Origami: How to fold a Sunflower

Speaking of a flower in summer, everybody would say, “Sunflower”.

We can even get energies from the sunflowers

which bloom powerfully with a lot of sunshine, can’t we?♪

Let’s make such brilliantly shining sunflower with origami paper!

It would be nice to make a sunflower garden with lots of origami sunflowers too.♥

How to fold a sunflower Ver.1

This is the way of making a flower, a seed,

and a leaf separately and putting them all together at the end.

＜How to make a flower＞

１．Fold it in half twice and make two creases along the creases.

２．Fold both sides to the middle.

３．Fold both sides to the middle along the dotted lines and make creases.

４．Open the bag part and fold it as picture No.5 shows.

５．Open the bag part and fold it along the dotted lines, to make a square.

６．Do the same thing for the other three parts too.

７．Fold it along the dotted lines and make creases.

８．Open the bag part and fold it as picture No.9 shows.

９．Do the same thing for the other three too.

１０．Fold all the corners along the dotted lines. (a valley fold)

１１．Fold all the corners along the dotted lines. (a valley fold)

１２．And the flower part is done!

＜How to fold a seed＞

１．Fold it in half along the dotted lines to make two creases.

２．Open it up and fold four corners to the middle along the dotted lines.

３．Fold all the corners to the middle again.

４．Fold all the corners to the middle again.

５．Turn it over.

６．Draw lines with a pen and it’s done!

 ＜How to fold a leaf＞

Cut the origami paper to a 1/4 sized sheet.

１．Put the colored side facing up, and fold it in half.

２．Fold it so that both ‘〇’ parts can meet each other.

３．Fold it in half along the dotted line.

４．Fold it in half again.

５．Open it up.

６．Fold it along the dotted lines as picture No.7 shows.

７．Open it up.

８．Fold it along the dotted line. (a valley fold)

９．Fold it along the dotted line. (a mountain fold)

１０．Fold both corners behind along the dotted lines.

１１．The leaf is done!

 ＜How to put everything together＞

１．Insert the seed into the flower.

２．Put the leaves to the flower and the sunflower is done!

Some petals are white back sides, so if you don’t like it,

I recommend that you should use the colorful origami paper on both sides.★

How to fold a sunflower Ver.2

This is a three-dimensional sunflower.

It might be a little difficult when you open the petals,

but you can see a very pretty sunflower at the end.♥

１．Get two sheets of origami paper. (The smaller one is a 1/4 sized sheet)

２．Fold it in half twice and make two creases along the dotted lines. (each of them)

３．Put both middle parts together and fold it along the dotted line,

as picture No.4 shows. (a valley fold)

４．Turn it over.

５．Fold it in half.

６．Fold it in half again.

７．Open the bag part and fold it like the picture below.

Do the same thing for the back side too.

８．Fold both sides to the middle and make creases.

９．Open the bag part and fold it.

１０．Turn over only one sheet and put the flat side on face like the picture below.

１１．Fold them along the dotted line and make creases.

Do the same thing for the other three sides too.

１２．Fold it along the dotted line, using the creases that you made in No.11.

１３．Fold it the same way for the other three sides too.

１４．Fold it up and open and spread the part that was folded inside.

１５． Fold it again.

１６．Turn the one sheet over to the left.

１７．Make it flat side and fold it along the dotted line. (a valley fold)

１８．Fold it the same way for the other three sides too.

１９．This is all how we fold.

２０．Now, we will spread the petals.

Holding the base like the picture below, pull them to outside little by little.

You should hold the middle part of the base.

It’s easy to pull out if you hold it diagonally with both hands.

 ２１．Adjust it well and it’s done!

It might be hard to spread petals.

The point is to hold the base, not holding the petals.

The three-dimensional sunflower is very cute, right?★

If you use different colored or patterned origami paper,

you can make different kinds of flowers too.♥

【Translated by　 Kana Toda PIERCE】