So one of the DIY (do-it-yourself) projects that we are taking upon for the wedding are to make our own ceremony decorations. Our venue needs little to no decoration whatsoever because it is already simple and elegant, which is exactly what we want. We are going to make kusudamas to hang on the outside of pews though just so that our isle photos won't look too bungata. A kusudama is a Japananese origami ball, originally folder all by hand and using only paper to assemble together. The one we are going to make uses glue so technically it isn't a real kusudama, but whatever. We first made a tester one out of white printer paper and white glue, which I would not recommend to anyone to use as final products. We made a second one using actual origami paper and rubber cement which came out exceptionally well. It's amazing how proper products can make all the difference in quality. So here are the stages of our second trial kusudama. All prices are what we paid in Canadian dollars and were rounder up to the next dollar.
1. Here are the products we used. Rubber cement ($2) from Curry's Art Store, pack of 50 sheets of 15cm x 15cm origami paper ($4) from Curry's Art Store, fabric rope ($2 - $.50 per meter) from Fabricland (what a shitty website!), and a pack of four cushion tassles ($4) from Fabricland. So to make eight fully round kusudama would cost us less than $30. Since we're probably only going to make half circles it will be even less. =D
2. Fold one petal using one sheet of 15cm x 15cm origami paper using these directions --> Traditional Bloom/ Morning Dew/ Morning Glory. Man this one has a lot of names. o_O
3. Glue two petals together using a light coat of rubber cement between them and hold together like this. Rubber cememnt dries A LOT faster than white glue and I found it was a lot less messy to work with and easier to wipe away and clean up.
4. Continue to glue the petals one at a time together allowing each glued part to fully dry before moving onto the next petal. Here is one with two petals next to a complete flower with five petals.
5. Here is a picture of a flower next to my head to give you an idea of its size. However my head is unusually small in comparison to other people.
6. This kusudama requires twelve flowers to be made, which will take you 60 sheets. If you are going to make a half a circle then you will only need to make six flowers per unit (30 sheets). I turned one to the side so you can see what it looks like in the back. Yes I know this picture only has ten flowers. I think I got impatient and wanted to take a picture. =P
7. To assemble the kusudama together into the ball stage start gluing the flowers together. Again, wait until one part dries before starting to glue on other sections. This only takes a minute or two so be patient otherwise it will look sloppy. Trust me! The first two flowers are easy, but once you get to the third and yonder it gets tricky. You will have to glue them to more than two petals in the later stages so I would advise gluing two petals and waiting until those dry before gluing the flower to the third, and then the fourth. This just helps keep the flower in place so that it doesn't dislocate from the position you want it to be in.
8. Half of the kusudama (6 flowers) will look like this from the back. It's not really necessary to make sure the back spikes all line up since nobody looks there anyway. From this stage you would glue the ribbon/string/twine/rope that you want to use to hang your kusudama. If you want to use it as a topiary then you would glur your dowel at this point too.
9. Tada! This is what it looks like when it's done. I only did a half one so that it can be flush against the pew.
Our final ones will be red and gold. Hopefully they will all come out as well as this one did.
