Butterflies by Michael G. LaFosse

These butterflies by Michael G. LaFosse can be found in “Origami Papillons”, ISBN 9788861125759 edtition White Star. This kit includes many amazing models, but the diagrams are the most confusing ever (it sends you from page to page and it’s a miracle if you manage to have the colors you wanted at the end) and the paper included in the kit doesn’t fold well.

This “Machaon Alexander” (p 36) is folded from Hologram chiyogami paper (Daiso) 15 cm. I love the curved tail of the wings!

The “Machaon Alexander” at the bottom left is made of kraft double-sided paper (yes, it is my favorite model of the book). The “Origamido Butterfly” on the right is folded from Daiso Traditional Japanese paper.

This collection of Machaons (all made from MarpaJansen Mandala 20 cm) was an order from my sister, she’ll make a board with them I think. This paper doesn’t fold so well, the creases are very visible and don’t allow mistakes – but the pattern is gorgeous :)

Pumpkin by Tomoko Fusè

This pumpkin by Tomoko Fusè can be found in this book (ISBN 9782889355815 for the French edition, but nuinui have their books available in multiple languages). It’s page 66.

It is folded from 6 sheets of square 15 cm paper (you can use 7 if you want, the model says 5 works too but I doubt it). The paper is double-sided chiyogami (in a package of 120 sheets, 30 patterns)

I think this would look better with simpler paper, this is a bit too much.But I really like the geometrical form, and it’s quite sturdy.

The book has plenty of cute models, I’ll probably present some others soon!

Butterfly card and hand, by Jeremy Shafer

Jeremy Shafer published a youtube tutorial for this flapping butterfly card. Paper: 35 cm double-sided paper from origami-shop.com (don’t try smaller paper on your first try). And yes, the butterfly does flap its wings when you pull on the sides of the card :)

The skeleton hand is found in this video tutorial. Paper: 15 cm kami. People like this model a lot, it’s especially popular around Halloween :)

Both models are high-intermediary. They’re not in his books, but he has many other amusing models to fold :)

Envelopes by Tomoko Fusè

Those envelopes by Tomoko Fusè are really easy to fold, and really cute. You can simply write inside the envelope, or slide your folded letter inside the envelope. The instructions can be found in “Home decorating with origami”, ISBN 4889960597, pages 38, 41 and 46. There are many other cute models.

Papers: envelopes from A4 printer paper, decorations (stoppers) from 7,5 cm (japanese chiyogami for the crane, washi for the flower) and 9 cm (boat on the right). She recommends 7,5 cm but I find 9 cm looks better – probably a culture difference, I like gaudy better than discreet elegance :) The finished envelopes are 10,5X10,5 cm.

Bird by Edwin Corrie

This is one of my new favorite models: a bird by Edwin Corrie. I don’t fold many animals, I really prefer boxes and geometrical forms, but I fell in love with this one! The movement in its wings, the amazing folding sequence (and great diagram, although I did find a few things to improve it, I’ll list them at the end of the post).

The model can be found in Le Pli n°145 (revue du Mouvement Français des Plieurs de Papier). Not sure if it has been published somewhere else, but Edwin Corrie published a few other diagrams on his website, and “Origami Animals” by Vicente Palacios has mostly models by Edwin Corrie and is a good book of low-intermediary models. By the way, I met him at the Origami Convention in Blois, and he’s a very nice person, so  if you have an occasion to fold with him, don’t hesitate! (He’s shy though, so go talk to him. Or maybe it was just because we all spoke French).

Paper: satogami 24 cm from origami-shop.com. I had the “paper discovery pack” since a while, but couldn’t get myself to use the beautiful papers – but after folding a few of these birds, as seen below, I finally decided that this model deserved a beautiful paper.

As usual, Pierre-Manuel took the photos, and we both felt that the first of this article turned out great. I really love the shadow.

Papers of 15 and 20 cm. You can see the back of the wings in patterned papers has another color.

And now, my notes on the diagram : it doesn’t use double-sided paper, and the side of the paper is actually important. The bird will be all of the same color, except the back of the wings – it looks better with paper that has the same color on both sides, in my opinion, but if you have single-side paper and want the bird in color, start with the white side on the table, color towards you (and make a square base with the color inside). Then step 12 isn’t clear, you have to fold the top triangles at a 90° angle (align the paper with itself, rotating on the points of the sides).

To hang it from the ceiling, or in a mobile, you can undo the back from step 32, knot a thead around the base of the wings behind the head, and lock it by folding the back again. Voilà, an origami that hangs without holes :)

I’d say the difficulty is intermediary. Definitly not a beginner’s model, but not crazy hard once you’ve folded a while. It’s exactly the right difficulty for me.

Various boxes by Tomoko Fusè

These are various models by Tomoko Fusè. All are made with 8 sheets of square paper (4 for the lid, 4 for the bottom).

The box on the left is “square box Vortex”, page 62 of “Fabulous Origami Boxes” (Japan Publications Trading Co, ISBN 9780870409783).

The box in the middle is “shallow hexagonal box”, found page 72 of “30 boîtes en origami”.

The box on the right is “Square box C”, page 38 of “Joyful Origami Boxes” (Japan Publications, ISBN 0870409743).

Paper for the rightmost box : japanese chiyogami for the lid, Tant 15 cm for the bottom.

Paper: double-sided 15 cm kraft paper from schoene-papiere.de (sadly they don’t sell anymore at the moment).

Paper: japanese chiyogami 7.5 cm.

 

The same model with different papers:

left: japanese chiyogami 7.5 cm + Tant, right: japanese chiyogami 15 cm (the paper is a bit too thin for the size of the box).

Square flowers boxes + spirals boxes, by Tomoko Fusè

Those are two similar models, found once again in “30 boîtes en origami” (page 48 for the flower box, 52 for the spiral).

They are made with 8 sheets of square paper, 4 for the bottom and 4 for the lid.

The left spiral box is made from Daiso Fabric paper 15 cm. The right box is made from Daiso Yuzen chiyogami paper Vegetation 15 cm.

The left box is made with star paper found on eBay, the right box is made from music sheets cut to 15 cm, found on amazon.

Details of the lid.

The flower boxes are made from: left, Jong le Nara pattern colored paper flowers for the bottom, Daiso handmade paper Sukigami for the lid, both 15 cm ; right, MarpaJansen glassine paper 10 cm ; middle, Grimmhobby washi chiyogami 7.5 cm (the box is tiny, very cute :)).

Details of the lid.

Pentagonal boxes by Tomoko Fusè

I already showed this beautiful box by Tomoko Fusè, but here is the variation I made, where the star is on the outside. No idea if this is published somewhere, since I don’t own the book with the model – but it’s really straightforward to find once you’ve folded the first model.

Papers: top, Origami Antistress by Marabout 15cm (beware, those 1000-sheets books don’t have perfectly square sheets and you usually have to cut them again, but I love the colors and patterns) ; bottom left, Origami black and white by Aitoh 7.5 cm ; middle, cheap shinny 5cm paper bought on ebay : right, Origami mini Pop 7.5 cm by Avenue Mandarine.

As I said before, if someone knows the references of the book, I’m interested :)

Edit: Internet’s magic is working ! Michel Grand just wrote to me to say the diagram is in “Origami Gift Boxes”, ISBN 9784140310687 (in japanese). Thank you :)

Cookie Cutter kusudama by Victoria Babinsky + japanese decoration by Minako Ishibashi

Here are two models I like: a “cookiecutter kusudama” (30 sheets of 7.5 gold paper) and a japanese decoration (6 sheets of the same paper).

The japanese decoration by Minako Ishibashi (right) can be found, for example, in Rick Beech’s book (ISBN 9782215110668 for the French edition).

Papers: left, 7.5cm Showa Grim senbazuru chiyogami ; right, 7.5cm Tant paper.

I really love the stars in this kusudama. The Tant one hanged from my ceiling for a long time.

Cookiecutter kusudama model by Victoria Babinsky ; Jo Nakashima published a youtube tutorial for the cookiecutter.

Rectangular boxes by Tomoko Fusè

The diagram for these boxes can be found in “30 boîtes en origami”, as mentionned before.

Each box requires 8 square sheets (4 for the lid, 4 for the bottom).

You can see I really like folding the model, I made so much of them (and more, that I gave away before taking the pictures). The three boxes above are made from: leftmost, 7.5 cm kraft paper; top, Showa Grim washi chiyogami 15 cm; right, japanese chiyogami and Tant 15cm.

Papers: left, Aitoh RobinJoyRiggsbee pencil drawings + white Tant for the interior ; middle, Vivi Gade “Paris” paper ; right, Dovecraft “Back to Basics” Monochrome (150 gsm), all in 15 cm.

Papers: middle, japanese chiyogami 7.5 cm ; left and right, 15 cm japanese paper (all is in japanese on the box, can’t give details).