As a Christmas gift, we received a box of oranges from an old family friend. Each orange was wrapped in a square of white tissue paper, featuring a green circular design with red type in the center.
Oranges are my favorite fruit, but looking at the contents of the box, I couldn’t decide if I liked better the oranges or their wrappings. I immediately thought that these pieces of paper would be perfect to make some mushrooms in the style of Vincent Floderer, a French paper folder and master of the crumpling technique.
Steps to make the crumpled origami mushrooms:
- Enhance the paper pattern, if it has any, with some decoration by painting white dots in the center, using an oil pastel.
- Apply a wash of red watercolor in a circular shape at the center.
- Let the paper dry.
- Crumple the paper into a mushroom. Here is a video with Vincent Floreder’s instructions. (The sound is not very good. You might want to mute it and just watch.)
When buying different products such new shoes or clothing, check the paper inside the box. Sometimes you can find strong tissue paper to recycle and use for making these mushrooms.
In the practice of origami, I have learned not to overlook the paper that might fall into my hands. Any piece of paper has spirit and can be re-used. You just have to keep your eyes open to its possibilities and its nature.
