3D origami wedding swans

Another wedding, another 3D origami gift^_^  (diagram below)

 I like crafting new wedding gifts! I always start with a simple idea of 2 figures together (usually a bride & groom or swans) stuck on some platform, and end up adding little details as I go/ think of them, and they all add up to make the gift much nicer. Its the little details that count. I'll explain my process and maybe you guys can get some ideas on crafting your own wedding gifts :-) or any gift for any occasion.

So I just found out a week before about the wedding. Swans seemed to be the easiest so I went with that. The plan was to make 2 white swans with flared wings, which look more elegant (The older swans I made just had triangle shaped wings), and add some colour on the tips of the wings (blue and pink to make a 'guy & girl' swan). 

                                                                                Decided to add quilled flowers to the wings of the swan since they look intricate and delicate. Glued pearl beads on them too to add a 'jewellery' look. It gives it more pearly/ sparkly-ness (not that they're sparkly but the light reflects off them and it just looks more nice).

I wanted to add some gold pieces to make it look nicer/ formal, so added a piece on the beak of the swan. I didnt have time to fold much gold pieces, so I only added a little bit. Less is more ^_^ Made a big white loop  for the border of the platform (which kinda acts as a 'lake' for the swans). It was looking plain so I added some gold pieces spread evenly throughout the loop, I think theres only 8, with 20 white pieces between them. It looked empty between the gold so I filled it with a bit of the pastel colours used in the swan wings. 2 light pink, 2 light peach, 2 light blue. A few coloured pieces repeated in between something plain can make it look much more nicer. You dont need much coloured pieces.

 I had some 'scrap' crafts like tiny cranes and quilled flowers and glued them onto the platform. The tiny gold cranes gives it a nice touch since they match the gold pieces in the 3D origami and they just look so tiny and peaceful^_^ The quilled flowers in the 'lake' kinda look like lily pads too. 

Had some scrap pink paper lying around, so used a heart shaped hole puncher on it to get some pink hearts, and glued them onto the platform. They're like leaves/petals to add to the love/ wedding theme. Also found a small origami heart in my craft scraps so glued that on too

 

So there you have it, plain white swans with hints of soft pastel colours and a few gold pieces here and there that make it sparkle. This simple, soft and elegant look makes a good wedding, anniversary or valentines gift, or even just a fancy table centrepiece ^_^ 

DIAGRAM- click to enlarge

3D origami teddy bear variations

Here are some pics of different variations of 1 model to give you ideas on how you can alter it for different people and occasions. Eg. you can use the persons favourite colour and add different patterned paper on the inner ears and foot pads to change the look.

Suggestions

-For a baby gift, use pastel colours

-For a valentines/ anniversary gift for a girlfriend, use pink and add red on the inner ears/foot pads or patterned paper to make it more feminine

-For christmas, use red and green, and maybe use wrapping paper for the inner ears/foot pads

I like the teddy bear model a lot (Tutorial here) and think I'll try heaps more  colour combinations and different variations of it. Got  heaps more ideas for this one. Heres the different bears I've made so far. They'd be good for birthdays, valentines and baby gifts^_^

I'll post more pics of any new variations I make :-)

The light peach bear was the 1st one I made for a 21st birthday gift. I think this one turned out the best so far out of the 3. Heres what the gift looked like (I made some other stuff with it)      http://jewellia7777.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/gift-idea-for-21st-birthday-present.html

link to the teddy bear DIAGRAM is HERE

The light green one was the 2nd one I made. I forgot to make the ears from HALF sized triangles. No wonder why I had to use more pieces than usual. It took more normal sized pieces for it to curve, and was harder to fit into the head. I was also wondering why they looked like mouse ears. It looked too big for the head and I had to heep squeezing/bending to try make them smaller. Ears made from SMALLER pieces (half the size of the pieces you use to make the rest) are just easier to handle, fit into the head, and look more in proportion.

 My most recent bears are the quilted ones. I wanted to make it look mix-matched and use cute, fun colours. Maybe cos all the clothes I see in shops these days use colour blocking and have asymetric/ mix matched patterns. I added polkadotted paper to the inner ears and foot pads and now the style kind of looks babiesh. I think it would suit as a baby gift? (They were Christmas gifts though lol) DIAGRAM for the quilted bear is HERE

3D origami patchwork teddy bear

Hey guys! Sorry I havent posted any vids in ages. I havent done much 3D origami in a while, and havent felt like making vids. Just had other things to do. I did make 2 3D origami models for Christmas gifts and thought I'd share it with you guys with a diagram as well. I was gonna put up a vid displaying them but finished them off last minute before the christmas function, so only had time to take a rushed/bad photo on my phone (with the bright light in the middle)

Its a variation from the teddy bear. Scroll down for the diagram and number of pieces.

I wanted to mix and match pastel colours to make a fun, patchwork inspired teddy. I also wanted to make use of the pieces I had a lot of that were  ready-made and were just sitting there, and these were the colours I had a lot of. It kinda relates to patchwork how left over material is patched together^_^

Also used some scrap decorated paper (polkadot) for the foot pads and inner ears. I think adding patterned paper to fill in certain parts gives it a nice touch. You see it happening in fashion in the lining of coats, bags and shoes.

Overall it looks a bit odd because of the split face and stuff lol, but I like the colours. The yellows more light/pastel in real life than in the photo. Lighter colours look nicer for this (the patchwork) since the split face will look softer and less zombie-like. Could be a good baby gift? (just as an ornament on a shelf/room decoration etc.. too hard and pointy for a toy lol)

It might look better with different colours. I'm thinking light blue and cream. I'll try experiment more with this design

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DIAGRAM

click to enlarge and see it clearer

PIECES

I wont do total of colours since you may want to change them. I've separated them into the parts of the head and body where it's split into different colours. I've put the colours I used in brackets so you can look at the photo/diagram and know what I'm talking about.

The head and body are split into 3 parts to create a patchwork/ mix-match look

I'll call them:

main colour (half of the body/head- uses most pieces)

2nd colour  (2nd colour - uses 2nd most pieces)

3rd colour  (3rd colour - uses the least pieces)

~~~~PIECES~~~~

~ BODY ~ 

156- main colour (yellow)

96- 2nd colour (white)

120- 3rd colour (light pink)

~ HEAD ~

244 1st colour (yellow)

147 2nd colour / eyepatch (light pink)

86-3rd colour (white)

24 muzzle (light peach)

3 black (1-nose, 2-mouth)

~ (each) LEG ~

30 (10 pieces x 3 rows) (TOTAl 60)

10 inverted pieces (white) (TOTAL 20)

~ (each) ARM ~

34 (TOTAL 68)

~ (each) EAR ~

20 MINI pieces (total 40)

fold triangle piece from HALF the size of the rectangle you used for the rest of the body.This makes it look more proportioned/fit well. You can use normal sized pieces too (I did it once by mistake) thought it may look a bit big for the head. It may take more pieces to curve the ear and you may have to push/squeeze harder to made it fit into the head

*NOTE- If you're buying pieces from me to make this, I can only provide the normal sized pieces. You'll have to make the half sized pieces yourself (for the ears) using a similar colour of my paper, or even a different colour since having different coloured limbs looks ok as well.