Here's the wreath all covered in snow. Pity that it's now about 40 degrees and everything is starting to melt. On the plus side, that should generate plenty of business for Spencer.
Below are some of the boxes I made this Christmas.
This was my third attempt at covering an empty candy box with paper such that it would be potentially reusable. On the first two attempts, I used tape. Bad idea. The tape just gets in the way. On this one, I used a stick of glue. I also didn't try to wrap the paper around the edges of the box-top. Instead, I covered any bare spots with the green ribbon, also put on with a stick of glue.
This is an old box that I found in my dad's basement this year and figured it was in good enough shape to reuse. The problem with this style of box is that it does not hold together very well. So when I use it for gifts, I cheat a little: the ribbon wrapped around the body of the box is to keep the two halves from separating.
This was a box that I put together in an unconventional fashion. I wanted to emphasize the fancier paper, but de-emphasize the plainest paper. The nice thing was that the colors of the middling paper blended in nicely with the plain paper, so the asymmetry of the joining isn't as obvious. Below is the bottom of the same box, just because I like the way the two papers look together. I tend to save the not-quite-as-nice paper for the bottom of the box, but these would have worked well as a top, also:
And this one was made by joining the pieces of the lid pinwheel style. There are four pieces to each lid. To make the pinwheel, you put the "square" edge of each piece into the "angled" edge of each adjacent piece.
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A slightly blurry woodpecker was in my neighbor's tree during our first big snowstorm this year. Okay, he wasn't blurry in real life. I just managed to focus the camera on the branches behind him, instead of on him. *sighs* Still, I don't usually see these guys in town. Also, a blurry image of "my" Christmas tree (belonged to my Great Grandma Fern once upon a time).
At any rate, I'm using him as a symbols of (blurry) Christmas cheer. Click below for pictures of the gift boxes I made today if you want something a bit more, er, focused.
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A few more from the Ornagami Book below the fold. Checking to see what's left... The Dove (done but not pictured), 8-point star/frame, Fancy tree, 5-point one cut star, Patch Star, Quickie Tree (done but not pictured), Reindeer, Santa's sack and chimney, Snowflake Star (poorly done; needs to be redone), and Teardrop ornament.
The roundish one is called a "Holiday Wreath," though I think I've come across it by at least one other name. The folding is very easy, but the joining is a mite tricky, especially when you get to joining the last two pieces together. Whether it looks good or blah will depend largely on the type of paper you use. The pointy one is called a Harlequin Diamond. The folding slightly tougher here, but the joining is easier (once you decipher the diagram; it's easy, almost too easy, to the point that I thought I was misreading the diagram).
Here we have a Santa model (ignore the green of the beard, etc; most paper will have a white background so this won't be an issue). The Santa was easier to fold than I expected. It's also sufficiently generic that, with blue starry paper, you could call it a wizard, or with green paper a leprechaun, etc. Any being with a pointy hat and beard would work here. I've also got a Crane and a Stocking pictured. The Crane is probably the most famous origami critter, and I've done one or two before. It's not all that complicated, but it is a case where the folds have to be fairly precise for it to look good. The stocking, on the other hand, is very, very easy. I'm thinking it would look more stocking-like, however, if I blunted the toe...
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I'm 2/3 of the way through the models in the book now. If I counted correctly, there are 30 total and I've now made 20 of them. Of course, I've been avoiding the reindeer due to prior experience with intricate origami animals, but I won't have many options left before much longer! ^/^ Several more that I finished last night are below the fold.
The box is called a "candy cup" and is made from an old Guayaki tea bag. It's a fairly sturdy, and easy to make, cup, but you need a ruddy large piece of rectangular paper if you want it to hold much. Divide the width of the paper by 4 and that's how wide the cup will be. Divide the height by 4 as well, and that's how tall. Inside the cup is a "candy" cane, that is ridiculously easy to make (just take out the pen before you get it completely rolled up) and a candle that is nearly as easy. The star is called a 4-point estrella, and it's actually up-side down here.
Here's the box again, with the Estrella star right-side-up. The paper I used makes it look like, from this direction, that it required two separate sheets, but it was only one multicolored sheet, cut into four pieces. I've seen better interlocking star models, so I'm not overly fond of this one, but it's relatively easy. The hard part is getting the last two pieces to interlock with one another.
Lastly are my favorites from this batch. Two variations of hexahedron, and a paper ball. The paper ball was one I thought I already knew how to make, but it turns out that I was missing a "lock" at the end that keeps it from being pulled apart easily. It's still one of the easiest models to make, though. The hexahedrons are also quite easy to make, but mildly tricky to get joined together. Ironically, I had an easier time with the small one in the picture than with the large, but I think that's because I used double sided paper for the large one. It seems to be thicker.
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I tried a few more of the models in the book tonight, and made a few more Saar Stars. Picture below the fold.
The angel turned out nicely, but it sort of creeps me out, to be honest. I'll try to pass it on to someone more into angels at some point. The star immediately in front of the angel is a five-point version of the Saar Star. Once you get the paper cut into a pentagon (very good instructions at the front of the book; leftover paper scattered around the models), it's actually easier to fold than the 4-point. Hmmm, though that could be because I was using larger paper for the 5-point. Anyway, the Saar Star at the left is one I mostly made at the philosophy club meeting this afternoon, mainly to see if I had the pattern memorized yet. Answer: not quite. I missed the very last fold on each point. But I had 90%, so I was pleased.
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At Barnes and Noble yesterday, I found a very nice book of Christmas oriented origami. It's called Ornagami, and seems only to be available new through Barnes and Noble. I've run across dozens of ornament-origami books in the past, without buying any of them. Often this was because their example pieces, proudly displayed on the front cover, seemed rather pathetic. At the other extreme, they sometimes seemed impossibly elaborate, so that I didn't even want to get started. This book has a good mix of simple and difficult folds, most of which produce a decent-looking ornament/decoration.
Two very cool things about the book. First off, it's spiral bound. Sometimes I think there should be a law that all music, puzzle and origami books must be spiral bound. That way they stay on the page that you're working on. Second off, it comes with some starter origami paper, bound right into the book, with easy-tear perforation lines. It's not the best quality origami paper, but there are some very pretty patterns there. Also, once you've pulled all the paper out, the origami book will "collapse" from being about 12" by 8" to 4" by 8", since you'll have pulled out all the 8 by 8 paper.
By and large, the instructions in this book are very clear and easy to follow. I've tried close to a third of the models now, and only once have I had to sit and stare at a picture and instructions for several minutes to figure out what it meant. Admittedly, I've done quite a bit of origami now, but there are still some things that are just hard to get written down coherently. On the other hand, the instructions for making a "bird base" in this book are the clearest that I can ever remember seeing. Most books don't explicitly mention a few steps that make it a whole lot easier; this book does.
I'll probably post a few images when I get some made from decent paper. I generally try out new folds on generic/ugly/mutilated paper, so that if I mess up, I haven't ruined any of my good paper.
Quick break down by difficulty (for ones I've tried):
Easy enough that just about anyone could get it on the first try:
Candle
Quickie Tree
Stocking
Paper ball
Candy Cane
Stocking
Holiday Wreath (joining last two pieces is slightly tricky)
Middling:
Candy Cup
Octahedron (1 & 2)
Bell Bauble
Angel (would be under easy if not for the "thirds")
Hexahedron
Banded Hexahedron
4-point Estrella
Harlequin Diamond
Santa
Trickier:
Saar Star (simple...except that you have to be more careful)
5-pointed Saar Star (easier than the 4-point one, actually, but first you have to get a pentagonal piece of paper)
Crane
Reindeer (haven't tried it...but getting decent quadrupeds is ALWAYS tricky)
Dove
Faceted Star (the folding is easy, and the assembly is ALMOST easy...until you get to joining the last two bits together)
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