After trying out this modular wreath by Lidiane Siqueira, I attempted another of her wreaths, the Marieta Madala, a Christmas themed wreath, folded from 8 modules.  

It would, of course, look best with paper coloured red on one side and green on the other. Since I didn't this paper, I decided to go for red and green single sided origami paper. I like the way this has turned out and I think it would make a great addition to my Christmas tree. 

Model Details:

Model: Marieta Mandala 

Creator: Lidiane Siqueira

Difficulty Level: Simple 

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches (7.5 cms) 

Model Size: ~4 inches across

Modules: 8

Diagram: Criativa'rte

With Christmas in the air, I decided to make a little Christmas wreath for my Christmas tree. This wreath is designed by Francesco Guarnieri and is made from 8 modules. It is pretty easy  and quick to do and makes a great addition for the Christmas Tree.

My first attempt was using white washi paper with red flowers, contrasted with plain red paper. Quite liked the contrast in this. But for a more traditional Christmas look, I guess the usual red-green combination works best. The model works best with double-sided paper. 3.5 inches squares were ideal for my requirements, and resulted in a great about 6 inches in diameter.

Model Details:

Model: Stella Ghirlanda / Star Garland

Creator: Francesco Guarnieri 

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inches square

Model Size: ~6 inches in diameter

Modules: 8

Instructions: Origami poesie di carta

Tutorial: Youtube

Recently I discovered another origami artist from Thailand, Sansanee Termtanasombat. As per her blog, PrwOrigami, her goal is to collect 1000 kusudamas. She also provides tutorials for a number of the models on her blog.

Of the models that have tutorials, I liked the heartbreak kusudama, for which the suggested colours are red and black. Naturally. But, I decided to go another way and chose pastel shades. I am not sure how well this combination of light blue, cream and white has turned out, but I quite like the pleasant colours. The individual modules are fairly easy to fold and so is the assembly, which is the traditional sonobe assembly.

In recent days, I seem to have developed a love for tassels, so I made a tassel for this kusudama too and made it into a hanging ornament.

Model Details:

Model: Heartbreak Kusudama 

Creator: Sansanee Termtanasombat (Praew)

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: 1:2

Paper Size: 3 inches by 1.5 inches

Model Size: ~4 inches in diameter

Modules: 60

Tutorial: Youtube

After starting my Mette Rings project in July, here is the current status of the project. I have succeeded in completing 10 of these rings. I have to make another 10! At the speed at which I am progressing, I have serious doubts that I will finish by the end of the year, but hey, nothing wrong in hoping 😄

I still have a few colour gradients in yellow, followed by orange, red and pink. Apparently, according to Little Miss, I am missing a couple of colours in the blue-green transition. If I do get those colours, I will need to do some rearrangements. But as for me, I am quite happy with the colour progression right now.

Model Details:

Model: Mette's Ring

Creator: Mette Pederson

Book: Mette Units

Author: Mette Pederson

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 inches

Diagram: Mette Units

Modules: 18

The origami wedge cube is a visually captivating modular origami that I had wanted to fold for some time now. This model, designed by Miyuki Kawamura, is assembled from 20 modules - 8 of the corner modules and 12 of the pyramid structures.

I found it a fun model to fold and assemble. Neither the folding nor the assembly is too complicated. Assembly is by sliding a pocket into a flap. It is assembled without any glue and holds together very well.

Loved the colour combination, chosen by Little Miss. The brown and the pink contrast very well, I thought and the final model is really eye-catching!

Model Details:

Model: Wedge Cube

Creator: Miyuki Kawamura

Book: Origami Tanteidan 9

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: 2.7 inches

Number of Modules: 20

The Graciosa wreath is a very simple origami wreath by Lidiane Siqueira. It is also very economical. The wreath is made from an odd number of modules - 7 of them. Each module is folded from half a square.

The size I liked is a 7.5 cms square cut into 2. So for my wreaths, I used one sheet of 15 cms square, double sided origami paper. From this, I got 7 rectangles, 7.5 cms by 3.75 cms. The modules are very easy to fold. Each module forms 2 spikes of the wreath, so that the final wreath actually has 14 spikes.

Assembly is also quite easy, it is just a matter of slotting one module into the next. It is held together with glue.

Model Details:

Model: Graciosa  

Creator: Lidiane Siqueira

Difficulty Level: Simple 

Paper Ratio: Rectangle

Paper Size: 3 inches * 1.5 inches (7.5 cms * 3.75 cms) 

Model Size: ~3 inches in diameter

Modules: 7

Diagram: Criativa'rte

I have rolled up tubes for a Christmas project but before that, decided to try out a little box with lid using the red/green combination. I have tried this method before, when I made a blue tray, but since it's been a long time since I did that, this box and lid is kind of a refresher course for me 😀

I liked the way this box came out. I added a little ring to the lid so that it is easy to open the box. The overall size is about 4 inches in diameter and about 3 inches in height.

The problem I faced was making a little indent for the lid so that it doesn't slide off easily. I am still to  figure out how to weave the lid. For this box, all I did was stick a couple of tubes to form the indent.

For this box, instead of using white tubes, I used tubes with print, painted red and green. In the close up shot, a little bit of the print is still visible, but of course, this cannot be avoided. I think the only colour which will completely obliterate the print is black.

Model Details:

Model: Coiled Box with lid

Difficulty Level: Complex

Tutorial (making newspaper tubes): Youtube

Tutorial (coiling or root-weaving technique): Youtube