Kusudama Tutorial part 1

The Japanese kusudama is a paper ball made out of multiple identical origami shapes glued together. They were traditionally used as a  ball for incense or potpourri but now we see them more for decoration or as a gift.

Today I am showing you part 1 on how to make the Japanese traditional shape. There are many different patterns to make a kusudama ball but I find this the easiest pattern to get started. This is also the pattern I used to make the pink flowers on the tree in the banner.

What you need for this tutorial is:

• 60 pieces of paper cut into squares. The pieces are each 7 x 7 cm or 3 inches square.

• Glue

Below I will show you how to make the basic shape, you need to make 60 of these. Every flower will then have 5 of these shapes or petals glued together, making a total of 12 flowers. I will explain how to glue them together in a tutorial later this week…, you can find part 2 here.

Fold the bottom corner to the top. This will make a triangle.

Fold the left and right corners up to the middle corner.  This make a square.

Fold the same points down. The folded edge will line up exactly on top of the outside edge of the square.

Open up the flaps you have just created and flatten them.

Fold the top triangles towards you so they are level with the edges of the paper. (This will result in 3 little petals on the inside of your petal; if you fold the top triangles away from you, this will result in only 1 petal on the inside of the petal - see variation on pattern below.)

 

Fold the triangles back using the crease you made earlier and glue the outside triangles together.

Now make 5 more of these petals and glue them all together. Make sure you wait until the glue is dry after every petal and take your time. You will need 12 flowers to complete the kusudama ball; I will show you how to complete it later this week, you can find part 2 here. 

 

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