Paper Flowers – Anyone Can Do That
Japanese Kusudama
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 :)
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?
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! :>