dellukelling

Origami-Paper with Icelandic Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 23:21:00 +0000

It's been a while since my last post. I've been very busy with my masters studies but now things are slowing down and I thought I might show you what I have been up-to.

This spring I fell in love with a book called the Icelandic Sjónabók which is a collection of traditional Icelandic patterns that are found in old Icelandic manuscripts. Because of the geometry and symmetry in the patterns I thought they might look good in origami. I did some experiments and the patterns came out nicely on models such as the traditional crane and the masu box. Then I selected six patterns I liked and were not too similar (in the Icelandic Sjónabók the same pattern often appears many times with slight changes) to work with. I wanted the colors to tone in with the old manuscripts and therefore chose tempered colors and had the paper offset-printed on mat paper.

The paper was printed at Guðjón Ó. ecofriendly printers and I must say their service is the best! They were really patient with me and my poor and heavy files that took hours to prepare for printing so I´m very grateful to them.

The final product is beautiful! Each sheet is 15 by 15 cm and the paper is 70 gr., a bit heavier than the commercial origami paper and very suitable for folding simpler models and modular origami models. In each pack there are 18 sheets, three sheets of each pattern, and a diagram for the traditional crane.

Below are images my friend Jóannes Pétur Héðinsson took of the paper and models made with it.
If you'd like to get your hands on the paper it's sold in Bóksala Stúdenta, Iða and Safnbúð Þjóðminjasafnsins or you could just drop me a line on idunnorigami@gmail.com

Traditional Icelandic Patterns

Lastly, here is the diagram for the crane that is included in the packet. You can do all sorts of things with the cranes, such as to decorate gifts (and Christmas trees), make different types of mobiles, put them on sticks to use as cocktail pins, or even use them as book markers. Try it out, its great fun!

A Versatile Star

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 11:02:00 +0000

In my last post I introduced a new origami tutorial on how to make a 16 point origami star. I have completely fallen in love with this star because it can be applied in so many different ways. Another reason for my affection is that it is both beautiful and easy to make. Soooo... I decided to fold quite a few of them and make candle rings and a mobile. The finished projects look very good (if I may say so myself :)) and make for great home made gifts or just to decorate once own home.

The mobile is made from three tree branches I got from my garden, needle point thread (perlugarn) and five stars. Each star comprises of 16 modules folded from 5.5 x 5.5 cm washi paper with traditional Japanese patterns.

In all, the mobile is simple to make but perhaps the trickiest part is to get the balance right.

The candle rings are especially great because they can be made to fit every season only by changing the colors and patterns. I made two versions of candle rings. One is the same star are used in the mobile simply placed around a candle. The other is smaller and made from 3.6 x 3.6 cm bits of paper. For this candle ring I had to add two modules so the ring would fit around the candle (total of 18 modules).

I did not use any glue to hold the modules together but I would recommend it though, because the stars fall apart quite easily.

The star has the diameter of 11.5 cm and the diameter of the inner circle is 3 cm.
Each of the 16 modules is folded form a 5.5 x 5.5 cm piece of paper.

This star has the diameter of 8 cm and the diameter of the inner circle is 2.5 cm.
The star has 18 modules each folded from a 3.6 x 3.6 cm piece of paper.

For those of you interested in making the star I have re-posted the video on how to make the 16 point star here below. Enjoy!

Modular Star Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 16:06:00 +0000

At last! A new post!

I have been extremely busy the last few weeks so I haven't had any time to write posts. And this will be a short one.

I have made a new origami tutorial video and this time it's on how to make a 16 point modular star, also called a ninja star by some.

This star is simple and easy to make but the final outcome is just beautiful. What I particularly like about this star is that it can easily be sized up or down for different purposes so I have made both large and small ornaments to hang from a string as well as candle rings. I will be posting images of more of my stars later but here are two:

Check out the video and try your hands on the star!

Until later...

Date delicasy with chocolate

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 22:18:00 +0000

Dates are great!
I want to share with you this amazingly easy yet so very tasty date delicacy recipe.

Date delicacy

Pitted dates 250 g. / 8,8 oz.
Unsalted butter 190 g. / 6,7 oz.
Brown sugar 90 g. / 3,2 oz.
Rice Krispies 2 1/2 - 3 cups
Dark chocolate 300 g / 10,6 oz.

Cut the dates into 2 - 3 pieces each (not necessary).
Combine dates, butter and brown sugar in a casserole and cook over medium or high heat stirring the mixture carefully now and then.
When the dates are soft and falling apart, take the mixture of the heat and stir well until it holds together like a dough.
Now stir in the Rice Crispies.
When all is well blended transfer the mixture into a large and shallow tin pan and flatten it out using the back of a tablespoon. Make sure to press well down on the mixture to condense and flatten it.
Cover the pan and freeze.
Melt the chocolate in a metal bowl over boiling water. Spread the chocolate over the frozen mixture and freeze again.
Before serving cut the date delicacy in small square pieces or use small cake cutters to make shaped pieces.

This is a very simple recipe and its easy to change it to your liking so try using white or milk chocolate as topping or change the cereal to cornflakes.

Enjoy

Tessellation boxes: Square twist

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 10:20:00 +0000

It's fascinating about origami how just a simple change of a fold or a crease can give a completely new and unexpected result. I have been working with the very basic design of the traditional Masu box and by applying a single tessellation technique to the sheet folded into the lid I got an incredible number or different designs. In my last post I showed you some of the box-lids I designed from the 90-degree pleat intersection tessellation technique. In this post are images of some of the boxes I designed and folded with another tessellation technique called the Square Twist.
The square twist is very common in origami tessellations and quite easy to do after you have wrapped your head around it once. For the boxes below I both apply the technique in rows (the pink box) and in in layers (the other three boxes).

Organic box: three layers of square twist on a grid of 32 x 32.

Propeller box: two layers of square twist on a grid of 16 x 16.

Pyramid box: three layers of square twist on a grid of 32 x 32.

Diamond box: three square twists on a grid of 26 x 32.

After last months box folding adventures I have loads of different gift boxes to use for all occasions. If you are interested in making boxes yourself here below is a video tutorial I made of one of my designs from my last blog post. Like all the other boxes the sheet for the lid is pre-creased and folded to make the cross and then folded the same way as the traditional Masu box. The box isn't difficult to make, the first try might take some time but after that the folding will run smoothly.

Until next time. Happy folding!

Masu boxes with tesselation lids

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 21:39:00 +0000

Through the years I have regularly been looking for paper boxes or gift boxes for all kinds of different occasions but always had trouble finding the box I need. And then when and if I find one it costs more than what I´m about to put in it. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I discovered the vast world of origami box folding. You can make boxes from one sheet or multiple sheets, without or with lids, in many different shapes such as triangles, squares and hexagons and with endless different decorative effects.

For a beginner in the box world there is no better box to begin with than the Masu box. This traditional design is both fast and easy to fold and it's size can be changed with just a simple adjustment of creases. And no surprise my newest video here below is a tutorial on how to fold that same box.

I have been looking into another branch of the origami world called tessellations. Origami tessellations are the art of folding geometrical shapes and repetitive patterns from a single sheet of paper. The paper is folded into pleats or twisted by the use of various techniques as to form the wanted pattern. I have taken the simplest of these techniques called by Eric Gjerde in his book Origami Tessellations: Awe-Inspiring Geometric Designs the 90-degree pleat intersection and applied it to the Masu box. The result are some nice variations of that traditional box. Here below are images of three of the variations I have designed and folded.

Box with a cross

Folded from origami paper.
Cross pattern folded from a grid of 16 x 16 squares.

Mountain peaks box

Folded from wrapping paper.
Pattern folded from a grid of 32 x 32 squares.

Box with a cross and side flaps

Folded from heavy wrapping paper.
Pattern folded from a grid of 32 x 32 squares.

Folded from thin see-through paper used for pattern making.
Pattern folded from a grid of 32 x 32 squares.

These boxes are a bit more complicated than the original box yet they are not that difficult to make. But they are time consuming. Before I could begin folding the 90-degree pleat intersection I had to pre-crease the paper into a grid of squares. The first box, and the easiest to make, requires a grid of 16 x 16 while the other two versions need a grid of 32 x 32. As for the Masu box these boxes are folded from two square sheets of paper but instead of two sheets of equal size the lid requires a much bigger sheet than the box because of all the pleats for the pattern.

For you who are interested in learning how to fold these boxes I will make a tutorial video soon for the box with the cross and post it here.

I hope you enjoy the video and the images,

until later.

Origami Crown made from one sheet of paper

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 21:16:00 +0000

My latest video is a tutorial on how to fold an eight pointed crown from one square sheet of paper. This crown takes some time to fold and all the creases are made before the crown is assembled. Because of that it's fun and easy to decorate the crown before you assemble it.

Another great thing about this crown is that it can be made to wear. How great is that! You can make it fit over your head or so it stands on top. I personally prefer the crown smaller so it stands on top of your head tied with a ribbon or fastened to a head band.

Update:

Unfortunately I have had to take the video tutorial of the crown down because of a very unfortunate misunderstanding :( between me and Hyo Ahn, who as I mention below and in the video, is the designer of the original crown. I thought she had given me permission to do the tutorial on my version of the crown and she thought she had given me permission to do a video of the finished crown. Well that's how communicating through e-mails sometimes goes. Worst is that I put very much time and effort into the tutorial and all in good faith. So dear readers you will have to make do with the images for now and check out Hyo Ahn's website for the original crown (the link is below)

This crown is based on another crown that was designed by Hyo Ahn and I only did some minor changes to get the look of this crown. Hyo Ahn holds out a website called origami-make.com where she gives instructions on how to fold various traditional models as well as her own designs. Here is a direct link to her Eight Pointed Origami Crown.

Here below are variations I have made of the crown.

38 cm x 38 cm / 15 x 15 inches sheet of paper.
Circumference is 34 cm / 13,4 inches
Height is 9 cm / 3,5 inches

33 x 33 cm / 13 x 13 inches square sheet.
Circumference is 29 cm / 11,4 inches.
Height is 8 cm / 3 inches.

23 x 23 cm / 9 x 9 inches sheet of paper.
Circumference of crown is 20 cm /7,9 inches
Height is 6 cm / 2,4 inches

21,5 x 21,5 cm / 8,5 x 8,5 inches.
Circumference is 18,5 cm / 7,3 inches.
Height is 5,5 cm / 2 inches

The pattern on the last two crowns is drawn according to folds that are already on the paper. When assembled, the crown's top is the backside of the paper and the crown's points are the front side of the paper. Therefore the pattern or decoration needs to be made on both sides of the sheet.

The crown decorated both front and back and ready to be folded.

A family photo

And lastly here is a baby with the crown. I made holes on both sides of the crown with a needle and threaded a ribbon through and secured it. You could also use elastic band or simply attach the crown to a hair band.

The crown is not difficult to make but it takes some time so for those brave enough out there...

Happy folding!

Paper Crown

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:05:00 +0000

Finally I have made a new video!

I have been struggling with technical issues but most are resolved now. I have managed to get better sound (that one was a major headache!!) and higher frame rate so now I can make better quality videos. However, the silly awkward pronunciation is still there hehe, and is probably not going anywhere so if it annoys you just hit the mute button ;). I must say that making tutorial videos has proven to be more complicated than I thought but I will get the hang of it gradually.

My new video is a tutorial on how to fold a modular crown. Modular simply means that it's made from a number of units that are usually all alike (but not always) that are assembled in a certain way to form the final model. This crown is very easy to make and doesn't take much time to do. The bigger and fewer modules the quicker to make. You might have seen a simpler version of this crown but I added a simple detail to the modules to make it more interesting. Check out the video here below and please give me some feedback by commenting or liking/disliking the video.

As this is a super simple crown its also incredibly easy to make variations of it. For each module you need a square sheet of paper of what ever size you choose and the number of sheets depends on how big you want your crown to be. So if you want to make a crown that is 56 cm in circumference with 8 modules you will need sheets that are 14 x 14 cm (half of each module counts in the circumference the other half slides into the next one). Here below are some variations I made.

7 modules folded from 15 x 15 cm sheets of paper
Circumference 52,7 cm

8 modules folded from 14 x 14 cm sheets of paper.
Circumference 56 cm

14 modules folded from 7,5 x 7,5 cm sheets of paper
Circumference 52,5 cm

14 modules folded from thirteen 7,5 x 7,5 cm sheets of paper
and one 7,5 x 15 cm sheet of paper
Circumference 52,5 cm

This last crown has a center module that is taller than the rest and has to be folded in a different way than the other modules. I haven't yet made instructions on how to fold it but will hopefully have time soon.

One final tip: If you make the crown and want to wear it I recommend that you glue the modules together. Origami enthusiasts usually frown upon using glue for origami models but if you don't want the crown falling apart while you take some seriously royal moves on the dance floor it might be better to use glue!

I hope you enjoy the video.

Until later!

Origami Tutorials

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 10:02:00 +0000

I always have to have enough to do, preferable too much to do, otherwise I get restless and bored. This blog was and is a way to keep me occupied and thinking. But now I have found a new additional platform in which to channel my energy. My always increasing interest and passion for origami has led me down a new path. Now I'm on YouTube!

My channel is called Idunn Origami and YES I KNOW there are endless origami and DIY channels on YouTube but I don't mind that. I like doing these videos. My goal is to do good and clear tutorial videos and the following three are my first try. They are not flawless but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

For future videos my intention is to improve the video quality which makes my next mission to get a better video camera so I can increase the frame rate. And I might need to work on my accent! hehe.
If you are interested in origami I hope you find these videos helpful. For those of you who watch the videos I would really appreciate if you left a comment below the video as to let me know what you think. That way I know what I do well and where there is room for improvement.
Enjoy!

Coloring books

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 22:35:00 +0000

Few years back I gave my nephew and nieces coloring books featuring them selves for Christmas. I gathered photos of them that I thought might look nice in outlines and then I traced the lines in Illustrator. This took WAY longer than I had imagined and was a challenging practice in patience. Luckily I was happy with the outcome!

I wouldn't recommend doing this to anyone unless you have whole lot of time and patience. But if you want to give it a try the only thing you need to do is to import the image you want to use into illustrator and start tracing. If I remember correctly I only used the pen tool and had two layers, one for the original image and one for tracing. Every now and then I hid the layer with the original image to see if the lines I had traced looked good and then I just kept on going until I was satisfied with the complete image. For you who have no experience with Illustrator here is a nice video that teaches how to use the pen tool. And here is a video with more general instructions for Illustrator. Good luck to all you brave ones out there!

Until later...

My birthday cake history

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 12:55:00 +0000

After I had my first daughter I found myself in a new world of children's birthday parties and having to adopt the role of a hostess for these kind of celebrations. At first this role was difficult and at times nerve wrecking but with every new birthday party it has become easier. I try to make every birthday party special and in some way different from the ones before. One way to do that is to make memorable birthday cakes.
My first cake was baked in a teddy bear tin with Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix. It did't turn out the way I had hoped. The cake was dry and partly burned. I had trouble getting it out of the tin so it broke (which I know now does not matter because you just glue it back together with the butter cream), so I got all upset and irritated. Needless to say most of the kids only just tasted the dry thing and one even complained of it having to much butter cream (I thought you could never have too much butter cream)! But it looked pretty cute.
After that fiasco I begun to make my own cakes from scratch and in stead of using formed tins I formed the cakes myself. I tried my hands on fondant but now I prefer to use only butter cream. Following is the cake history in chronological order. Keep in mind that these aren't the best of images because they were never intended to be published. :)

Betty Crocker dry and burnt teddy bear.

Barbapapa and Barbalib fondant cake.

Lotso (from Toy Story 3) fondant cake.

Little My (from the Moomins) fondant cake.

Princess with a butterfly in her hair (a special request from my daughter).

Butter cream chocolate cake with candy.

Butter cream chocolate cake with candy and home made chocolate sea animals.

Butter cream chocolate cake with candy, origami crane and sparkles.

As you can see I have discarded the fondant and begun to work only with butter cream. And abandoned the cartoon figures for geometrical shapes and patterns. The main reason is that it takes longer and its more difficult to prepare the fondant cakes but also because I just lovE loVE LOVE to make PATTERNS and it's incredibly easy with butter cream.
The recipe for this cake, that is the latest (and the best) version, can be found in my earlier blog post.

Chao for now!

The best birthday cake recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 23:26:00 +0000

For the last four years I have been developing the perfect birthday cake. It has taken some time to reach this point and if I may say so myself it has come very close to perfection. The goal is of course to make a cake that both children and adults can enjoy despite their usual preferences (be it chocolate cakes, sponge cakes, no cakes, etc.). And now I share my recipe with you so you can enjoy making and serving this awesome cake.

Pyramid cake assembled and ready to
be covered with butter cream

Chocolate cake (Devil's cake)

150 g granulated sugar
150 g brown sugar
125 g soft unsalted butter
2 eggs
260 g flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
40 g cocoa powder (sifted)
2 dl milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°
Line the bottoms of two 24 cm round sandwich tins with baking parchment and butter the sides
Beat well together in a freestanding mixer the sugar, brown sugar and butter
Add the eggs one at a time and beat well together.
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder together in a bowl. Make sure to sift the cocoa powder.
Add the dry ingredients and the milk to the sugar and butter mixture. Best is to do this in three or four steps, adding a bit of dry ingredients and then a bit of milk and the dry ingredients again and so on until the batter becomes smooth and glossy. It can be good to stop the mixer now and then and loosen the batter from the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure every bit of ingredient blends well into the batter.
Divide the batter into the two tins and put in the oven for 19-22 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. You can also listen to the cake, if you hear a whizzing or bubbly sound then the cake needs bit more time in the oven.
Take the tins out and let them stand for a few minutes before turning the cakes out to cool.

Note.

When I make a birthday cake like the triangular pyramid I usually make one and a half recipe because I cut a lot of the cake away when forming it. The cut off can, for example, be used to make cake pins or be assembled into a small leftover cake which can then be decorated with the leftover butter cream.

For the bigger recipe I either use more sandwich tins or one big oven tin (the one that comes with most ovens)

I always bake the cake two nights before the party and assemble it and decorate the day before. This way I buy me some time and I can enjoy decorating it in no rush.

Simple syrup

250 ml water
250 ml granulated sugar

Method

Combine water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring the water to a boil and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Allow the syrup to cool.

Note.

I drizzle the simple syrup over each layer of the cake so it becomes more succulent, otherwise the cake tends to become a bit dry.

Instead of the simple syrup you can also use the syrup from canned peaches or different types of berry juices.

Butter cream
225 gr granulated sugar
80 ml. water
6 lightly beaten egg yolks
1,5 tsp vanilla essence
320 gr soft unsalted butter
6 tsp icing/confectionery sugar

Method

Combine water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. When boiling lower the heat to a medium and let it boil until all the sugar has dissolved.
In the meanwhile lightly beat the egg yolks.
Stir a little bit of the hot sugar liquid into the beaten egg yolks. Then pour the egg yolks into the saucepan with the rest of the sugar liquid while stirring constantly. Let the mixture boil for about two minutes, or until it begins to thicken. Make sure to stir the whole time to prevent the egg yolks form getting lumpy.
Take the mixture of the heat and stir in the vanilla essence. Leave the mixture to cool to a room temperature.
Beat the soft butter in a freestanding mixer for five minutes, or until it has a lighter color and becomes soft and smooth.
Gradually stir in the egg yolk mixture at a medium speed.
Sift the icing/confectionery sugar and add to the mixture. Beat for about five more minutes.
The butter cream is ready and you can add the coloring you wish to use.

Note.

If the egg yolk mixture gets lumpy you can strain it before adding it to the butter.

If you stir the egg yolk mixture too early (too hot) into the egg yolk mixture and the butter cream becomes almost soupy you can save it by keep on beating the mixture.
This butter cream recipe is the same as given on the Allt í köku website in Icelandic.
This butter cream is essentially what is called french butter cream. For another method (with images and all) on how to make this butter cream you can follow this link.

The final outcome

Assembly

Chocolate cake

Simple syrup

Apricot jam

Butter cream

Method

Cut the chocolate cake into its intended form.
Drizzle some of the simple syrup over the bottom layer.
Spread the bottom layer with apricot jam.
Spread butter cream on the bottom of the next layer and join the two layers.
Repeat 2 - 4 for as many layers as you have on your cake.
When the cake has been assembled cover the cake with a thin layer of butter cream. It is good to use a flat steel spatula to get an even surface.
Decorate the cake at will with the rest of the butter cream and candy.

Enjoy!

Origami boxes

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 20:45:00 +0000

In an earlier post I mentioned the book Fabulous Origami Boxes by Tomoko Fuse. These boxes fall under the category of unit origami or modular origami which I like very much because of the incredible three dimensional structures it allows you to make. Here are some of the boxes I have folded from that book.

If you have trouble following the instructions in the book then there are loads of videos on Youtube that teach how to make a wide variety of boxes. I haven't found video instructions for the square boxes but for the hexagonal box you can follow this LINK for a video that teaches how to fold the lid and this LINK for the base.

Here is again the LINK to the Fabulous Origami Boxes pdf file

Happy folding!

A little box of chocolates

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 21:07:00 +0000

My best friend's birthday was this month and I wanted to give her something nice for the occasion. She is living in another continent (well, I'm living on an island in the middle of no-were) so in order to keep shipping expenses down the present needed to be fairly light. So this year I decided to send her an origami present.

Recently I have been folding origami boxes from a really nice book called Fabulous Origami Boxes by Tomoko Fuse and believe me the title is NOT an exaggeration. I took one of the boxes I had already made and filled it with four Kawasaki Roses that I folded. Then I put one piece of Belgian chocolates into each rose. So there I had a little box of chocolates.

The book Fabulous Origami Boxes is available as a pdf document online for free and here is the LINK to it. It is also sold used on Amazon for those who prefer the printed version. The author, Tomoko Fuse, is a kind of an origami rock star and has published a variety of books worth looking at. I have added here below the books published in English that are listed on the Wikipedia site dedicated to her.

"Spiral: Origami/Art/Design", Viereck Verlag, 2012
Floral Origami Globes, Japan Publications Trading, May 18, 2007
Origami Rings & Wreaths: A Kaleidoscope of 28 Decorative Origami Creations, Japan Publications Trading, Nov 2007
Kusudama Origami, Japan Publications, Sep 2002
Fabulous Origami Boxes, Japan Publications, July 1998
Quick and Easy Origami Boxes, Japan Publications 1994
Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformation, Japan Publications, April 1990

The Kawasaki Rose is, as the name tells us, designed by Toshikazu Kawasaki. This rose is rather complicated to fold but the final result is amazing. I particularly like that the rose is hollow and closes on the bottom like a box so it can be filled with little treats without damaging the structure of the rose.

Follow this LINK to find video instructions on how to fold the Kawasaki Rose.

Happily my friend really liked her present! High five for that!

Later.

Birthday party

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 23:11:00 +0000

Last week my brother asked me to help him out for his daughter's tenth birthday party. At first I wasn't so sure that I had the time or energy to do it but then my brain just wouldn't stop organizing and designing the party. So I just went all inn.

The birthday girl wanted the party to be a costume party as usual but with a Monsters High theme. I have made enough figurative birthday cakes through the years and I didn't want to go into that for this party. I decided to try and follow the Monsters High color-scheme as well as I could with what ever colors I had in my drawer and just have a go with a triangular pyramid (which I had for some reason visioned in my head along with some wage idea of patterns from Peruvian carpets). And this is the result.

I wasn't sure if ten-year old girls were still keen on birthday cakes so I added some more fun to it. I folded a glittery crane to put on the top and lighted sparklers on each side.

During the week prior to the party I made a lot of cranes to put on cocktail sticks. They were of many sizes and different types of paper. The paper size I used varied from 7.5x7.5 cm squares up to 13x13 cm. The folding is both quick and easy and when its ready the folds create a center point at the bottom of the crane that can be opened slightly up to insert the cocktail pin. Follow this LINK for a tutorial on folding the crane.

I used both regular origami paper and patterned crafting paper. The patterned paper I bought in Tiger as well as the cocktail sticks. The sticks I bought actually came with a plastic glitter fringe decoration on the end which I took off in order to put the birds on. Plain sticks (with no decoration) can surely be bought somewhere but since I didn't know where their sold I jumped on the once in Tiger.

Making the sticks takes some time (if you are doing many) but they are inexpensive and their decorative effect makes up for the hours spent making them.

As a last decorative thing I made a string of patterned flags and as this was to be a Monsters High party I glued the Monsters High skull on each flag.

For each flag I folded a A4 sheet of paper in half and cut out a triangle that was 12 cm wide at the top and 21 cm long (the width of a A4 sheet). This gave me two triangles. I folded the top of one of the triangles down one centimeter but on the other one I cut one centimeter of the top. Now both triangles measured 20 cm long and about 11 cm wide. Next I glued a one centimeter wide ribbon under the fold on the triangle with the folded top and then glued the other triangle on the first one. Then I had a flag with print on both sides. This process I repeated for the rest of the flags placing them 10 cm apart on the ribbon. Lastly I found the Monsters High scull logo with a white background and printed out as many as I needed, cut them out and glued on both sides of each flag. And volá! Yes it did take a lot of time but I am happy with the final result so it was worth it.

The paper I used I got very cheap in Tiger. It's about the same weight as a regular photocopy paper but when glued together it becomes quite heavy which then results in nice stiff flags.

Lastly just a few words on the catering. The table was set with the birthday cake (a chocolate cake with butter cream), pizzas and a fruit punch (see picture above). Then towards the end of the party we prepared a chocolate fondue with marshmallows, strawberries, wafer biscuits and mango bits to dip in. So the cocktail sticks, in stead of just being for decoration, came to good use both for the fruit punch as well as the fondue.

In case you were wondering the decorations and the catering were a hit with both the birthday girl and her guest. That is so rewarding!

Over and out for now.

Afmælishattar

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Sat, 18 Jan 2014 00:16:00 +0000

Fyrir afmæli dóttur minnar fyrir nokkrum árum fór ég á stúfana að leita að afmælishöttum sem ekki voru skreyttir einhverri teiknimyndafígúru. Þar sem ég fann enga hatta sem mér líkaði ákvað ég að gera mína eigin.

Sniðið af höttunum tók ég upp af gömlum afmælishatti og svo skreytti ég hvern hatt fyrir sig eftir fíling með tússliti og reglustiku að vopni. Áður en ég límdi þá saman límdi ég strimla af krep-pappír efst í hattana að innanverðu. Að lokum festi ég svo teygjubönd í litla útskorna flipa neðalega á höttunum. Það tók talsverðan tíma að gera hattana en ég var og er ennþá sérlega ánægð með útkomuna.

Í afmælisveislunni fengu krakkarnir að velja sér hatta og þeir sem vildu tóku sinn hatt með sér heim. Þeir hattar sem eftir urðu eru enn til og dætur mínar draga þá reglulega fram og fara í afmælisleik.

Þetta er sérlega einfalt föndur sem gerir afmælisveisluna aðeins öðruvísi og eftirminnilegri það eina sem þarf er að gefa sér tíma.

Órói

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 22:13:00 +0000

Ég hef alltaf verið heilluð af óróum. Það er sérlega heppilegt að nota origami við gerð óróa þar sem fígúrurna og formin eru svo létt svo ég ákvað að spreyta mig á því að hanna einn slíkan. Hér er afraksturinn.

Þríhyrningarnir eru skornir út úr pappa. Ég notaði pappann sem er aftast á A4 gormastílabókum sem er kanski ívið of þunnur. Pappinn er svo klæddur með munstruðum pappír sem fæst í Tiger.
Allar fígúrurnar eru brotnar saman úr 15x15 cm origami-pappír.
Óróinn er settur saman með rauðu perlugarni. Ég notaði fína nál til að gata pappan fyrir garnið og fór svo aftur ofan í gatið með mjög grófri nál svo hægt væri að þræða garnið mörgum sinnum í gegn.
Til að festa dýrin þræddi ég þau upp á þráðinn og batt svo marga hnúta á hann.

Hér má finna leiðbeiningar að því hvernig dýrin eru gerð:
KANÍNA
KENGÚRA
FUGL

Það er margt ólíkt og að mér fannst öllu erfiðara að brjóta saman dýr heldur en að gera modular verk. Það er auðveldara að nota stærri pappír því brotin verða mjög fín og erfið að gera undir lokin, einnig þarf að hafa í huga að nota fínann pappír því brotin eru mörg og verkið verður mjög þykkt þar sem flest lögin eru.
Að brjóta saman dýrin er skemmtileg áskorun og ótrúlega gaman að sjá þau myndast hægt og bítandi úr flötu blaði. Það er merkilegt hvað er hægt að gera mikið úr einu blaði eins og til dæmis, ef vel er að gáð, má sjá að kengúran er með kengúruunga í poka á maganum. Ég mæli með því að spreyta sig á þessum dýrum eða einhverjum af hinum ótalmörgu dýrum sem kennt er að brjóta saman á YouTube.
Góða skemmtun!

Jólaafgangar

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 21:43:00 +0000

Nú þegar jólin eru loksins búin er ekki seinna vænna en að skella inn myndum af smá jólaskrauti.

Þessar stjörnur eru unnar samkvæmt reglum "modular origami" og koma svakalega vel út
sem jólaskraut og eru skemmtilegar tækifærisgjafir. Hver stjarna er gerð úr sex ferhyrndum blöðum og myndar hvert blað tvo odda á stjörnunni svo það má leika sér mikið með lita og munstur samsetningar. Leiðbeiningar um hvernig stjarnan er gerð má finna hér.
Stóru stjörnurnar eru gerðar úr 15x15 cm stórum blöðum en þær minni eru gerðar með 7,5x7,5 cm stórum blöðum. Fyrir borðann gerði ég gat á einn angann með stórri nál og þræddi í gegn.

Jólakúlan á fyrstu myndinni kallast Sonobe Octahedron og er gerð úr tólf ferhyrndum blöðum. Kúlan er hol að innan og þess vegna viðkvæm fyrir hnjaski og á það til að detta í sundur. Hér má finna leiðbeiningar að því hvernig hún er gerð.

Kusudama blóm

Til að segja endanlega skilið við jólin þá set ég hér inn mynd af pakkaskrauti sem ég gerði fyrir þessi jól. Til að mynda þennan blómvönd þarf fimm stök kusudama blóm sem hvert um sig hefur fimm lauf. Hvert lauf er límt saman og svo aftur límt við hin laufin. Brotið er einfalt en samsetningin tekur smá tíma. Ég notaði double tape til að líma bómin saman og til að festa þau á gjöfina. Double tape-ið er ekki mjög sterkt svo auðvelt var að ná blómunum af án þess að eyðileggja þau þegar gjöfin var rifin upp. Hér eru leiðbeiningar til að gera þessi blóm.
Þá er ég búin að gera upp jólin. Hviss, bang, búmm!

Origami

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 22:11:00 +0000

Ég hef alltaf verið mikið fyrir að gera eitthvað í höndum og ég tek gjarnan tarnir við ýmiskonar handavinnu þegar dregur að afmælum dætra minna eða að jólum. Að skreyta jólapakka þykir mér sérstaklega skemmtilegt enda gefur það tilefni til að skapa eitthvað fallegt sem gleður augað þó ekki sé nema rétt í fáeina daga. Á hverju ári reyni ég að breyta til frá fyrri árum svo þetta árið ákvað ég skreyta með origami stjörnum og snjókornum. Ég á því miður ekki myndir af jólapökkunum eins og er en ætla að reyna að hafa upp á einhverjum. Hér á eftir koma þó myndir af snjórkorni og áttahornastjörnum sem ég skreytti með heima.

snjókorn (munstraður pappír á
réttunni en hvítur á röngunni)

Snjókorn (hvítur pappír báðumeginn)

Sara Adams nokkur heldur úti heimasíðunni happyfolding.com þar sem hún setur upp sérlega vel gerð kennslumyndskeið fyrir allavega origami-verk. Þar má einmitt finna leiðbeiningar fyrir snjókornið sem hannað var af Dennis Walker og stjörnuna hér fyrir neðan sem hönnuð var af Maria Sinayskaya.

Stjarna sett saman úr átta
tvílitum blöðum (rauð öðru
megin og gulllituð hinu megin)

Stjarna sett saman úr átta blöðum
(tvö af hverjum lit og öll hvít að aftan)

Þó bæði stjarnan og snjókornið líti út fyrir að vera flókin og erfið að gera þá er raunin önnur. Stjarnan sem er sett saman úr átta eins saman brotnum blöðum er sérlega einföld og skemmtileg að gera þar sem auðvelt er að breyta henni með því að nota ólíkan pappír í hvert sinn. Stjarnan fellur undir flokk "modular origami" sem felur í sér að setja verkið saman úr mörgum eins saman brotnum hlutum án þess að notast við lím eða band. Ég hef heillast af þessari tækni og þá sérstaklega þegar hún er komin út í þrívídd. En meira um það seinna. Over and out.

Fyrstu orðin

noreply@blogger.com (Idunn) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 21:54:00 +0000

Þá er komið að því, ég hef ákveðið að byrja að blogga. Þetta er mín fyrsta færsla á fyrsta degi þessa herrans árs 2014. Ég hætti mér út í þennan heim til þess að halda utan um og deila með öðrum hinum ýmsu dellum sem ég mun detta í og öðrum eldri sem hafa í gegnum árin verið af ýmsu tagi. Þessa dagana er ég heltekin af origami og þá sér í lagi "modular origami." Meira um það seinna...