Printable: Origami Calendar

With every new year brings the overabundance of printable calendars.  One that stood out for me this year was a modular origami calendar designed by Ilona Taschner (model originally designed by Michael Naughton).  The calendar is comprised of six squares and is surprisingly easy to put together.  I also liked that little ink was needed to print out the templates.  There are two sizes for the calendar and I made the "big" size (about the size of a baseball). You can find the template plus directions to make the calendar at make-origami.com.  Once at the site, scroll down for the template link.

Part II: Christmas Gift Wrap with Origami Details

The more gifts I wrap, the more ideas I come up with.  Here are a few new ideas for my "origami theme" gift wrap.  In case you missed it, you can see the first part of Christmas Gift Wrap here.

 O Little Town of Bethlehem

A medallion made from Motif Pattern of Origami.

Chrismas Gift Wrap with Origami Details

 Origami Dove

Each year I like to choose a theme for my Christmas gift wrap.  This year I decided to incorporate origami pieces into the wrapping as a picture.  The gifts were wrapped with basic brown craft paper.  Once the gift was wrapped, I  drew directly onto the package with a white paint pen.  And for the final touch, I added an origami piece made from metallic paper.  The gifts came out fairly close to my vision.  If I had more time, I would have changed a few things but it is just wrapping after all.  I know this will all be ripped away in a matter of weeks so I can't be too picky.  Plus, I still have more gifts to wrap. 

 Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

Origami Angel Tree Topper

Candy Wrapper Origami

 Origami windmill made from a Tootsie Roll Pop wrapper.

Do you still have candy leftover from Halloween?  If so, you might want to save a few of those wrappers to make some fun origami pieces.  Over at Origami Resource Center they've created  a round up of different things to fold with various candy wrappers.  My personal favorite is the heart ring folded from a Starburst wrapper.  Click here to see more ideas from Origami Resource Center.

Origami Nail Polish

Well here's something fun and new, origami nail polish bottles.  They were designed by Leyla Torres, author of the blog  Origami Spirit.  You can find the tutorial to make the nail polish bottles on her site, (click here).  Besides their cute aesthetic, these nail polish bottles open up to reveal a nail polish brush.  The cap even slides on top of the bottle!

Pictured above are a couple bottles I folded.  They're very easy to fold but take a little time since there are two pieces.  Once you have the steps memorized, I'm sure you could whip them up in no time. 

Origami Totoro Finger Puppets

Have you seen the animated film My Neighbor Totoro?  The film is about two sisters (Satsuki and Mei) who move to the countryside.  There they discover their new neighbor is a forest spirit called Totoro who can only be seen by children.  The film is directed my the famous director,animator and manga artist, Hayao Miyazaki (who just recently announced his retirement, BTW) . The film has been around for awhile, 1988 to be exact.

Promotional poster for the movie My Neighbor Totoro

During the summer my children watched this movie for the first time and they absolutely loved it.  That inspired me to see if there were any directions to make an origami Totoro.  I actually found quite a few but I chose this one to share because it's very easy to make and it's a puppet.  It's very similar to folding an origami cup. 

 

For the grey Totoro I used 6-by-6 in/15-by-15 cm paper.  For the little blue guy I used 3-by-3 in/7.5-by-7.5 cm paper.

Color Graduated Origami Sphere

Photo by Sweet Paul

Speaking of oversized origami, look what I found on the Sweet Paul Kids site!  This origami sphere was created by the ever so talented Lova Blavarg ( 17yr old craft genius). The sphere takes exactly 60 pieces to make.  This would be a great craft to make throughout summer vacation.  If you folded just one piece a day, you would have it completed by the end of summer.  To get the full tutorial for this project, visit the Sweet Paul site.

Origami Tea Packet Favors

Looking for party favor ideas?  This simple origami tea packet folds up quick and is inexpensive to make.   And if you're not into tea, you could place a candy or photo inside them instead. What's also nice about this project is you can change the style and feel of the favor depending on what paper you use.

Even though this project is quick and easy to make, I do recommend some knowledge or origami before getting started.

Supplies:
Origami Paper 6 x 6 - I purchased the flower print paper at Daiso.
Tea Packets -  no more than 3" in height.  I did have to bend back part of the package to make the tea bags fit.  I used Good Earth teabags for this project.

Click on above image for a larger view.

Starting with the blank side up, fold paper for directions 1 - 7.  For step 8 I've created some photos to make it a little easier to see how I got to step 9.

Grab paper at the center crease and fold towards center.

 Continue to fold each side towards the center.  The paper should naturally form into its shape from the previous folds you made.

Your finished piece should look something like the picture above.  Now all you have to do is tuck a tea packet under the four corners and it will stay in place with no glue.

On the back, add a printed sticker label with the details of your event.  

Origami Snack Container

Hi everyone, you can find me over at the Chronicle Books Blog sharing how to fold an origami snack container  and talking about the first origami piece I folded.  Hope to see you over there!

Japanese Craft Book: Motif Pattern of Origami

Motif Pattern of Origami ISBN978-4-569-70773-0

If you read my last post, then you know I was in Japantown last weekend. And if you know me, you know a visit to Japantown isn't complete without a trip to the Kinokuniya bookstore.  That's where I picked up this gorgeous origami book, Motif Pattern of Origami.  The book is filled with flat modular origami projects.  Modular origami is where you use multiple pieces of paper to make a more complex structure.  Below are a few pictures from the book.

 

Here are some of the directions to the finished piece above this picture.  If you're familiar with origami, the projects in this book are doable even if you can't read Japanese. 

Pretty Origami Bunny Envelopes

I was looking for a little Easter origami inspiration when I stumbled upon a tutorial for these cute bunny envelopes by Paper Kawaii.   They're the perfect detail to attach to an Easter basket or any spring gift.  They fold up in about five minutes or less once you get the directions down.  Hop on over to Paper Kawaii for the full instructions.

Here's what the envelope looks like when opened.  I used 6" x 6" paper which will fold down to roughly a 3" x 2" envelope.  The paper I used is from my book, Party Origami.

Glow In The Dark Lucky Stars

Look what I found at Kinokuniya,  glow-in-the-dark lucky star paper!  Have you heard of such a thing?  I've seen a lot of glow-in-the-dark products but never paper or lucky star paper for that matter.    Well, for $2.50 I had to test it out.

Like a child with a new toy I closed myself into the closet to see the paper glow but nothing happened.  So I figured they just needed to charge up with some light.  After a few good hours of sunlight, I tested the paper out again.  Still nothing happened.  I was starting to think I got a dud but I refused to give up.  Finally, I decided to take the paper out of the package.  And low and behold that's all I needed to do.

*This paper is shorter than most lucky star paper.  It's only about six inches long.  It's barely enough to fold the stars.

And here they are, all in their glorious glow-in-the dark state.  

These little stars might come in handy for Halloween as part of a costume or decorations.  One could dress up in all black and glue these on to make star constellations.  Or you could make them into  bracelets for children when they go trick-or-treating.  Curious, what would you use them for?

If you've never seen lucky stars before, check out this tutorial on how to make them.

Origami Snail

I was first introduced to this cute snail origami tutorial on the lovely blog, Bloomize.  The actual directions to fold the snail can be found on this Japanese site.  The directions are in Japanese but with the pictures it's very easy to follow along.

This origami snail would also make a cute folded letter or note.  You know the kind. . . bubble letters written with colored pens, cute stickers for embellishments.  I spent hours making those cute little notes in my tween/teen years.  Anyone else?

Soft Serve Origami

Can you tell I have a case of summer-itis?  Last post was summer reading, today ice cream cones. For some reason, I feel like the summer break can't come quick enough.  I know summer-itis is a student thing, but it can affect parents too, right?  Please tell me I'm not alone.

If you feel like making something to celebrate the warm months ahead, this project might be for you.  The origami soft serve ice cream cone is a quick and easy to fold.  It's also a good project for kids just learning origami. All you need is a yellow piece of paper and an orange marker to get started.

1.  Starting with a yellow piece of paper, have it face wrong side up like the picture in the left.  Fold down the center to make a crease.  Fold left and right flaps to meet in the center.

2.  Your paper should now look like the picture on the right.  Fold left and right flaps down so they look like the picture below.

3.  Fold left and right flaps back on dotted lines so they wrap around the paper.

4.  Your paper should now look like the image on the right.  Flip paper over.

5.  Fold left and right flaps on dotted lines to meet in the center.

6.  Your paper should now look like the image on the right.  Now you are going to make a pleat fold on the white solid lines.  Fold the top of paper down on the bottom line and then up on the top line.

7.  Your paper should now look like the image to the left.  Now you're going to make a second pleat fold on the lines you see at the top.

8.  Your paper should now look like the photo on the right.  Flip over.

9.  Your paper should now look like the photo on the left.

10.  Draw lines to make it resemble an ice cream cone. 

For different color combinations, fold with two pieces of paper stacked on top of each other. For example, start with a yellow and pink piece of paper to make a strawberry ice cream cone.

How to Fold Origami Diamonds

This craft came about from a Twitter conversation I had with Marisa (Omiyage).  She mentioned she was on the hunt for some neon origami paper.  That instantly sparked my interest and had me pondering all the cool things one could make with neon origami paper.  Marisa offered to send me a sample of the origami paper so I took her up on the offer.  The original plan was to make a shoe but somehow that got derailed and I ended up creating origami diamonds instead.  You know how that goes, one craft project leads into another project which transforms into yet another project.

Supplies:
Origami six inch square paper - If you're interested in neon origami paper, you can find it at Marisa's online shop Omiyage.

For this origami fold, we're basically making the traditional water bomb with a few alterations.  If you already know how to fold a water bomb, you may want to skip down to the last steps.

1.  Start with paper wrong side up.  I took the photo of the paper right side up by accident.  Just pretend that top square is white.

2. Fold paper in half.  Your paper should now look like the bottom picture.  Fold the paper on dotted lines and unfold.

3.  Bring the bottom left corner of the rectangle over to the right bottom corner.

4.  Flatten it down so it looks like the bottom picture.  Turn paper over and repeat on opposite side.

5.  Your image should now look like the top photo.  Fold bottom left and right flaps up and fold on dotted lines.

6.  Your paper should now look like the bottom photo.  Turn paper over and repeat on opposite side.

7.  Your paper should now look like the top photo.  Fold left and right flaps to meet in the center on dotted lines.

8.  Your paper should now look like the bottom photo.  Turn over and repeat step 7 on opposite side.

 9.  Pull down top left and right flaps and tuck them into opening where arrows are pointing to.

10.  Your paper should now look like the image below.  Turn paper over and repeat step 9 on opposite side.

At the bottom of your paper is a little hole that you will blow into just like a balloon. Your paper should puff up into the diamond shape.  If you have trouble with it blowing up all the way, you can use a toothpick to push out all the corners.

Now I feel like singing Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.

Origami Fish Envelopes

While most bloggers are sharing craft projects for Teacher Appreciation Day, May Day, Mother's Day and maybe even Cinco De Mayo, I'm here to share the obscure and uncelebrated holiday, Boy's Day with you.  It's kind of funny, every year I share crafts to celebrate the Japanese holiday and yet I know most, if not all of you don't celebrate it.  Still, here I am another year with a Boy's Day craft.  And I even have another craft lined up for Friday, ha!

All joking aside, these fish origami envelopes are perfect for Boy's Day.   Fill them with candy or even better, money.  You can find the how-to at Origami Club.  At the site you'll find step by step directions and an animation for the origami fishes.

Not celebrating Boy's Day?  Use this origami fish for a chopstick cover instead.  

I made the fish with double-sided paper I found at Daiso.  I thought I would share since it's hard to find two color sided origami paper.  And at $1.50 for 60 sheets you can't go wrong.