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          HOW TO ARRANGE ORIGAMI FLOWERS

Arranging origami flowers is actually easier then arranging real flowers, because
you don't need a vase filled with water. The folding of the flowers is what makes it
so difficult for many people. But after the folding comes the fun part.
You also don't need to cut the stems carefully, just tearing a piece of the bottom
is enough to make the stems shorter.
Finished origami flower arrangements can be placed almost everywhere in your house, they
stay in good shape at least one or two years without watering them even one time.
(Dust can be a problem after a while)


The base: Origami Flowers
You don't have to be very precise folding most of my flowers,
this makes every flower a little bit different then the others. When you look at real flowers,
you'll notice that each single flower is different from the others too.

Origami flower    Origami sunflower    Origami Orchid
The flowers above don't need to be folded very precise


Making stems and leafs
The leaves don't need to be folded very precise too,
as long as you fold enough of them to fill a whole bouquet. Fifteen flowers in a vase with
just eight leaves doesn't look very good in most cases.
Variation in the length of the stems is good to, this makes the bouquet look more alive.

Origami flowers    Origami primroses
I made stems of various length for the flowers in these pictures.
And some are more curved/irregular then the others.


Arranging the flowers
First, I design a nice flower, then I place the flowers with stem in a pot or vase. After this,
I search for leaves that fit well to the arrangement. If I can't find a nice leave, I start
designing a new leaf that does fit well to the arrangement.
If the flowers are edgy, I choose edgy leaves too. If the flowers are looking round or curled,
I mostly choose round looking leaves for the bouquet.
When you've made large flowers, it's better to use large leaves for the arrangement in most
cases.
Origami tulips    Origami flowers    Origami Dahlia flowers
Fine flowers with             Pointy and large flowers combined with    Both flowers and leaves
fine/thin leaves                pointy leaves                                                   with many folding details


Using the right colors for an arrangement is very important to me.
I always make sure that the colors of the flowers fit well to the
colors of the leaves, stems and the pot or vase.
If you find it difficult to get the right colors, you can search pictures
in Google of arrangements with colors you like and use these pictures
as examples. Or you can visit a flower-shop to find inspiration for
a nice colored bouquet.



I use pretty small pots and vases for my origami flowers, unless I'm making a large bouquet.
Sometimes I use a limonade glass or a mug/cup for a bouquet.
My pots and vases usually don't have any offprint on them, so the flowers stay prominent
in the arrangement. If you like pots with offprint on it, you can just use them ofcourse,

whatever you like for yourself.

You can use florist foam for the stems, but
large newspaper balls in a pot is a usefull and                                I placed these lillies in a empty vase.
much cheaper solution:                                                                     The stems hold each other together.
florist foam    Bonsai Origami flower                        Origami lillies
Florist Foam                               Bonsai Origami flowers in a pot
                                                     filled with newspapers.


The position of the flowers is very important. I always try to get a nice
balanced arrangement, but I'm not very precise doing this, otherwise
the bouquet doesn't look very alive and interesting.
How you arrange your flowers is mostly a matter of your own taste or style.
If I'd remove the upper flower in the picture on the right,
the arrangement would be much more boring and less eye catching.

Bonsai Origami Fuchsia    Bonsai Origami flower
Bonsai flower arrangements are most times very balanced with one eye-catching
irregular detail. The purple Bonsai Fuchsia in the picture on the left is very balanced,
but it just looks like the plant can fall over any time.



So, these are the steps I take for making a nice origami flower arrangement:

    1.    Choose a nice flower, or more different flowers that fit well to each other.
    2.    Choose a pot or vase that fits to the flowers and place the flowers in it.
    3.    Choose leaves that fit well to the flowers, pay attention to shape and colors.
    4.    Make sure you get a nicely balanced arrangement.


You can try to make exactly the same arrangement as you see in an example.  When you've
done this more often it's nice to start experimenting a bit by making little adjustments
everytime you make a new bouquet. By doing this you start developing your own style in making
origami flowers. Some people like using very bright colors for their arrangements and others
like using autumn colors when they are making origami flowers.
You can go to a flower-shop for inspiration, or take a walk in a public garden. Maybe, somebody
gave you a beautiful bouquet once and you like to make the same bouquet with origami flowers.
There are also millions of pictures with flowers on the internet nowadays: Just search pictures
in Google and type 'pink flowers', 'spring flowers' or 'beautiful flowers' and you'll get to see
a countless number of pictures with flowers on your screen.






My pages with step-by-step instructions and my pages with Origami videos
have lots of tutorials for folding flowers and flower-arrangements