Paper Flowers – Anyone Can Do That
Japanese Kusudama, this tutorial is featured on Craftuts
Anyone can do that, I assure you. The proof: I can, just take a quick look at my result below. And, believe me, I am neither meticulous nor particularly patient. You could even say I’m the opposite.
Below you can see my very first attempt to create paper flowers.
What you will need to make your own Kusudama paper ball?
1. Paper – 60 square pieces of paper, all of the same size. I use advertising catalogues (for your convenience in the first part of this tutorial I use plain blue paper so that the folds are more visible). My squares are 3,5 cm x 3,5 cm but you can make them bigger, smaller squares would be rather hard to fold. For every flower you will need 5 pieces.
2. Ruler
3. Pencil
4. Glue – the glue I use have two nice properties: (1) it does not dry very quickly which allows small corrections when necessary (2) being initially white it turns translucent while drying
5* Scissors (optionally) I prefer torn paper instead of cut. I fold it several times before tearing slowly.
6* Beads (optionally) Use them to add some extra glamour.
7. Toothpick – to apply the glue.
You have to start with a single petal. Don’t give up, it may seem that it will take ages before you make all 60 petals but you will progress faster with every next piece :)
Now you have to glue your 5 petals into a flower.
Apply the glue to only one side of each petal, except for the last one, in this case cover both sides with glue.
Your first flower is done.
Don’t glue every petal right after you make it. Make the whole 60 and then glue them into 12 flowers, it’s really faster this way, believe me.
When all 12 flowers are finished you have to glue them together. You start with gluing the first half – six flowers together. With your first flower you have to apply the glue on two adjacent petals, with five next flowers you apply glue on three adjacent petals. Put the glue not exactly on the middle line of the petal but a little to the right.
When two halves of Kusudama Flower Ball are ready you have to glue them together. You can put a cord between the halves so that your ball can hang down. I make my Kusudama Flower Balls for a table decorations so I don’t put a cord.
My first craft tutorial :)
this is nice and i also made it on christmas day i like it very much and every body happy thank to you and your idea sharing us thank you
Your pictures are gorgeous. If I ever find myself with freetime, this looks like a nice meditative craft…. with pretty results.
I’ve just finished making one of these as an ornament to give to my sister for her birthday. I put clear glitter on the folded bits of paper in the center of the flowers, as well as at the tip of each petal, as well as placing a single pearl at the center of each flower. It is beautiful and I’m certain she’ll love it. Thank you for this tutorial!
me encanto!! la estoy haciendo para regalarsela a mi abuelita :) gracias x el tutorial, excelentes fotos ;)
I am going to try making this!
I am trying to make these for my mom who is sick in the hospital. Judging from your instructions on the size of the paper I used 4 x 4 squares for they could be a little bigger. But after the first 3 folds it does not look the same, could the difference in the size be an issue or are my nerd hands unable to do anything outside of the pc realm?
Hi Walter! I hope you figured this one out by now! i stumbled across this then came upon the same problem. I am not in any way an origami expert but i found this site helped figure out where i was going wrong!
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Kusudama-Flower
However i do love this and now i know, im a little addicted!
this is amazing. love it!
i absolutely love this! i’ve been making them out of the picteres and text in old national geographic magazines. one thing i found that worked really well is double sided tape. that way you don’t have to wait for the glue to set.
I used the belk ad from the Sunday paper and made my first one today. I cheated on the cutting though. I have a paper slicer so one of the more tedious tasks was pretty easy for me =] and all the squares came out perfect. So cute I will definitely be making more.
These are beautiful!! I’m going to try these! If they turn out good, I’m gonna consider making them for my bouquet when I get married!!
I just HAD to make this when I saw it, I love origami and it’s been forever since I made anything. Luckily I had a big stash of small squares tucked away in a drawer. I made one and I’m pretty sure I’ll be making more, I’m thinking they’ll make a GREAT Christmas gift. I used Tacky Glue (in the gold bottle) for the individual petals, and then when it came time to make them into a flower I used hot glue; I also used hot glue to put the entire thing together, which made it nice and easy cause I didn’t have to hold it in place forever. Anyway, here’s a picture of the one I just finished!
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/LogicallyLocked/IMG_2490.jpg
What an art ! I couldn’t help but shared it with my FB friends. Briliant !!
http://www.mcleodhandcraftgifts.etsy.com
Sticky notes work really well. They are the perfect size and shape.
Same with what Katie mentioned, doubled-sided tape was a REAL time-saver for me.
What a beautiful and creative project. I am going to try this and maybe use them for my wedding!
Awesome tutorial! Thank you! I am going to make this for a work colleagues birthday, since I am extremely depleted of funding … I also featured this on my blog (zanthie.tumblr.com)
z.xoxo
1. great photography
2. beautiful flower
3. awsome idea to post it and let me find it
^___^ I would just say add word instructions or more photos for step 5 because that is something a person new to Kusudama might have trouble with. ( I had to go to another site to figure out what to do)
-anyways-
I’m going to put a ton of these in the box I mail my boyfriend from NC, instead of packing peanuts! SUPRISE.
-thanks a ton!
I’ve been trying to figure out how to make these but never knew the name. I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it was. Thank you for the tutorial!
I am definately taking this idea to my next Girl Scout meeting with a bunch of magazines to recycle. Thank you.
This is so cool! I set out to do it right when I stumbled upon it! Great tutorial! Mine is a bit lopsided but I am gonna do it again, wish me luck next time!
Thanks again!
I’ve found if you don’t have the patience for cutting with scissors (or you can’t cut a straight line to save your life like me) when you fold the paper in half, wet it across the top (I just lick it). After its wet enough just tear it slowly and the paper will tear cleanly and more quickly than with scissors! Just make sure it’s wet enough, or your paper will tear funky
This flower is AMAZING. I found it thru Craftgawker and just had to click on it. I don’t think I’ll be making any tho…. :0)
Awesome! :) Great pics and step by step tutorial. Thank you, you are a genius! :>
This was so much fun! I found a glue stick worked well, and dried quickly. I also used post it notes to avoid having to cut squares!
I am going to make these in various colors and sizes as center pieces for the tables for my wedding; I LOVE this idea!
I love these!!! I have ADD so sometimes written instructions just zip over my little pointed head but this is something I can do and I have been looking for an easier paper flower project for a while. Thanks for the post!
I love this. it looks so pretty. but when i tried to do it i got a little confused at step 7. can someone explain?
These are fantastic! Will try this over the weekend.
Thank you so much! This is perfect for a broke college student to make for Christmas gifts! It’s also a good thing to do to relieve stress after a long day of classes. :)
Beautiful can’t wait to make these!
I love this! Thank you for the free tutorial…
m already on it,,, i must say very good pics and a very supportive tutorial…
i did it with e.t newspaper, the pinkish colour of the paper just did wonders
used black beads on top
planning to make a few of these in different sizes and make corner hangings for the room..
Hi! I knew how to do one flower but I didn’t know that after connecting them they look so nice. Thank you for this tutorial :)
Fabulous idea!!!
I’ve have been giving many thought to doing something similar to this. Asking members of the family to each and every bring a flower towards the ceremony-their favorite bloom, the thing that was used at their wedding, or perhaps something pretty they found that day-and install it within a vase. Then we’ll scoop them up and tie a ribbon around right in front of I walk down the aisle. Within my cousin’s wedding, all of the children inside bride’s family walked up to her while she stood with the alter and every handed her a rose. Once they were done, my cousin gave his spouse-to-be a huge tropical bloom and tangled up her bouquet himself. Like others have said, it had been an extremely special section of the ceremony.
Awesome! Bravo you. Thanks for sharing this.
Beautiful flower, nice tutorial.
I’ve finished my first try. I’m planning to do many flowers.
I’m sooo frustrated.. I can’t figure out how to get from step 9 to 10..
I’ve tried and tried, and also been to the website: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Kusudama-Flower that Caroline recommend, but I’m stoked.
Can anyone help??
I was so excited to find this easy tutorial! I will definitely be practicing to use for my wedding! Thanks!
Thanks for the perfect direction. I was looking for this flower how-to. Helped a lot!
This was a great idea, I just loved it so much I had to do it right away. I used some post it’s, and with some help from the link given by Caroline (thanks a lot!!!), I managed to do it even though I really suck at arts&crafts. Thanks to you I now have a great gift to give to my friends so they can hang it in their bedrooms. =D
I like your content. Very useful and artistic. I like the design.
Hei, your idea was great! I finnaly made it! I’m so happy!
Thanks a lot! :*
This is something I can do with the grandkids. Thank you
superbe merci j adore ce que tu fais bises jojo
These are beautiful. I have some antique wallpaper-esque print origami paper at my house, and my girlfriend just broke a chain of pearls about a month ago. I’ve been trying to find a way to incorporate them in some sort of craft so hang up in her room. I can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
I cant get the flowers to stick together and the petals, it seems that tape only does the trick, so will hot glue work on tape? I really need these to stick together well I am giving this as a gift! I will contiune with the petals and see if anyone has replied, thanks!!!
Cute I will try it someday.
This is awesome, a great way to recycle magazines and such.
Quelle belle idée!
Je vais essayer avec du papier aluminium de Noël et en faire des décorations pour l’arbre. Peut-être même avec du papier double face.
Merci.