"Beyond the Square"

Joost Langeveld
5 Petal Origami Bonsai Flower
Molding Tree Trunks

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

Click-On Contents
Origami Bonsai Update

Joost Langeveld

5 Petal Origami Bonsai Flower

Molding Tree Trunks

12

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine Volume 2 Issue

3 is written, photographed and published by
Benjamin John Coleman. Edited by Annette and
John Coleman. Copyright 2010, Benjamin John
Coleman all rights reserved.

Web-Enabled!
Click on any highlighted item or
text in this document and you will
be taken to a link on the web.

Artichoke and daffodil hybrid in fractal wave

planter by Benjamin John Coleman.
Cover: "Wildflowerz" by Benjamin John Coleman.

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

Origami Bonsai Update - June 1, 2010

Origami Bonsai (Tuttle Publishing, ISBN 0804841039 ) the first book in the Origami Bonsai series was released on
April 10, 2010. While I do not have access to sales data directly, I am able to garner some information from Amazon
and Barnes and Noble statistics. It seems the book is experiencing growth in what could best be described as waves.
Sales increase, I believe, as a group of people discover the book, and then slow down as they digest it. The wave
that follows is larger than its predecessor, which suggests positive growth. For a time the book was in the number 9
position for top sellers in the flower arranging category.
At the same time, sales of the other books in the series (on DVD and sold directly by me) have grown tremendously.
I was recently contacted by a fellow in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, to tell me that making branches was his only option. I
had not considered that there would be people who did not have access to branches, which are needed in the first
book.

In This Issue:
Development of Origami Bonsai continues at a rapid pace. I recently obtained a provisional patent on the folding
pattern used by the basic flower form which is presented in the first book. While reviewing the pattern for the
patent application I
realized it was not dependent upon a square. In fact, the same folding pattern can be
applied to a two-dimensional shape with any number of corners. Each corner
represents a petal, therefore the folding pattern is capable of producing flowers
with an unlimited number petals.
I immediately set out to design a five petal flower. Five petals are
important, mostly because they're far more common in nature than
four petals. Five is also a Fibonacci number (Italian mathematician who
discovered a series of numbers commonly found in nature), which makes
the new flower even more exciting.
After successfully folding some five-petal flowers I wondered who else
might be working "beyond the square," and discovered that many are
pushing the origami envelope. Please read on.
Sincerely,
Benjamin John Coleman

The first five petal flower based on the basic flower

form presented in "Origami Bonsai," by Benjamin
John Coleman and from Tuttle Publishing.

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

Origami Bonsai Resources on the Web

Click on the thumbnail to be taken to the corresponding web site.

www.OrigamiBonsai.org
Origamibonsai.org has tips, books you can buy, free
folding videos, photos of Origami Bonsai created all by
people living all over the world, and lots more.

www.Scribd.com/Benagami
You'll find Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine here along
with less expensive electronic versions of Advanced
Origami Bonsai and Origami Bonsai Accessories.

FaceBook
When you become a "fan" of Origami Bonsai on
FaceBook you will be notified when new issues of this
magazine are released. You'll also find craft show
schedules where Origami Bonsai artists will be present,
along with other announcements.

www.YouTube.com/OrigamiBonsaiForum
A lot of Origami Bonsai folding videos.

www.Etsy.com
Search "origami bonsai" and "makigami accessories" to
see lists of items for sale in these categories from artists
and craftspeople around the globe.

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

Origami Bonsai Books and Instant Flowers

Click the thumbnail to order or preview.

The first book in the Origami Bonsai (2010, Tuttle

Publishing) series is available at bookstores worldwide.
This book teaches how to fold the basic flower form
from which many varieties of flower can be folded.
Comes with folding videos on DVD. 112 pages.

Advanced Origami Bonsai teaches how to make

branches from newspaper paper using the Makigami
technique. Also teaches how to create intricate branch
networks for Origami Bonsai sculptures. 182 pages on
DVD or through Scribd.com.

Origami Bonsai Accessories teaches how to make

durable Makigami jewelry, accessories, bangles, planters
and other items. Concepts presented can be applied to
other crafts, hobbies, and art forms. Make virtually
anything from paper. 152 pages on DVD or through
Scribd.com.

Origami Bonsai Instant Flowers are the first mass

produced origami flower in the world! They fold
instantly into 12 flower varieties with videos on YouTube
to guide you. Each package comes with 6 red, 3 blue and
3 yellow instant flowers.

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

Superman or Joost Langeveld?

By day he's a computer technician, but on nights and weekends he has the hands of an origami superhero. Is that a
bird? A turtle? No, it's Joost Langeveld's hands making yet another origami flower on YouTube! With almost four
million views, Langeveld holds top honors in the origami video category by a huge margin. He has over 150 videos,
mostly for folding flowers, and has written two books, Beautiful Paper Flowers and Fabulous Paper Flowers (both
published by Metro Books, ISBN 1435121589 and 1435109600 respectively). He's also in the top 100 for most
subscribers in his native country, the Netherlands.
On folding flowers he merely says, "flowers make people happy and I like making things that make people happy."
Most of his designs make use of squares, however he has many designs based on hexagons and triangles.
Interestingly, the vast majority are quite easy to fold. He has a talent for discovering ingeniously simple ways to
manipulate paper.
Langeveld says he began investigating shapes other than squares because he wanted to try something new and
because he "thought it would be easier to make a flower with six petals from a hexagonal piece of paper." If you
decide to try some of his designs, the link below will take you to his web site. We have also included a template for
printing a large hexagon and equilateral triangle on the next page. Just print that page and you'll be ready to fold!
http://www.joostlangeveldorigami.nl

Click for Video

Click for Video

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

June 1, 2010

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

Click here to see a list of Origami Bonsai sculptures available on Etsy.

Origami Bonsai artists and craftspeople, make sure to include the keywords "origami" and "bonsai" when posting your work to Etsy so it
will be included when readers click this advertisement.
7

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

5 Petal Origami Bonsai Flower

The basic flower form presented in Origami Bonsai (2010 Tuttle Publishing)
has proven to be quite versatile. Not only is it capable of being folded into more than
12 flower varieties, but now it can be made with five or more petals. This article
explains how to make flowers with five petals from a piece of paper shaped like a
star.
Because of the complexity of the basic flower forms folding pattern, and because it is
almost impossible to create a perfectly shaped star by hand, we use a
computer to produce our initial shape. You can obtain a copy of the JPEG
graphic image upon request to Ben@Benagami.com. Due to copyright issues, you
must include a
picture with your email that contains both the book and a flower you have
folded. Why this
complex requirement? Because if you don't own a copy of Origami Bonsai I
can't, in good faith,
send you a copy of the folding pattern. Including a flower in the photo
ensures that the photo is
probably real, and that you are familiar with the directions (mountain
vs. valley) of each fold.
Without this knowledge it will be almost impossible for you to create
a five petal version.
You will receive a JPEG image via email a few hours after you
have three different sizes of star shaped folding patterns on
lines than the patterns presented in the instructions
avoid any legal issues). An inexpensive glass cutter is
paper.

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

request it. The JPEG image will

it. These patterns will have more fold
which follow (again, this was done to
used to impress the fold lines into the

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

How to turn the JPEG into a Flower

1. Email a picture of your book and a flower you have

folded to Ben@Benagami.com. You will receive the JPEG
file in a return email within a few hours.

2. Print the JPEG file on your printer. The page will look
similar to this, but will have a lot more fold lines. This
image has been altered to avoid any copyright issues.

www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

3. Cut out one of the stars. You can paint it at this stage
if you wish. .

4. Put the star on top of a magazine you've already read

and use a glass cutter to impress the folds into the paper.
Apply enough pressure that you can see fold lines that
you've finished, but not so much that you cut the paper.
After you've finished, flip the star over to confirm you
impressed all the fold lines into the paper.

5. Fold a square of paper into the basic flower form

(Origami Bonsai pages 50 through 53). Collapse it, and
then partially un-collapse it. Use it as a guide to identify
the proper direction of each fold. Fold each line you
impressed in step 3 onto the star. Work on one petal at a
time.

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www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

6. Collapse all five petals into a five-petal basic flower

form.

You will find this five-petal version of the basic flower form to be quite versatile. Not only is it capable of folding all
the varieties presented in Origami Bonsai, but there are other, new varieties it mimics quite well. The petals are
much bigger than those created by a square, thus giving you more space to experiment. Of course the petals can
always be shortened by cutting them with scissors if you wish.

Here are some fivepetal flowers in a

beautiful shade of
blue.

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www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

Molding Tree Trunks

One of the problems with tree trunks is that the greater the diameter, the harder it is to mold without damaging it.
Typically, a thick tree trunk (more than 5 layers of newsprint) will develop tears when it is bent at too tight an angle.
To try to alleviate this issue I have been experimenting with molding Makigami tree trunks on shapes other than
cylinders. In this example an American football is used, however the bottom of a shallow steel bowl might work just
as well.

Here is my Makigami tree trunk taped to an

American football while it dries.

The resultant shape is quite interesting. It has a

slow, gradual curve where it is thickest, and a much
sharper curve where it becomes narrow.

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www.OrigamiBonsai.org

Origami Bonsai Electronic Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 3

June 1, 2010

Makigami Accessories are durable, wearable and biodegradable. To see a list of

Makigami accessories available on Etsy, Click here.

Origami Bonsai artists and craftspeople, make sure to include the keywords "makigami" and "accessories" when posting your work to Etsy
so it will be included when readers click this advertisement.

13

www.OrigamiBonsai.org