Today’s project is inspired by Muji, one of my favourite lifestyle brands based in Japan.
I love all things wooden, from furniture to cutlery to stationery. Wood elements are not only aesthetically pleasing, they also compliment natural and minimalistic designs by default and tend to have a calming effect on people.
One day, it occurred to me that even wood textures could be applied to daily crafts and little projects. Especially origami. I’m a big fan of thoughtful designs and of course applying wood textures to paper, which is also made from wood, is laden with subcontext. Ha.
So I created my own origami paper, made a set of “wooden” cranes and was very satisfied with the result (*´꒳`*) Decorate your house or room by letting them perch by the window, on tabletops, shelves, or even make a mobile! If you’re up for the challenge you could also fold a thousand origami cranes in exchange for one wish or eternal good luck, according to Japanese folklore. With “wooden” origami paper, you could also fold other shapes such as animals, boxes, kimono, or even paper airplanes.
Method
Four simple steps, no special tools required. (Except, well, a printer. And a pair of scissors.)
- Look up “free seamless wood textures” online and download the pattern image. Remember they have to be seamless so that the pattern repeats without a noticeable boundary where the edges meet.
- Print your wood texture design onto A4 paper with a borderless setting.
- Trim the paper into 10x10cm square pieces. The size and dimensions are up to you as long as it’s square. Try to be as accurate as possible because a lot of symmetrical folding is involved.
- Refer to an origami tutorial and fold away!
Links and references
// Seamless wood textures download. http://borysses.deviantart.com/gallery/5901662/Textures
This talented DeviantArt user has created a whole range of high-resolution textures for design purposes, including wood, water and ice, skies and clouds, granite and marble, etc. They are free to download and each pack contains 10 designs. I selected my wood textures from the “Uncut Wood” series.
// Origami crane tutorial. http://youtu.be/Ux1ECrNDZl4
A very easy and comprehensive live-tutorial video that also includes diagrams showing the folding directions for each step.
Happy (almost) mid-week and Merry Christmas ♡
Whisk & Maps 