Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Beyond the Square Vol 2 Iss 3

7/25/2019 Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Beyond the Square Vol 2 Iss 3

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"Beyond the Square"

Joost Langeveld

5 Petal Origami Bonsai Flower

Molding Tree Trunks


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Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3 June 1, 2010

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Click-On Contents

Origami Bonsai Update 2

Joost Langeveld 5

5 Petal Origami BonsaiFlower 8

Molding Tree Trunks 12

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 2 Issue

3 is written, photographed and published by

Benjamin John Coleman. Edited by Annette and

John Coleman. Copyright 2010, Benjamin John

Coleman all rights reserved.

Artichoke and daffodil hybrid in fractal wave

planter by Benjamin John Coleman.

Cover: "Wildflowerz" by Benjamin John Coleman.

Web-Enabled!Click on any highlighted item or

text in this document and you will

be taken to a link on the web.

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Origami Bonsai Update - June 1, 2010

Origami Bonsai(Tuttle Publishing, ISBN 0804841039 ) the first book in the Origami Bonsai series was released on

April 10, 2010. While I do not have access to sales data directly, I am able to garner some information from Amazon

and Barnes and Noble statistics. It seems the book is experiencing growth in what could best be described as waves

Sales increase, I believe, as a group of people discover the book, and then slow down as they digest it. The wavethat follows is larger than its predecessor, which suggests positive growth. For a time the book was in the number 9

position for top sellers in theflower arranging category.

At the same time, sales of the other books in the series (on DVD and sold directly by me) have grown tremendously.

I was recently contacted by a fellow in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, to tell me that making branches was his only option. I

had not considered that there would be people who did not have access to branches, which are needed in the first

book.

In This Issue:

Development of Origami Bonsai continues at a rapid pace. I recently obtained a provisional patent on the folding

pattern used by the basic flower formwhich is presented in the first book. While reviewing the pattern for the

patent application I realized it was not dependent upon a square. In fact, the same folding pattern can be

applied to a two-dimensional shape with any number of corners. Each corner

represents a petal, therefore the folding pattern is capable of producing flowers

with an unlimited number petals.

I immediately set out to design a five petal flower. Five petals are

important, mostly because they're far more common in nature than

four petals. Five is also a Fibonacci number (Italian mathematician who

discovered a series of numbers commonly found in nature), which makes

the new flower even more exciting.

After successfully folding some five-petal flowers I wondered who else

might be working "beyond the square," and discovered that many are

pushing the origami envelope. Please read on.

Sincerely,

Benjamin John Coleman

The first five petal flower based on the basic flower

form presented in "Origami Bonsai," by Benjamin

John Coleman and from Tuttle Publishing.

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Origami Bonsai Resources on the WebClick on the thumbnail to be taken to the corresponding web site.

www.OrigamiBonsai.orgOrigamibonsai.org has tips, books you can buy, free

folding videos, photos of Origami Bonsai created all by

people living all over the world, and lots more.

www.Scribd.com/BenagamiYou'll find Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine here along

with less expensive electronic versions ofAdvanced

Origami Bonsai and Origami Bonsai Accessories.

FaceBookWhen you become a "fan" of Origami Bonsai on

FaceBook you will be notified when new issues of this

magazine are released. You'll also find craft show

schedules where Origami Bonsai artists will be present,

along with other announcements.

www.YouTube.com/OrigamiBonsaiForumA lot of Origami Bonsai folding videos.

www.Etsy.comSearch "origami bonsai" and "makigami accessories" to

see lists of items for sale in these categories from artists

and craftspeople around the globe.

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http://www.origamibonsai.org/http://www.scribd.com/benagamihttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Origami-Bonsai/309983322004http://www.youtube.com/origamibonsaiforumhttp://www.etsy.com/shop/Benagami?ga_search_query=benagami&ga_search_type=seller_usernames&view_type=list


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Origami Bonsai Books and Instant Flowers

Click the thumbnail to order or preview.

The first book in the Origami Bonsai(2010, Tuttle

Publishing) series is available at bookstores worldwide.

This book teaches how to fold the basic flower form

from which many varieties of flower can be folded.

Comes with folding videos on DVD. 112 pages.

Advanced Origami Bonsaiteaches how to make

branches from newspaper paper using the Makigami

technique. Also teaches how to create intricate branch

networks for Origami Bonsai sculptures. 182 pages on

DVD or through Scribd.com.

Origami Bonsai Accessories teaches how to make

durable Makigami jewelry, accessories, bangles, planters

and other items. Concepts presented can be applied to

other crafts, hobbies, and art forms. Make virtually

anything from paper. 152 pages on DVD or through

Scribd.com.

Origami Bonsai Instant Flowers are the first mass

produced origami flower in the world! They fold

instantly into 12 flower varieties with videos on YouTube

to guide you. Each package comes with 6 red, 3 blue and

3 yellow instant flowers.

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http://www.origamibonsai.org/books.htmlhttp://www.origamibonsai.org/books.htmlhttp://www.origamibonsai.org/books.htmlhttp://www.origamibonsai.org/instantflowers.html


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Superman or Joost Langeveld?

By day he's a computer technician, but on nights and weekends he has the hands of an origami superhero. Is that a

bird? A turtle? No, it's Joost Langeveld's hands making yet another origami flower on YouTube! With almost four

million views, Langeveld holds top honors in the origami video category by a huge margin. He has over 150 videos,

mostly for folding flowers, and has written two books, Beautiful Paper Flowersand Fabulous Paper Flowers(bothpublished by Metro Books, ISBN 1435121589 and 1435109600 respectively). He's also in the top 100 for most

subscribers in his native country, the Netherlands.

On folding flowers he merely says, "flowers make people happy and I like making things that make people happy."

Most of his designs make use of squares, however he has many designs based on hexagons and triangles.

Interestingly, the vast majority are quite easy to fold. He has a talent for discovering ingeniously simple ways to

manipulate paper.

Langeveld says he began investigating shapes other than squares because he wanted to try something new and

because he "thought it would be easier to make a flower with six petals from a hexagonal piece of paper." If you

decide to try some of his designs, the link below will take you to his web site. We have also included a template for

printing a large hexagon and equilateral triangle on the next page. Just print that page and you'll be ready to fold!

http://www.joostlangeveldorigami.nl

Click for Video Click for Video

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http://www.joostlangeveldorigami.nl/home.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwdXe0cr2tM&feature=player_embedded#!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VSkXHMlST8&feature=player_embeddedhttp://www.joostlangeveldorigami.nl/home.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VSkXHMlST8&feature=player_embeddedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwdXe0cr2tM&feature=player_embedded#!


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www.OrigamiBonsai.org6


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Click hereto see a list of Origami Bonsai sculptures available on Etsy.

Origami Bonsai artists and craftspeople, make sure to include the keywords "origami" and "bonsai" when posting your work to Etsy so it

will be included when readers click this advertisement.

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http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=origami+bonsai&search_type=handmadehttp://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=origami+bonsai&search_type=handmade


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5 Petal Origami BonsaiFlower

The basic flower form presented in Origami Bonsai (2010 Tuttle Publishing)

has proven to be quite versatile. Not only is it capable of being folded intomore than

12 flower varieties, but now it can be made with five or more petals. This article

explains how to make flowers with five petals from a piece of paper shaped like a

star.

Because of the complexity of the basic flower forms folding pattern, and because it is

almost impossible to create a perfectly shaped star by hand, we use a

computer to produce our initial shape. You can obtain a copy of the JPEG

graphic image upon request [email protected]. Due to copyright issues, you mustinclude a

picture with your email that contains both the book and a flower you have folded. Why this

complex requirement? Because if you don't own a copy ofOrigami BonsaiI can't, in good faith,

send you a copy of the folding pattern. Including a flower in the photo ensures that the photo is

probably real, and that you are familiar with the directions (mountain vs. valley) of each fold.

Without this knowledge it will be almost impossible for you to create a five petal version.

You will receive a JPEG image via email a few hours after you request it. The JPEG image will

have three different sizes of star shaped folding patterns on it. These patterns will have more fold

lines than the patterns presented in the instructions which follow (again, this was done to

avoid any legal issues). An inexpensive glass cutter is used to impress the fold lines into the

paper.

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mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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How to turn the JPEG into a Flower

1. Email a picture of your book and a flower you have

folded [email protected]. You will receive the JPEG

file in a return email within a few hours.

2. Print the JPEG file on your printer. The page will look

similar to this, but will have a lot more fold lines. This

image has been altered to avoid any copyright issues.

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mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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3. Cut out one of the stars. You can paint it at this stage

if you wish. .

4. Put the star on top of a magazine you've already read

and use a glass cutter to impress the folds into the paper.

Apply enough pressure that you can see fold lines that

you've finished, but not so much that you cut the paper.

After you've finished, flip the star over to confirm you

impressed all the fold lines into the paper.

5. Fold a square of paper into the basic flower form

(Origami Bonsai pages 50 through 53). Collapse it, and

then partially un-collapse it. Use it as a guide to identify

the proper direction of each fold. Fold each line you

impressed in step 3 onto the star. Work on one petal at atime.

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6. Collapse all five petals into a five-petal basic flower

form.

You will find this five-petal version of the basic flower form to be quite versatile. Not only is it capable of folding all

the varieties presented in Origami Bonsai, but there are other, new varieties it mimics quite well. The petals are

much bigger than those created by a square, thus giving you more space to experiment. Of course the petals can

always be shortened by cutting them with scissors if you wish.

Here are some five-

petal flowers in a

beautiful shade of

blue.

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Molding Tree Trunks

One of the problems with tree trunks is that the greater the diameter, the harder it is to mold without damaging it.

Typically, a thick tree trunk (more than 5 layers of newsprint) will develop tears when it is bent at too tight an angle.

To try to alleviate this issue I have been experimenting with molding Makigami tree trunks on shapes other than

cylinders. In this example an American football is used, however the bottom of a shallow steel bowl might work justas well.

Here is my Makigami tree trunk taped to an

American football while it dries.

The resultant shape is quite interesting. It has a

slow, gradual curve where it is thickest, and a much

sharper curve where it becomes narrow.

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Makigami Accessoriesare durable, wearable and biodegradable. To see a list of

Makigami accessories available on Etsy,Click here.

Origami Bonsai artists and craftspeople, make sure to include the keywords "makigami" and "accessories" when posting your work to Etsy

so it will be included when readers click this advertisement.

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http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=makigami+accessories&search_type=handmadehttp://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=makigami+accessories&search_type=handmadehttp://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=makigami+accessories&search_type=handmadehttp://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=makigami+accessories&search_type=handmade

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Beyond the Square Vol 2 Iss 3

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