Earth Day 2013

We are nearing the end of April, and it's still cold and rainy here in Lebanon. Some people in Canada are still  snowed in, and winter just does not seem to want to leave. It makes me think, today especially, how bad we must have been to our Earth to make it so confused. 

It is no tragedy when thousands of people die in an earthquake, hurricane or flood; it's just nature fighting back. The real tragedy is how we turn a deaf ear to her desperate cries for help. Winter in the middle of spring, and summers which stretch out well into autumn should be a sign that something is terribly wrong. Or is it just me?

To put my conscience at ease, I decided to make today's origami out of reused paper.

This frog looks nothing like the original design.

There is always used paper lying around, so why not make something out of it? That is after all the idea behind origami, and this blog for that matter.

I made my very first kusudama following this tutorial. Kusudama often require a lot of paper. This model for instance uses 30 units (no wonder I'd never had the courage to make one before), so try putting all that paper you were going to toss out to good use and make something decorative and neat (those of you who have read this blog before know that when I say neat, I mean "cool", "cute", "interesting", not the other thing, which my models very seldom are.)

 


And if you don't have anyone to impress, or if you've already snazzed-up your living quarters enough (seriously, are your parents/roommates starting to complain?) you can make something useful out of scraps of paper.

We use these little boxes around the office sometimes. Pages from magazines and flyers printed on glossy paper work best and are often colorful. For instructions on how to make this origami box, visit this older blog post.

As a child, I wanted to be an environmentalist/conservationist/zoologist. I later realized that it was a lost cause, and that Mother Nature was beyond help. Maybe if I had gone through with my dream, the Earth would have been saved by now. The thought will forever haunt me!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

I read somewhere that the color blue was initially associated with St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. However, green somehow came to replace it. I'm not complaining; green is a great color, and what better color for this Feast celebrated in the Emerald Isle? Plus, it gave me an excuse to make all this green origami.

First some clovers for good luck. For tutorials, check out happypuppytruffles' YouTube channel.

The one on the right was made with three units instead of four.
I then folded the flaps sideways to create a kind of stem.

 And of course, a top hat complete with Shamrock. Here are some helpful guidelines: page 1 - 2, but I pretty much improvised it.

 

And finally, here are some rosettes I thought could serve as nice decorations or traditional St. Patrick's Day badges. This is really more kirigami than origami, but fun nevertheless.

Well, the day is almost over and I have not seen a leprechaun yet. There are also rarely any rainbows in the city what with pollution and all. I gotta say though, I'm running out of origami paper, and that pot of gold would have come in handy.

But anyway, Happy Saint Paddy's Day everyone!

Happy Holidays!

What I love about Christmas in this country is that it is celebrated twice every year: on the 25th of December and on the 6th of January (mostly by the Armenians). Sometimes it's our diversity that tears us apart, but it also brings so much richness to our local culture. The Christmas spirit is felt well into January here, and the Christmas lights stay up for two weeks longer than most parts of the world.

I've noticed decorations getting more and more creative and extravagant by the year. There was a contest in my building to see which department would put up the best decorations. I thought I'd do my bit and wish everyone a Merry Christmas the way I know best.

I started with these pretty snowflakes made from tracing paper to give that crystal effect. They looked great against the rain-washed window panes.

Here's an excellent tutorial by Sara Adams.

This Christmas tree angel by David Brill doesn't have to go on top of a tree; you can easily decorate your nativity with it, like the person who got this little guy did.

A lovely fir tree

The fir tree looked beautiful on its own, and any kind of decoration would have ruined it. This Christmas tree variation by Jo Nakashima looked a bit more "Christmas-y". I used a different paper pattern for each segment to make it look ornamented. The fir tree it still my favorite though, and it made a very nice gift indeed.

Although Jo says "NO glue!"
you might still want to cheat to make it a bit more sturdy.

Now we're home for the holidays, so I attempted to make a little nativity. I based my first attempt on this nativity scene, but it did not have the success I had hoped for. No one I showed it to could guess what it was. It seemed very obvious to me, given the time of year, the figure leaning religiously over the infant, etc. With a better setting and perhaps better lighting, I thought it was pretty spot on. However, my sister (my best/worst critic) thought that St. Joseph was a rocket, Baby Jesus was a table and Mary was a crooked wizard hat. 

So I had to go back and rethink the whole setup. I adapted this Joseph from the first (later, the wind blew him off the balcony), and I converted the first Mary to Chiyo Araki's Mary (I hate to waste pretty paper. Um... I mean, any paper at all! Save a tree!)

I'm pretty happy with how these guys turned out. They are all based on this Saint Joseph model. I made my own variations so their robes, hats and faces would be different. I got this lovely patterned origami paper for Christmas, and I thought it would be perfect for giving the Three Kings' lavish robes. Sadly, these Wisemen were too big for my nativity scene.

And this camel was about as small as Baby Jesus. So in the end, I was not able to put it all together to give me a proper Nativity. Maybe for Armenian Christmas.

And just for kicks, if you're sneaky, here is some quick mistletoe to catch someone under, made from two pairs of holly leaves.

 







I never understood the rules for mistletoe. Do you have to kiss anyone if they happen to be standing underneath it? What if it's your great-aunt or your annoying cousin?


And finally, I made this wreath from 14 pairs of holly leaves. Here is a very simple diagram for making the holly leaves. In retrospect, I am not a huge fan of the ribbon.

Merry Christmas to everyone, 

whenever, and however you celebrate it!

Paper Flowers

I don't like flowers. They smell funny and they are too pink. I think the worst gift you can give someone is a dead thing wrapped in pretty ribbons that will later be displayed at the center of a table in an expensive piece of ceramic or crystal with water in it to create the illusion of suspending its miserable life for a couple of days longer. Seriously, what ironic sentiment is that meant to express?
If you want to make that special someone sad and depressed, give them flowers.

A good alternative (if you can't find a potted flower, or if you know that they will never water it and that it will die anyway) is paper.

Carambola Flower Instructions.
You should still be able to follow the instructions
even if you don't speak German.

I made this pretty ornament as a gift by gluing six Carambola flowers together. They loved it.

I cannot for the life of me find the instructions I used to make this flower. Maybe I'll make my own and post them here sometime soon.

EDIT: Here is my tutorial for making this lovely model.

 To make flower stems, just roll up a green sheet of paper into a really tight tube.

A bunch of lovely Irises and Lilies

Instructions for making Irises and Lilies differ only in one step. Here are Tadashi Mori's Instructions for making them.

A bouquet can make a nice gift with a personal touch.

This was made with two large Lilies one inside the other and two smaller lilies on the side.

A special girl deserves something extra special.
She will love it (and secretly think you are insane.)

And, of course, the traditional Lotus Flower, ladies and gentlemen.

Lotus Flower Instructions by Tadashi Mori

And they can be just a random gift for a friend or office mate.

EDIT: Some people were asking for instructions on how to do the carambola flower. I thought I would post links while I was at it. Sorry this is so late.

Carambola Flower

Iris

Lotus