Since of late I have recently been working on easy origami, I thought I would try out something a bit more challenging. This hydrangea cube was a good attempt and I am quite pleased with how it has turned out 😀

How to go about this? Well, we need to initially make 6 of Shuzo Fujimoto's hydrangea tessellations. In origami, tessellations are patterns that are usually folded from a single sheet of paper, that repeat themselves as many times as needed. They usually provide a dimensional appearance.

The hydrangea tessellation is one of the simpler designs. The paper that I have used is regular kami paper. The paper didn't tear while making all those sinks and pops!

Once the 6 hydrangeas are completed, it is just a matter of joining them in a cube. Joins are made by creasing a mountain fold along each of the longer petals, on all 4 sides. The creased corner can be slid into the adjacent hydrangea to hold it in place. Fitting the last of the 6 turned out to be very frustrating and I almost tore up the model! Only the thought that I would have to refold 6 hydrangeas, kept me from doing it!! 😄😄

And if you are the adventurous sort, you can also try the regular snooze assembly, made from 30 units!

Model Details:

Model: Hydrangeau Cube 

Creator: Shuzo Fujimoto

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 8 inches

Instructions (for making a single hydrangea tessellation): British Origami

Tutorial: YouTube

Modules: 6

After making origami prisms in the previous post, it seemed natural to try out the antiprisms next. Antiprisms are similar to prisms but the difference is that the side faces are triangles instead of parallelograms. Also, the top and bottom parts are twisted, relative to each other.

For these antiprisms, I used 3.5 inch squares - 3 squares for the triangular antiprism, 4 for the quadrilateral one, 5 for the pentagonal antiprism and 6 for the last one. The model isn't very stable though, and requires a dab of glue to hold it well in place.

A variation to the prisms gives a slightly different shape, when the sides are creased in. This gives a multi-sided star shape - like the 3-sided star and the pentagonal star in the pic.

This modular origami is again from Miyuki Kawamura's book - ‘Polyhedron Origami'.

Model Details:

Model: Antiprisms

Book: Polyhedron Origami

Author: Miyuki Kawamura

Difficulty Level: Simple

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inches

Model Size: 2 inches in height

Tutorial: Youtube

A couple of years ago, I had attempted these heart boxes by Robin Glynn for the first time. While I had not perfected it, it still turned out great. So this time, with Valentine's Day coming up, I decided to give it a go again.

This time, I wanted to make it sturdier, so attempted it with thicker paper. That is, with 120 gsm from some of the paper packs that I had with me. So, in addition to being really pretty, these boxes also turned out to be functional.

The pink and white boxes are my absolute favourites. Naturally, these boxes have been duly handed over to Little Miss! She apparently is once again in need of boxes for her things!

The blue box, termed "Love is in the air", was specially requested by a friend.

And with that, we come to the end of the post :)

Prisms in Mathematics are polyhedrons where the top and bottom faces are polygons that are identical. The sides are parallelograms.

I was trying out the prisms from  Miyuki Kawamura's book 'Polyhedron Origami' for beginners. And it turned out to be really simple. Each of the prisms can be done in 10-15 mins in all.

Well, there really isn't much more to say! Give it a go :)

Model Details:

Model: Prisms

Book: Polyhedron Origami

Author: Miyuki Kawamura

Difficulty Level: Simple

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4 inches

Model Size: 2 inches in height

Tutorial: Triangular Prism, Square Prism, Hexagonal Prism

I don't usually fold animals or birds, but this little sparrow was a delight to fold. I also liked the look of it. It doesn't look like a real sparrow, more like the cartoon version, with a nice long tail and a pair of jaunty wings.

The sparrow fairly easy to fold, though I did get stuck in the third step initially. For those trying out for the first time, please remember that in the second step, the rabbit ears has to be completed on the front and then repeated behind. Only then does step 3 work out right. Steps 6 and 7 are slightly tricky. The rest is pretty easy.

The creator, Perry Bailey, suggests using single coloured paper, so that the head and the body are the same colour, but I think duo coloured paper provide a better appearance, such as my little sparrow here.

Model Details:

Model: Sparrow

Creator: Perry Bailey

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4.5 inches

Model Size: 2 inches in height and 3.5 inches across

Diagram: Origami Diagram

As a kid, I was an avid Enid Blyton fan. And as such, was quite familiar with mushrooms and gnomes and fairies and elves. So when I came across this origami mushroom, designed by Matt Slayton, well naturally, I had to fold it!

I had initially tried it with orange momigami paper. It came out well, but I think the wrapping paper in red with white dots makes a better mushroom. 3-4 inch squares result in an ideal size for these mushrooms.

Model Details:

Model: Mushroom

Creator: Matt Slayton

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 - 4 inches

Model Size: 3 - 4 inches in height and 2 - 2.5 inches across

Diagram: Origami Diagram

This gift box, designed by Robin Glynn, is yet another of his economical designs. The entire box, including the closure at the top, is made from a single square of paper.

A 6-inch square gives a small box (about 2 inches in size, 1 inch in depth) that would be a good size for a ring, or a pair of small earrings. A bigger square, say 8 inches, results in a slightly bigger box, about 3 inches in size and about 1.5 inches in depth.

The paper I first used was the usual origami paper. Not good for the box. The sides are not strong, since it isn't a modular box, so it cannot serve any purpose. I then tried with scrapbooking paper, 160 gsm heavy paper. This was perfect. The open box was from a 6-inch 160 gsm paper, with a woodsy appearance. My favourite though, is the black and white box, made from an 8-inch 160 gsm paper.

Model Details:

Model: Gift Box 

Creator: Robin Glynn

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 6 - 8 inches

Model Size: 6 inch square results in a box of side 2 inches and depth 1 inch
8 inch square results in a box of side 3 inches and depth 1.5 inches

Tutorial: Youtube

Diagram: Origami Diagram