The Japanese word kusudama comes from two Japanese words kusuri (Medicine) and tama (Ball) They were often used with incense of potpourri. These days they are used more as decorative gifts.
Kusudama origami flowers are generally assembled into a large spherical shape. In today’s lesson we will be making a single flower. If you make another 11 of these, you can assemble them into a traditional kusudama ball. The flowers that make up the kusudama are beautiful in their own right. I was recently commissioned to fold over 200 of these flowers for the Honda stand at the Melbourne motor show. The flowers proved so popular that by the second day of the 14 day event a security guard was required to stop them all from disappearing even thought they were behind a persex shield. Thankfully they are fairly simple to make and I had help from a very good friend making replacements.
What you will need
• 5 Small squares of paper (I used Post-it notes because they come in such beautiful colors)
• PVA Glue
• About 30 minutes of spare time.

kusa 01

1. Start with the sticky edge on the bottom right side.
Fold the bottom corner to the top to make a triangle.
2. Fold both bottom corners of the triangle to the top point to form a square.

kusa 02

3. Fold the top two layers of the square backwards as shown. It is important that you ensure the folded back edges line up with the edges of the square beneath.
4. Open the newly formed triangles.
Be careful with the sticky side not to tear the paper.

kusa 03

5. Fold the top triangles over so they are level with the edge of the paper.
These flaps should be seperated from the others layers.
6. Fold the triangles along the existing crease.
kusa 04
7. Add a small amount of glue to one side and attach to the other triangle.
8. Your glued petal should look like this.
9. Now follow steps 1-7 to fold four more.
kusa 05

10. Gluing the petals together is quite simple.
Make sure you let the glue dry before adding the next petal.
11. Completed flower.

Photos of the original commission were posted earlier on this blog.

Posted in Origami, Papercraft, Personal Work, Paper, Diagrams, Free, How to |