus.

Model Details:

Model: Serenade 

Creator: Ekaterina Lukasheva

Book: Modern Kusudama Origami

Author: Ekaterina Lukasheva

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inch squares

Model Size: ~4 inches in diameter

Modules: 30

I love reading, so any time I come across origami bookmarks, I give them a try. Now, this bookmark is a simple and traditional design that I came across while browsing through David Petty's collection of origami designs.

The origami is made from a third of a square sheet of paper. So that basically meant I could make 3 bookmarks from one square! Cutting it into thirds was fairly simple, because it does not have to be perfectly measured. So I just eye-balled the approximate point and cut along that.

Model Details:

Model: Lighthouse Bookmark 

Origin: Traditional (Chinese) 

Difficulty Level: Simple

Paper Ratio: One third of a square

Paper Size: 7 inches * 2.3 inches

Model Size: ~6.5 inches

Instructions: British Origami