Showing posts with label origami. Show all posts
Showing posts with label origami. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Papercraft

Origami

I've been playing with origami since I was a wee one. My first projects included the ever-popular paper planes, the banger, the newspaper hat, shirts and pants, Japanese-style covered boats (called sampans, if I'm not mistaken), frogs for hopping contests, and the waterbomb (except we - that would be my sister, our horde of cousins, and I - never put any water in our "bombs," we just puffed them up by blowing air into them). So in many ways, origami today is as much a hobby for me as it is a quick fix for nostalgia.

I made these recently, as "trial runs" for a few potential would-be Valentine's Day card decorations for Ryan. (Don't worry, there won't be be any spoiled surprises. He's already seen them. In fact, I've already given them to him.)

Materials:
1 piece double sided origami paper for each project

This is why I regard origami designers as geniuses. Who looks at a piece of paper and goes, I'm going to turn it into this - and bam! - here we are.


What the back looks like

Did I mention that this was made with just ONE piece of paper? In this case, leopard print on one side, blue on the other. No cutting, no gluing....just a whole lotta folding. I gotta say though, the instructions for this were pretty horrid, and they made me thiiiiiiiiiis close to just crumpling up the paper and calling it a day more than a few times. The designer (Francis Ow) is still a genius though. ONE piece of paper!

These I made just because. I am really diggin' the wings!

Designs by Francis Ow and Kathleen Weller ("blooming heart," bottom left and right).

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Papercrafts

::Quilling::

Quilling is just a fancy word for twirling paper. With enough patience - and strips of paper - you can really whip up with some pretty neat stuff!

Materials:
Colored paper strips
Quilling tool
White craft glue
Toothpick (to apply the glue)
Googly eyes

The tape you see on the backs of these creations was used to secure them to the multimedia shelf on which they were displayed. Only teeny bits of glue were used the put the animals together.


::Origami::

Here's the Valentine's Day card I made for my boyfriend, Ryan, last year. You can flatten or pucker the lips by pulling on or squishing the sides of the paper. It's really pretty cool (and really creepy if you hold it right over your mouth and look at yourself in the mirror).

Materials:
1 sheet double sided origami paper
That's it!