Origami, the art of Japanese paper folding, was the inspiration for this project. The patterned papers are especially beautiful and seemed perfectly suited to making into whimsical blooms. But as I scoured the origami books for instructions, there were no instructions for folding simple flower shapes. So, I made up my own.

The success of these flowers comes from using origami paper that is printed on both sides. Be sure that you buy the double sided kind for this project, since both sides of the paper show in these flowers. The paper I used has a floral pattern on one side and a checkerboard pattern on the other, making for a lively contrast. Using the two sided paper makes the simple flowers look more complex than they are. Also, if you used paper that is printed on one side only, lots of the plain white would show, which would not add anything to the look of the flowers.

These flowers are so simple to make, yet so difficult to explain! If it helps, think of making pin wheels—the method is quite similar.

What You Need

Double sided printed origami paper, any size squares, depending on the size of flowers you want to make. I used pieces about 5” square.
Wire floral stems, about 14” long
Floral tape
Thin wire
Miscellaneous beads
Needle nosed pliers
Scissors

What To Do:

1. Lay the paper flat in front of you on your work surface. Bring one point across to the point opposite and crease, forming a triangle. Fold that triangle in half, making a smaller triangle.

2. Starting from one of the points along the long side of the triangle, cut through all layers half of a thin petal shape up towards the top point of the triangle, stopping about 1/2” from the point. Repeat, starting from the other point along the long side of the triangle.

3. Paper still folded, cut a petal shape between the two halves of petal shapes that you already cut, stopping again about ½” from the top point.

4. Unfold paper. You will have four longer petal shapes at each of the corners, and 4 shorter petal shapes in between the longer ones. Use the end of a stem wire to poke a small hole first in the very center of the flower, then at the end of each of the four longer petals, about 1/2” from the end. Set aside.

5. In one end of a stem, wire, use pliers to form a small loop. String a bead onto the wire, up to the loop. Use pliers to bend another loop in the wire to hold bead in place. Poke stem wire through holes in all long petals, then through hole in center of flower. Now, four petals are held overlapped into the center and the small four are extended. Push flower all the way up stem to bead. Turn flower over and use pliers to form another loop in back of flower to hold it in place on the stem.

6. Wrap stem with floral wire. Use hands to bend finished stem into wavy zig-zag.

7. Arrange flowers, bending their “faces” forward as you go.