BOOK PAGE ORIGAMI KUSUDAMA FLOWER
Create an ornamental origami paper flower with book pages, each flower uses five book pages. Once perfected, the flower is quick and easy to assemble. This project is suitable for kids to enjoy, and is just one of many old book crafts you can make from discarded library books. There are only six folds and one adhesive step per petal. It takes five petals to make a flower, and twelve flowers to make a sphere.
Adapted from Jason Thompson's Playing with Books: The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing, and Reimagining the Book,
published by Quarry Books. Jason is also the co-owner of Rag & Bone Bindery, where CraftFoxes readers can save 10% store-wide by simply entering the discount code craftfoxes
during checkout. Discount expires March 31st, 2012.
Materials:
- 5 book pages, cut to 6-inches by 6-inches
- Glue
Step 1
Fold 1: Fold the square into a triangle.
Fold 2: Fold the two creased corners up to create a smaller triangle.
Step 2
Fold 3: Fold the two triangular flaps in half.
Fold 4: Open these flaps up then fold them flat so that the crease created in Fold 3 falls down the center of the triangular piece.
Step 3
Fold 5: Fold the tips down.
Fold 6: Fold the triangular flaps in half. The final shape of the paper after these six folds will be a square.
Step 4
To create a petal, the folded piece must be rolled open. Figure 1 shows the flaps which require adhesive. Apply white glue with a glue brush and carefully roll open the petal and attach the two flaps together. Allow the adhesive to tack up. Repeat steps one and two to create five petals.
Joining five petals together will create one Kusudama flower. Apply a strip of adhesive to the inner crease of one petal, and adhere a second petal to the adhesive. Once these two petals have been joined, continue the process to join five petals together.
