Tutorial Tuesday - Origami Lotus Brooch

Hi Folks - Andrew here with a paper folding Tuesday Tutorial. I'm going to show you how to fold an Origami Lotus flower that can then be converted in to a brooch.

When doing this it is best to use paper rather than the coated (and slippery) origami paper I find. I'm going to be doing this with a 10cm x 10cm piece of paper cut from a craft magazine. I would use bigger if you can if this is one of your first attempts at semi-complex origami. 10x10 makes a button sized finished Lotus and the last steps can be a little tricky this small.

So let's get started!

First rule. Crease well. Use the back of your thumb nail to make those creases nice a solid.
Second rule. If you rip a bit. Don't start over (yet) finish up so you know how to fix it. Most steps are repeated three more times in this.

First step is that we are going to fold the corners to each other, making a triangle.

Now unfold this and do it again to the other two corners.

You will now have an X across your page.

Now, we will fold in the corners to the centre one at a time.

Now... do it again

and one more time...

Now turn the model over

and fold the corners in to the centre again

Now we want to bend the corners over slightly. This is to help us make the first petals.

Now, on the backside of the model you will take the 'petals' and slowly pull them out and over to the other side. While you are folding this over, you want to curl up the edges of the petal at the same time. You do this in baby steps, a little up - a little in and so on. That little bit of corner you folded over is your push point here. So as you pull the petal around and fold the edges up (almost making it in to a spoon) you push down on the folder corner.

Now do this for all the sides. You will be able to push these all together in to a pyramid shape.

Next we do the second rows of petal. These are considerably easier. BUT they are easier to rip so move slow.On the back you will have the next set of triangle and you pull each one over towards the top of the flower in turn. These do not form the same type of petals so there isn't the same folding involved.

I usually give that second row a little pinch at the tips to make them pointy.

Last, the third row. These ones rip REALLY easy at the corners so again, move slow. With these ones though the corners are entirely hidden it's no big deal if they rip a little.

That's it! You made the flower. I made a purple one too. Doing this with nice floral paper makes a big difference to the look of the final product.

So the very last step for you is to hot glue on a brooch back to the back of the model.

Coat it with a layer of light mod podge and wear it with pride. If you like this one, comment on it and I will put up some others for Dresses, other flowers, birds and butterflies on our sister blog at idyllia.co.uk