Kusudama Flower Tutorial

Hello! 

I'm sorry I'm a little late in getting this tutorial together... Adam woke up sick after his nap yesterday and so we've spent a lot of time cuddling and wiping sniffles!



{Kusudama Fever courtesy of Paper Crave}

 On Sunday, after my 12 Day's of Christmas Class, I taught a make-n-take on Kusudama flower folding, which is an ancient Japanese paper folding model that was used for medicinal purposes but that is now more decorative.  A member of the Page's From the Heart Design Team, Michelle McClure, made a beautiful candlestick with these as decoration for her November project and I fell in love with them!  I learned how to make them a few weekends ago at the Page's From the Heart Holiday Cheer event and have fallen in love with their beauty and ease.

Here is my flower...

And here is a step by step guide on creating them - but first my disclaimer!  I have no origami know-how and I'm sure that my "terms" are completely wrong, I'm just putting it in a way that makes sense to me and hopefully it'll be helpful to you too!

All you need is a square piece of paper and quick drying glue.  I used my trusty Scrappy Glue, but a glue gun works great.  The larger your square, the larger your flower will be.  I used a 4"x4" square for the tutorial.

Fold your paper in half, so that you now have a triangle instead of a square.

Take the bottom right corner and take it up to the top corner.  Fold.

Take the bottom, left corner and take it up to the top corner.  Fold.  You now have a square again.

Take the LONG CENTER fold and it back and have it meet the side of the outside fold.  This fold will create a "v" on the right side.

Do the same on the left side.  Someone said it looks like a tulip now... I hope you have a tulip now!

Take the right "v" and unfold it.  Stick your index finger in the opening at the top while gently applying pressure with your thumb and push down on the outside fold.

 This will open the "v" and create a "kite".

Do the same on the left side.

Fold down the top right corner so that your fold is even with your top line of your triangle.

Do the same on the left side.

Fold your right side back in on the same center fold from your "kite".

Do the same on the left side.  You now have a square again.

Put glue on the right side "wing", you don't want to overdo it, but you want it hold.

Bring the two side "wings" together and hold.

This is what your petal looks like from the top. 

Make 5 petals total.

To assemble your flower, we'll be gluing 2 petals together at a time.  Put a line of glue towards the center of the flower.

Glue one petal to the other, set aside to dry.  If you lay them on their back, they'll start to form naturally.

Glue 2 sets of 2 petals and your have 1 petal left over.

Glue your 2 sets of petals together, so you have 4 petals together.

Put glue on the last remaining petal and insert into the remaining space to form your flower. 

Here's the flower from the base.  You can manipulate your petals, widen them a little, so that your flower is full and just the way you like it!

I hope this tutorial was beneficial and easy to follow!  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Also, Jen over at Tatertots & Jello is giving away a Silhouette Cameo!  If you've followed my blog, you know how much I love my Silhouette SD and I'm hoping that the Big Man in Red puts a Silhouette Cameo under my tree!  If you don't want to wait for Santa, then head on over to TT&J and enter the Cameo Giveaway!

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!  I will be back on Friday with a belly full of turkey and stuffing and looking forward to making (and sharing) Christmas projects galore!
Andrea