Origami Rhino Unfolding from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.

Sipho Mabona from Switzerland: a special guest for this year’s OrigamiUSA convention, June 22-25 at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

Dennis Walker from Scotland: the creator and maintainer of the Origami Database -GREAT RESOURCE! will be also a special guest at the convention.

I will not miss it!  –Are you attending OriamiUSA 2012?

I’m pleased to introduce you to Ironhead, our cat of the day. The colorful ruff she is wearing is made of folded paper. Doesn’t she look like a sixteenth-century Dutch queen?

If you fancy making one for your own cat -or yourself, this origami action-model is called Fireworks and was designed by Yami Yamauchi. Below I post video instructions made by Mari Michaelis.

Ironhead’s photo is used here with permission from Randy and Natasha Tibbott (Tennessee). How the Tibbott’s persuaded Ironhead to wear an origami scarflette is beyond me, but they certainly know how to have fun.

Check out the unique  Halloween costumes  the Tibbotts have designed over the years for their daughter, Waverly. What a creative and entertaining family!

Fireworks Video by Mari Michaelis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H66BlhWuJMA

Here is a video featuring two useful modifications of the lovely heart model created by Ildiko Vass. This origami model was featured in an earlier post.

What I’ve done here is alter the central locking mechanism so that any number of hearts can be securely chained together or attached to the corner of a gift card. Another use is as a clip for holding together two pieces of paper at their corners.

If you are already familiar with the folding of this heart you can skip to minute 2:55 where this locking variation is demonstrated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkYqQDVdm2Q

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Have you heard it said that bread feeds the body and flowers feed the soul?
Well, here is a romantic idea that can provide both bread and flowers to your sweetheart at breakfast:

• Fold this lovely origami heart (Watch video below).
• Pluck a small bunch of flowers from plants on your windowsill.
• Insert this mini-bouquet into the center pocket of the heart.
• Place the heart next to a cup of hot coffee, buttery croissant, and strawberry jam.
Voila!  Je t’aime mon amour. ♥♥

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db7WbcVwzb0

Robert Ribaudo (USA), the creator of this heart calls it “Standing up for Love”. Thank you Robert for giving me permission to make this video tutorial!

Now we can stand up for love, fold the heart, and keep romance alive not only at Valentine’s but anytime during the year.

Read also:

• Unique Ways to Keep Romance Alive  –Part 1
• Unique Ways to Keep Romance Alive  –Part 2

If you haven’t yet, click here to subscribe to this blog
and receive coming posts via e-mail.

Did you know that a secret of happiness lies in noticing and giving importance to the small details of daily life?
This origami heart-dish, folded in less than a minute, is one of those details that will add a charming dimension to a special moment shared with a loved one.

Creator Ildikó Vass (Hungary) is a teacher of children with special needs. She loves to create models that are easy to teach and can be part of home and daily life. Ildikó has kindly given me permission to make the following video tutorial of this heart-dish model.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKW3ZF1Ra-U

Use the heart dish to:

• serve cookies
• place a candle (don’t leave it unattended!)
• give  a flower -Valentine’s or Mother’s day
• place a cup of tea or coffee
• write a love note for Valentine’s
• place a small gift

Do you have any other ideas you’d care to share?

Read also:
Unique Ways to Keep Romance Alive – Part 1
Unique Ways to Keep Romance Alive – Part 3 

If you haven’t yet, click here to subscribe to this blog
and receive coming posts via e-mail.

Have you heard that writing love notes helps keep the flame of romance burning bright in a relationship?

Well, give your next love note or Valentine invitation some extra sparkle by placing it within this easy-to-make origami heart-box.
Since the box and note can be folded flat, it can be discretely placed in our loved one’s purse or wallet for the unexpected moment and surprise discovery.

Francis Ow (Singapore), creator of this charming model, has graciously given me permission to make this video tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0C3NBNZ1Jg

Here are some other ideas on what else can be placed in the heart box.

• a dinner invitation
• a mischievous  note
• a cherished memory
• a promise
• a coupon
• a ticket for a show
• a gift card

Do you have any other ideas you’d care to share?

***

Read also:
Unique Ways to Keep Romance Alive – Part 2
Unique Ways to Keep Romance Alive – Part 3

If you haven’t yet, click here to subscribe to this blog
and receive coming posts via e-mail.

I keep plastic grocery bags for use as garbage bags, and as we all know they do accumulate. At one point there were far too many bags overflowing the container under our kitchen sink and the situation was quickly getting out of hand.

Fortunately, my sister –who uses plastic bags when camping and backpacking, taught me an easy trick to tame these unruly bags. Her simple secret helped me to both save space and organize the kitchen.

I’d like to share this great idea with you too, so in this short video I’ll demonstrate how to perform this simple fold, and maybe bring some organization into your life as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p7-P6l2fus

Now we can fit ten times the number of plastic bags in the same container,
ready to reuse and recycle!

John and I were finishing dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants. The sushi is delicious and the owners are always appreciative of the models I leave behind. John took this picture during a moment of concentration as I prepared the model for that evening.

It was a butterfly.

……………..

Portrait courtesy of John Sutton

Origami Butterfly-box by Leyla Torres

Origami popcorn epitomizes the one aspect of origami that is most important to me: play. Using just a few elements Origami gives us the opportunity to engage in a captivating activity all wrapped up in lighthearted pleasure.

The popcorn model evolved from the origami model called “The Finger Trap”, designed by Ilan Garibi (Israel). Folder Karen Reeds (US) was playing with The Finger Trap one day and realized that by pinching two corners of the model together and then releasing quickly, would cause the model to jump. The image that came to her mind when seeing this effect was, Origami Popcorn!

When I started making origami popcorn myself, I discovered that adding a fold or two to the original finger trap gave it a bit more pop. Here I’ve made a video tutorial of the Origami Popcorn model and give many thanks to Ilan for his permission to do so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPykR25TKAU

If you cannot see the video in this page, Click HERE to watch it in Youtube.

Pop the popcorn! Make it a game at a baby shower!  This paper popcorn can be quite entertaining in many kinds of parties. A competition can be set, and a prize given to the one who pops the most popcorns into a bucket.

I hope you fold and pop plenty of popcorn and have a bucketful of fun!

“When we play, we are engaged in the purest expression of our humanity, the truest expression of our individuality. Is it any wonder that often the times we feel most alive, those that make up our best memories, are moments of play?” ~Stuart Brown

Papyrusbrunnen is a water fountain made of the bronze sculptures of several origami models. It is located in the center of the town of Mannheim, Germany, and is the creation of sculptor Gernot Rumpf.

The Papyrusbrunnen fountain was donated to the town by the paper company PWA, a manufacturer of tissue, transport packaging, and graphic paper. This gift, dated June 26, 1984, was in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the PWA company.

What a lovely idea for a paper mill to honor itself with such a creative nod to the gentle art of origami!

Photographs courtesy of Helmut Pika and Ute Mörchen-Jutzi.

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I love the creative potential of a “clean slate”.  An annual ritual of mine is to begin the year with a tidy worktable. Of course just as I’ve finished organizing my studio and put everything in its place, a new project appears. Soon enough there is a blizzard of papers and materials flying all over the place and chaos reigns again!

The creative possibilities of chaos are a thrill too. Looking at the clutter on my table in the morning, with rested and fresh eyes, I’m offered an open invitation to explore, to make new connections, to see new patterns and to dive into my work.

To me, it’s important to let creativity surface in an organic way both on my table, and in the other areas of my life. My ideal is to let the creative impulse take me wherever it might, regardless of what I’ve accomplished previously.

As the year advances, I find myself passing through cycles of chaos and order, and I’ve learned to enjoy them both.

In 2011 I documented these cyclic changes by taking periodic photographs of my workspace. Here is a short video compilation of these images.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlAk8vp1pno

“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
~ Carl Jung