I’ve been experimenting with making origami wreaths. When I say, “I’ve been,” I mean taking 15 minutes every few *weeks* over the past nine months to try something new. While I was in my first year university classes, I had no time for making anything. I carried an orange knit-sock-in-progress in my backpack in case I had a few minutes on the bus to stitch, but that is it. During second semester when I felt a little more comfortable with the pace of reading and writing, I was able to take a few minutes here and there to satisfy my urge to make something with my hands instead of my brain. Enter my long-time fascination with modular origami.
Years ago when I was in a card-making phase, I saw a modular origami flower on a card in a book. I followed the instructions to make this flower and attached it to my own card. I never took a photo of the card, and I forget the name of the book I found it in. I’ve tried to locate it, to no avail. It had captured my attention for modular origami. The only origami thing I had done previously was make basic boxes. Once, when my husband went to Japan on a business trip, he brought home several origami items, one of them being a modular wreath. The modular origami idea intrigued me.
With Christmas gift money this past December, I purchased a couple of packets of floral origami square paper and a book on making origami wreaths. I also browsed through a couple more books by the same author on origami boxes. My project over my school break was this dark pink wreath pictured above. There is just something fascinating to me about the idea of taking a square of paper, folding it in certain ways, repeating eight or sixteen times, and joining those modules together into a bigger shape.
Having been successful with the dark pink wreath, I later attempted a different module and assembled those into a different type of wreath. This one was trickier for me, because I incorrectly “read” one small detail on the origami instruction diagrams. That threw me off figuring out how to obtain the end product of the module. Being pressed for time now that I was into my second semester of school, I gave up trying to figure out how to correct my mistake. At some later point when my brain needed a break from reading/writing, I tried again to figure out the instructions. It was then that I saw the ONE thing that had stumped me. Finally, the module fell into place just as it was pictured in the book. In the resulting wreath pictured above, you can see the imperfections in the folding on the dark red parts. Once I figured out the problem, it was easier to make a few more and put it all together. And actually, this wreath is somewhat similar to the flower I had made all those years ago!
On the next 15 minute time splurge during second semester, I tried a modular box. I’ve known for years how to make a classic origami box. But that modular aspect intrigued me again! I used a pattern from one of the two books I linked above. As with the second wreath, I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to fold the module. I figured it out, but then had trouble figuring out how to put the modules together. I eventually got it, and voila, new type of box I can make in the future! This box also has a couple of variations, which will make it fun to work with.
Now, this star was fun to do! It’s pretty tiny (due to the size of my paper), but I love the shape of it. Of course, if you look closely, you’ll see imperfections in the assembly. But this was my first attempt, so future attempts should result in the modules fitting together better as I figure out the folds again. I think I liked this star pattern because I really loved this star pattern I tried many years ago, too. I had done that one in fabric, made many, and gave them as gifts. I will likely be making more of these four-pointed stars in the pretty floral paper I have.
Finally, after my second semester ended a few weeks ago, I could plunge into making things again (once I had a week of thorough laziness first)! In the last month of the semester, I had tried making one of the modules for this wreath, but it didn’t go well and I gave up. Those 15-minute increments just frustrate me when trying to solve a problem. My brain starts to get into solving mode, and then I run out of time, and my brain gets frustrated. Anyway, I tried again after my lazy week. It turns out this one was pretty tricky to figure out. I even gave up once I had time again! But my brain was enamoured by this pattern and would not let me rest til I tried again. You can see the weird fold mistakes in the photo, as it took me several modules to get used to how to fold the pattern. But finally I finished the modules, and then it was tricky to put them together…siiiiiggggghhhh…..In the end, I really like the look of this wreath, so I will probably make more and try to get them closer to geometric perfection.
Who of my readers loves origami? Have you tried it? Can you share photos or advice with me? What has your experience been like? Please indulge me in the comment section below – let’s talk!
You have way more patience than me. I could not imagine doing this. I would be so frustrated. They look absolutely beautiful.
Thanks, Brenda! I absolutely love doing origami!! To me, it’s just genius that you can turn something flat into something three-dimensional like a box or make a bunch of modules that fit together perfectly.