Once I finished the clown fish, a.k.a Nemo, I found that there was a similar modular version of Nemo's friend - Dory, who is a Blue Tang. So I ended up making this one too. This model is even easier to do than Nemo, because of the bigger size of this fish.

Similar to the clown fish, this one is also not a pure origami model, since it involves gluing of the pieces. And this one is also made from 4 different sized squares, albeit different colours - 2 of the squares are yellow, one blue and one black, since these are the colours of the blue tang fish. This model is also created by Mariko Miyamoto of Oriart.

While each module is folded from a square, the size of the square varies.  So the body is made from a blue 15 cm square, the black section is made from black 10 cm square, the little yellow fin between the black and blue sections is made from a yellow square of 3.75 cms and finally, the tail is made from a yellow square, 7.5 cms side. The different modules are held together by glue or tape.

So, have a go at it. It is a fun model and is sure to attract a young audience!

Model Details:

Model: Blue Tang 

Creator: Mariko Miyamoto

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: Blue 15 cm square | Black 10 cm square | Yellow 3.75 cm square | Yellow 7.5 cm square

Model Size: ~5 inches across

Tutorial: Youtube Part 1 and Part 2

I am sure most of us have watched the animated movie "Finding Nemo". I have watched this movie, repeatedly, because Little Miss loves it! So naturally, when I came across this youtube tutorial to fold a two-dimensional clown fish, I couldn't resist folding it!

The fish is not a pure origami model, since it involves gluing of the pieces but I guess we could say that it is a modular one, made from 4 modules - a tail, a body, the head and the fins and is created by Mariko Miyamoto of Oriart.

While each module is folded from a square, the size of the square varies.  So the tail is made from a 5 cm square, the body from a 10 cm square, the fins from 7 cm square and the head from 5 cm square. Obviously the model works best with a rich orange single-sided paper ie., paper that is orange on one side and white on the other. The different modules are held together by glue or tape.

The sizes I have mentioned, give a clown fish that is the bigger of the two in the picture. I named this one Marlin 😀 And naturally, Little Miss wanted a smaller version, for Nemo. So I halved all the values from the previous model to end up with a mini clown fish - Nemo. Though the squares were small, since the model was fairly easy, I was able to make the smaller fish without any trouble.

So, have a go at it. It is a fun model and is sure to attract a young audience! And the lovely alternating colours adds a whole lot of beauty to the characters.

Model Details:

Model: Clown Fish 

Creator: Mariko Miyamoto

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 squares of 5 cm (2 inches), 1 square each of 10 cm (4 inches) and 7 cm (2.7 inches) for the bigger fish
2 squares of 2.5 cm (1 inch), 1 square each of 5 cm (2 inches) and 3.5 cm (1.3 inches) for the smaller fish

Model Size: ~3 inches across (bigger fish) and ~2.5 inches across (smaller fish)

Tutorial: Youtube

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

This heart dish is a modular dish, made from 4 squares. An apt origami for Valentine's Day I thought. I am not able to find out the creator of this model. The youtube tutorial that I referred to, mentions that it is Tomoko Fuse, but unfortunately I am not able to find this model under her name on the Origami database. And well, whether the creator IS Tomoko Fuse or not, it is still a good one to fold, especially for a day of love.

Origami paper might be a bit too thin for the heart bowl. Printer paper or gift wrapper, about 80 gsm or so should result in a good, not-so-flimsy dish. Fill it with some hearts and it should make a very nice, unique, handmade gift :)

Model Details:

Model: Heart Dish

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4 inches

Model Size: ~1.5 inches tall and 4 inches across

Modules: 4

Tutorial: Youtube

To tell the truth, I am not sure of the name of these spirals, since the book from which I followed instructions is in Japanese. But since the spirals have a square shape, I ended up calling them Square Spirals!

Tomoko Fuse's book on spirals 'Origami Spirals' contains instructions for making a lot of different spiral ornaments. Ornaments from both squares and triangles (half a square, cut on the diagonal) are both easy to make and the end result is intricate looking. I tried out both the square and triangle spirals, but unfortunately was not able to photograph the triangular ones. The spirals from the square paper are made of 4 modules and the ones from the triangular paper are made from 3 modules.

I liked the colour combination of red and white that I had used and am quite happy with how it came out.

Model Details:

Model: Spirals

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Origami Spirals

Author: Tomoko Fuse

Language: Japanese

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper size: 5 inches

Number of Modules: 4

The Ishibashi Ball, better known as Japanese Brocade, is created by Minako Ishibashi and is a variation of the Sonobe unit. It is a relatively easy model to complete and can be made using 6, 12 or even 30 squares!

The Japanese Brocade makes a beautiful ornament and when made small enough, it can even be made into earrings. The one I had tried was the 6-unit brocade. I first used 4-inch squares, then 2 and later 1-inch squares. The 1-inch square brocade was small enough to be made into earrings.

Both solid coloured paper and duo-coloured paper works great for this model. For both sides of paper to show up, there is a slight variation in the folding. Check out the next image for the brocade folded from duo-coloured paper.

There are quite a few tutorials available on the net. I have provided one of the links below. A number of books are also available, which contain the instructions.

Model Details:

Model: Japanese Brocade

Creator: Minako Ishibashi

Books: Origami - The Complete Guide to the Art of Paperfolding, A Handbook of Origami, Action Origami all edited by Rick Beech.

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper size: 4 inch modules in the first image and 1 inch modules in the next one.

Number of Modules: 6

Tutorial: Youtube.com