Turning Japanese ...

At last week's workshop for the craft group I run, we  made a bunch of origami flowers.

I know how to make quite a few different origami flowers now, but it is quite difficult to find a design that is not too complicated, as each of our workshops is only a couple of hours, and I wanted everyone to make a small bouquet!

I found this particular design on Pinterest - it is a You Tube video.

With Mother's Day and Easter coming up, and Spring well on its way, these flowers makes a great display in a vase.

The flowers are made from squares of paper, one square for each petal.

I adapted the number of "petals", using three (4" x 4") for the larger flowers, and four (3" x 3") petals for the smaller ones.  Five petals are also possible.  As is any size (within reason!).  One member of my group tried 2" x 2" and even 1" x 1" squares - a bit fiddly!

For our bunch of 5 flowers, the large ones are made from patterned vellum, and the smaller ones from origami paper.  Though any paper will do - even wrapping paper.

I used floristry wire for stems and a little gold bullion wire twisted around the top for a bit of bling.

Happy folding!

Talking about all things Japanese - saw Madame Butterfly (in the round) at the Royal Albert Hall a few days ago - absolutely magical and mesmerising.  The staging was fabulous, and the voices stunning.  Yes, it did make me cry!

There is only a week left to see it, but if you get the opportunity to go - do! There are still seats available, because a friend has just got some for next Saturday.

Took a couple of shots before it started and at the end ...