June hits the rainy season
month in the Philippines. It usually rains in the mid afternoon so while I was
sipping a cup of coffee in my friend’s house, I suddenly remembered my friends
project for her wedding a paper flower. She uses origami papers. Using origami
paper for Kusudama Flower is the most appropriate type of paper for such a
magnificent flower.
As I don’t have time to go to
the department store to buy such type of paper I decided to use the old
brochures as I am just killing time and enjoying the rainfall splattering at
the rooftop. Also, I’ve decided to use magazine or old brochures so I could
help recycle waste.
I wanted to share a bit of
information about this Ancient form of art to those who doesn’t know or maybe
like me wondering about Kusudama.
Kusudama tiny bit of History:
(From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia)
The Japanese kusudama (薬玉;
lit. medicine ball) is a paper model that is usually (although not always)
created by sewing multiple identical pyramidal units (usually stylized flowers
folded from square paper) together through their points to form a spherical
shape. Alternately the individual components may be glued together. (e.g. the
kusudama in the lower photo is entirely glued, not threaded together)
Occasionally, a tassel is attached to the bottom for decoration.
Kusudama originate from
ancient Japanese culture, where they were used for incense and potpourri;
possibly originally being actual bunches of flowers or herbs. The word itself
is a combination of two Japanese words kusuri, Medicine, and tama, Ball. They
are now typically used as decorations, or as gifts.
The kusudama is important in
origami particularly as a precursor to the modular origami genre. It is often
confused with modular origami, but is not such because the units are strung or
pasted together, instead of folded together as most modular construction are
made.
It is, however, still
considered origami, although origami purists frown upon using its
characteristic technique of threading or gluing the units together, while
others recognize that early traditional Japanese origami often used both
cutting (see thousand origami cranes or senbazuru) and pasting, and respect
kusudama as an ingenious traditional paper folding craft in the origami family.
Modern origami masters such as
Tomoko Fuse have created new kusudama designs that are entirely assembled
without cutting, glue or thread except as a hanger.
Here are some of my Kusudama
paper flower.
Here’s a website you could
visit for you to learn how to make a Kusudama Flower: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Kusudama-Flower
Here's another sample I took from Kessa Thea Peralta:
