Sunday, January 01, 2006

How to make the 20-unit flower

Phyllis Snyder of the Westcoast Origami Guild says she and Fumi Wakao were taking a class at the University of Irvine. They met a man who asked if they knew how to do a rose. Phyllis showed him a version of a Kawasaki rose. The man then showed what appeared to Phyllis to be the simple 2x1 3-unit flower with the twist tie. But the one the man was doing went on...and on...and on. 20 units total. He didn't invent it; but he did reverse engineer it. And apparently, it was originally a ball, from which he did the single pipe-cleaner twist-tied rose. The past year, this model has made it's way around from when Phyllis taught it to friends at the Matsuri Festival in Phoenix, to it being taught at OUSA2005. Things travel fast.

If anyone can identify the creator, it'd be much appreciated. As far as I can tell, it's gone the route of the 3-unit flower, and traditional models.

I've had some requests on how to fold this model. Since the assembly might be easier to show than to diagram, I thought I'd video it with my digital camera, and see how that works.


It's a roughly made video without audio instructions. The model itself is simple, but it may need experienced folders to follow the directions (I did make this for some O-Listers). It was a quick make while "on the job" at the New Otani; so the camera work was done on the fly, by whoever I could grab to film it. So forgive the lack of close-ups and more detailed, spoon-fed instructions.






What I love about teaching this model, is that I can teach people in bulk, with newcomers joining in at any given point...because it doesn't require me to be "hands-on" the entire time. You teach the simple unit, very easy to do, and that keeps the folder occupied for the next 10 minutes, folding 19 more. When someone new comes to learn, I can delegate teaching authority and ask one of the students, "Hey, can you teach her how to fold the unit?" or "Can you show her how to assemble the pieces?". It helps me, and it helps the folder who wants to be able to remember and teach her friends later.

If anything in the video is not clear enough, or if you have questions, you might consider leaving questions and suggestions in the comment section on this post, since your comment might not be a unique one, and will address what others are wondering about, themselves.

Again, I am just assuming that the experienced folders will be able to fill in whatever blanks are left in.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

are all the squares equal in the beginning?

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Yes.

Anonymous said...

What is the best type of paper to use for this? Is copy paper too thick?

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Not sure what the best type of paper is, but copy paper is not too thick; I, myself, prefer it over commercial origami paper.

Anonymous said...

i'm just wondering, do you know any other multi-unit flowers that are more complicated?

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Mmmm....don't think so.

I'm sure with a little thought, you could come up with other variations or creations.

Anonymous said...

how big is the square how to get to the size of the square?can make a video on how to get the square or how long is the square?

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Try 4 inch by 2 inch rectangle.

Doesn't really matter.

Unknown said...

This is a origami lotus flower. On the lotus you do not have the long stem under it. You make the lotus the same way you made your flower, you also take a 3 to 4 inch of thin wire and wrap it around the middle to hold everything together. Then you want to carefully fold up all the petals ,not the green for the leaves. You need to flatten the green leaves out so the lotus can sit flat on the table. You can find the Origami Lotus pattern on the internet. You can use any kind of paper. Wrapping paper or origami paper makes beautiful flowers.

Anonymous said...

Hello. I have created a diagram for this model based upon your video. If you want to see it, please send me your email. My email is : jimmy.gtzb@gmail.com

hou said...
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zanzan said...

is there a new updated video? the old one appears to be flash which isn't supported anymore :(

zanzan said...

is there another video? this one appears to be flash which isn't avaliable anymore :(

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Hi zanzan,

Sorry for the long delay. I just now discovered your 2 comments trapped in moderation.

If you're still visiting, I can try to find time for an update. It's a fairly simple model.