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 

Finally, pictures of the 6 flower baskets that I made for a recent wedding. The baskets really exceeded my expectations. Though they were a lot of work, I absolutely adore how well they have come out!


The pink that I finally worked with, was darker than my trial version. And the contrast with the white, I thought, worked out very well. I used pink polka dot ribbon for threading through the sides. And for the big bow, I used 2-inch pink satin ribbons along with gold 1-inch ribbons.

All the baskets lined up was absolutely eye-catching! In the back ground is the bouquet for the bride, made in a riot of colours - pink, red, cream and gold interspersed with green leaves. The bouquet was made by my very creative sister-in-law - the next picture gives a closer view of the bouquet.


Finally, a single basket. I just couldn't stop clicking pictures of the baskets and the bouquet and now, apparently, I can't stop posting all the pics!! 😂


With the wedding season upon us, my very creative sister-in-law was asked to make some flower baskets and a bridal bouquet for an upcoming wedding. She handled the bouquet while I worked on the flower basket. The newspaper one was the first trial. But once I finished it, I came to know that the flower girls were gonna be really small kids and the basket would be too big for them. So I tried another basket, this time using the wedding colours of pink, cream and white.


Here's a closer view of the second basket. It was pretty rudimentary, since it was, after all, a trial. My main worry was the proportion of the basket to the handle and how well the colour theme worked out. Satin pink ribbons, grosgrain pink polka dot ribbons and gold ribbons ensured that the basket turned out very well. So now, all that is left is making 6 flower baskets for 6 little girls.


Finally, a close-up of the bigger basket. The gaps in the basket would be where we would thread the ribbon. The challenge for the flower basket was that there was no form or shape that I could use to help make the basket. So for making the wide end of the basket, I had only pictures to go by. Thankfully at the end, I got the hang of it. It is not really symmetrical, I know, but at least I know how to do it and hopefully with my experience, I will end up making symmetrical flower baskets 😃

After completing the various cubes from Tomoko Fuse's book 'Unit Origami Essence', I wanted to proceed through the rest of the book. So I moved over to the belt cubes described from page 58 onwards.

Once again, these cubes are made from 6 units. The first of these cubes were pretty easy to fold and assemble. Minor variations have been shown as well. What I have folded is the first variation of the cube. The recommended size of paper is 6 inches (15 cms), but I decided I wanted something smaller, so went with 3.5 inches squares. Even with this size, the model was fairly easy to fold.

The cubes promise to get progressively more difficult to fold and I look forward to the challenge 😀

Model Details:

Model: Belt Cube 

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Unit Origami Essence
 

Author: Tomoko Fuse
 

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inches

Model Size: ~1.7 inches

Modules: 6