A quick study of a flower’s reproductive cycle will reveal a fundamental truth. That millennia ago flowers gave birth to us. I believe that this is why flowers maintain so much power over us. I believe this connection hasn’t been forgotten and is still embedded within us.
A NEW WAY OF FLOWER ARRANGING
Honestly, I’m not really interested in conventional flower arrangements; at least the ones I’ve been exposed to. Most arrangements seem to be based on overabundance rather than scarcity. They emphasize symmetry rather than irregularity. Control as opposed to wilderness. Why would a symmetrical arrangement of an overabundant plant be appealing to anyone except the person who arranged it? I had not considered that there might be another way to display flowers.
About three years ago a friend looked at one of my sculptures and said, “Ikebana!” I said, “Ike-what?” To which he responded, “Japanese flower arranging.” When looked up the term on the Web, my screen filled with images, and my jaw dropped. For the first time I was seeing plants, not just flowers, treated with the respect I believe they deserve. These arrangements seemed to honor life in a way I do not pretend to understand.
I don’t know how to explain my feelings surrounding ikebana arrangements. All I can tell you is that I have felt this way before. In my younger days, exploring life around me, I occasionally stumbled upon scenes of amazing, indescribable beauty. Perhaps I’d be lying on my stomach, looking at a moss covered rock. First I’d notice the texture of the rock, then the moss, then the interactions between colors and textures. Th en I’d notice that a small flower had taken root in an adjacent crevice. And then a feeling would come from deep within. The feeling was a mixture of satisfaction, happiness and calm—a serenity mixed with excitement. Some of the ikebana pictures I saw that first day evoked this feeling in me.
Since that time I have dreamed of developing techniques that would allow me to mimic ikebana-style arrangements. I cannot how far I’ve progressed. However, this book is testament to what I’ve accomplished. With tools; paper, paint and glue, one can never duplicate the complex beauty of even a single blade of grass, much less a flower’s petal. But perhaps we can capture some of the essence of ikebana.
In this book I’ve tried to honor plants like never before. By combining ikebana, origami, and makigami techniques, I seek to create sculptures that shed new light on the human-plant relationship. Instead of planters, I will show you how to build arrangements on stone-like structures made from paper. Th is will allow us to explore textures without the expense of buying ceramics made specifically for ikebana arrangements. I will teach you how to make these arrangements, and together we will explore a world of ikebana-inspired origami flower arrangements the likes of which have never been seen before.
How to Use This Book
This book was written for both experienced and inexperienced folders. The diagrams you’ll find in this book are different; they employ a new technique called glow-fold which is explained on the opposite page. It is unlikely that you’ll read through this book from front to back. It is more likely that you’ll use this book like a reference tool, skipping back and forth to different sections as you need them. I recommend keeping at least two bookmarks handy.
Origami paper is expensive. The best place to begin in this book is in the section, “Cutting Paper for Origami Ikebana” (page 16). As a general rule, when learning, or when practicing, you should use inexpensive squares you have cut yourself.
Rules for Faster Origami Learning
MAKE PRACTICE PAPER BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Jump ahead to page 16 and make some practice squares. This will allow you to make your mistakes on inexpensive practice squares instead of expensive origami paper.
THE EFFECTS OF AN INCORRECTLY MADE FOLD INCREASE AS THE MODEL PROGRESSES
I have seen students struggle because they refuse to throw away the square they started with. They continue using the same piece of paper despite making one incorrect fold. They proceed, successfully completing a few more folds, and then make another incorrect fold. What most folders don’t realize is that an incorrect fold at the beginning compounds exponentially as we progress through a folding pattern. By the time the folder nears the end, the incorrect fold has contaminated almost every plane of their model. Something inside us tells us not to waste paper, however “wasting paper” when exploring a new folding pattern will end up saving both paper and time in the long run. Just don’t forget to recycle those discarded attempts.
REVIEW THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FOLDING THE MODEL
Before you begin, look at each diagram and read each instruction. This allows your brain a little time to review the pattern before you attempt it. Even if you don’t fully understand the diagrams and instructions, reviewing them in advance will give you an edge and save you time and paper.
If you have trouble making any of the base models in this book, take a look at the videos on the accompanying DVD.
The DVD that comes with this book has several computer template files you may find helpful.
INTRODUCING GLOW-FOLD INSTRUCTIONS
Glow-fold is a new, patented diagramming method for conveying folding. It is particularly useful for origami instructions. Glow-fold works by highlighting the surface of the area which will move during the fold with an orange, semi-transparent glow. In the diagram immediately following, a narrow trace of orange semi-transparent glow will be visible along any open edges. This narrow trace is called afterglow and indicates where the glowing surface went. Afterglow appears only along edges were the initial glow would normally leak through; in other words, there won’t be afterglow along the folded side of the area that just moved.
Glow-fold dramatically decreases the time it takes to learn a new folding pattern. Instead of trial and error style experimentation, glow-fold allows the folder to navigate diagrams with confidence. It turns the process of completing a new model from a frustrating puzzle into a coherent step-by-step progression. This diagramming system makes origami accessible to scores of people who thought they didn’t have the patience to do origami.
1 We begin with a square piece of paper. It is yellow on one side and white on the other. We start with the yellow side facing us.
2 We’re going to fold the square in half on a diagonal. Notice that there’s a glow on top of the triangle formed by the bottom and right edges, and the diagonal (marked by a dashed green line) where the paper is to be folded.
3 Imagine the overlay on top of the square in front of you. It would look like this, and you would fold the bottom right corner up to the top left corner.