Just a quick post today- thought I’d share with you one of my 3D Origami Christmas designs:
The snowman tree decoration is made from over 100 individually folded pieces which are stacked together and glued for extra strength.
Possible tutorial for this model to follow in a few weeks time (for your personal non-commercial use) so watch this space!
Everyone has heard of origami and some people have heard of 3D Origami, but have you heard of Kusudama?
From the japanese meaning ‘medicine ball’, kusudama flower balls were historically just that- balls of real flowers and herbs used as potpourri and incense. Nowadays they are made from paper and often given as gifts or for decoration.
On our Pinterest board I’ve pinned lots of examples from Etsy:
Kusudama flower balls are made from square pieces of paper. I like to use patterned or vintage paper for my flower balls and I have some old sheet music which is perfect!
How to make a kusudama flower ball
3D Origami is something I came across a few years ago when randomly browsing youtube. After trying to follow the beginners tutorials I immediately gave up as my pieces looked awful and the models wouldn’t stay together. About a year later I decided to give it another go and have ended up creating my own designs and selling to people all over the world through etsy.com!
For those of you who have never heard of or seen 3d origami, it’s a craft that requires a lot of patience but the results make it worth it!
It involves cutting normal coloured A4 paper (80gsm) into small rectangles (usually 32 in one sheet of paper) and then folding them into small triangle pieces which you stack together in rounds to make 3D models!
The possibilities for models are endless!- although the bigger your ambitions for model scale the more paper you’ll need to fold!
As of yet, I haven’t made any of my own tutorial videos (though I have considered it!) but I’ve listed some good ones below if you want to have a go! These people don’t tend to use glue in their models and while the finished items are very sturdy, I prefer to use glue (PVA) to make sure my models definitely won’t fall apart when I sell them! (It also makes it a lot easier when you’re just starting out.)
A good starting point!- folding the pieces
3D Origami for beginners part 1
3D Origami for beginners part 2
A good basic model (and very cute!)
Jewellia777 is the top 3D origami person on youtube. Her channel is full of really good tutorials- link below:
https://www.youtube.com/user/jewellia7777
or visit her blog
http://jewellia7777.blogspot.co.uk/
To see more of my own designs visit the Just So Studios Etsy shop
or the Facebook page
Using copyright free text is another great thing for craft purposes. Generally I find that all the free classic books in the amazon kindle store are also copyright free! But it is always best to double check before you start using bits of the books in crafts you sell! Just like copyright free illustrations, text usually comes into the public domain 70 years after the death of the author. (Unless of course the copyright is renewed) But when in doubt, use google!
Books like ‘Pride and Prejudice’ are still so popular and I love using quotes from it in my items, both items I sell and also just for fun experimentation:
Vintage illustrations are great for using in crafts, especially as they are copyright free! Sites such as thegraphicsfairy.com has hundreds of amazing illustrations to download and use in your projects. The site is really well laid out with the images split into various categories and also projects to try. It is a treasure trove of hidden gems!
I love using their old illustrations in my items, especially my badges! Here are a few examples. Clicking on the images wil take you to my etsy shop.
All the images on graphics fairy are free to use in all your commercial and personal projects because, as far as the site owner knows, the copyrights for the illustrations have expired.(Graphics fairy does not wish people to use more than six of their images in any one project however.) If you use images from old books or other sources, make sure you check the copyright first! Copyright expiry is usually 70 years after the death of the artist.
The Paper Pocket Watch 