How to make a Kusudama flower ball

Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog. How is your 2018 going?

Whether you are in the depths of winter or the heat of summer in January, it might be a time for staying indoors out of the weather, and doing a little crafting, so hence my blog post for today.

How to make a Kusudama ball. 
I must admit that until I read my copy of "Breathe" magazine a few months back I had never heard of a Kusudama ball. which is a traditional Japanese decoration that can be hung to twirl in the breeze.


According to British Origami Society - "Kusudama (medicine ball) is believed to have originated in the Heaian Period (794 - 1192). At first fragrant woods and herbs were placed in a small cloth bag, which was decorated with blossoms of sobu or iris and other flowers. Long silk threads of five different colours were attached to it. This was hung in the house on May 5 to dispel evil spirits and disease."



According to Wikipedia -
"The word itself is a combination of two Japanese words kusuri, Medicine, and tama, Ball."

 My magazine supplied instructions. They showed a flower made from coloured paper, you could use origami or patterned paper, but I decided to up-cycle pages from an old book. 

 For your ball you will need to make 12 flowers with each flower having 5 petals made from 5 squares of paper. I gave instructions for making these flowers last year. Click here to learn how by following the easy step by step instructions - How to make a simple paper flower

The folding tool you see in the lower right hand corner is really good for getting those folds firm. The size of the finished ball will depend on the size of your pages. My squares were about 13cm x 13cm.

Follow illustrated step by step instructions on my blog here - How to make a simple paper flower

  Glue each petal together, and then glue the five petals together at the centres to form a 5 petaled flower.  Unlike the paper flowers I showed you how to make last year, there is no stick up the middle.

When you have made 12 flowers you are ready to assemble the ball. Apply a line of glue to the back edge of one of the flower petals (a hot glue gun is good for this) and press a second flower to it, holding until the glue sets. Then run a line of glue down the join between the two flowers and attach a third flower, holding the three together till the glue sets. 
Repeat to make 4 sets of 3 flowers.

Now glue the 4 sets of 3 flowers together to make a ball. Glue a length of ribbon between the flowers  to make a hanger. 

There are other flower shapes they also use to make kusudama flower balls. Search on the net and see what you can find.  I found this one you see below here - how-to-make-beautiful-origami-kusudama-flowers/

 
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