Origami cherry blossom tutorial

I love making origami flowers. There was a pattern I found once to make a simple flower, that wasn't so simple to make. After playing with the pattern a bit I came up with this short cut. It's pretty easy but if you run into problems let me know and I'll post more details.

Other then that the only other thing you'll need is some yellow or orange crepe paper for the center of the flower. This is the regular rolls of crepe paper they sell at party supply stores.

Once done you can glue the flowers to branches. Here I used dried curly willow.

LOL I have to say I was a bit reluctant to post the photos because, quite frankly, my fingers look really ginormously freaky in some of them :P

1. Start with a square of paper

2. Fold in half from corner to corner

3. Like this

4. Then fold again from corner to corner making a small triangle

5. Partially unfold from one corner, take the point from the far side of the triangle and fold it downwards to the top point in the photo.

6. Flatten down into a square like this, then flip over and repeat on other side

7. It should look like this

8. Now take the tip of the square and lift it away from the base

9. Continue lifting until you can create the shape below

10. Can you see how I'm folding the outer cut edge as perfectly even as possible to the center line?

11. It should look like this when you've folded both sides inwards.

12. Then flip over and repeat on the other side.

13. It should look like this once both sides are done

14. Here I've taken the points from the solid ends and folded them back over.

14b. Now fold one petal away from the rest of the form taking the tip of the point facing left in the image above and unfold that petal all the way back towards the right.

15. Take the top point and fold the petal in half aligning the top point back down to the creased line on the base like in the picture above.

16. Gently lift the folds open and fold along the scored lines

17. It should look like this

18. Fold the petal back up in the opposite direction. Repeats steps 15-18 on the 3 remaining petals

20. It should look like this when all 4 petals are done

21. Take one of the outer corners and fold it towards the center line

22. It should look like this. Repeat on the half of this petal, then repeat both folds on the backside

23. It should look like this once all 4 folds are completed

24. Hold the flower and gently separate the petals in an outward direction

25. It should look like this with all 4 petals completed

26. Close up front

27. Close up side

28. Cut a small piece of crepe paper twice as long as you want the center to be

29. Gently twist a couple of times in the center

31. Fold crepe paper in half and gently insert into the center of the flower. I use a bit of glue on the folded point to secure in the flower and a small nail or wire to ease the crepe paper lower into the base.


I found this glue at Michaels and it worked like a charm. You can Google the name below to find it online:

3M Scotch Quick Drying Tacky White Glue

http://www.theflirtyguide.com/