How to Fold an Origami Corsage

Origami is a fun craft that can also become a beautiful decorative art. Origami flowers are especially useful in decor and can become bouquets, boutonnieres or corsages. To make a functional origami corsage, use a standard rose pattern and pin it to an elastic band. Kids or less experienced paper folders can try an easier version made from crepe paper.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Fold a Standard Origami Rose

1. Lay a pink, red, white or yellow piece of origami paper flat in front of you. Fold the top edge down to meet the bottom edge (mountain fold) and unfold leaving a crease.

2. Fold the lower edge up to meet the crease. Fold the upper edge down to meet the crease. Unfold both folds so that the paper is now divided by horizontal creases.

3. Rotate the paper 90 degrees and repeat Steps 1 and 2 so that the paper is divided by creases into 16 equal squares.

4. Fold the bottom edge up to meet the top edge. With the fold at the bottom, fold the new bottom (the fold) up 1/3 of the way to the top. Open the back of the paper so that you create a ridge with the smaller fold. Unfold the entire paper again. Rotate the paper 90 degrees and repeat Step 4.

5. Fold the paper in half along the diagonal. Unfold. Repeat along the other diagonal.

6. Hold the paper at the center. Work on the creases so that there are mountain folds (ridges) along the lines going through the center of the paper and valley folds (crevices) along the lines you created with the 1/3 folds.

7. Press the paper down flat and twist the center 90 degrees counter-clockwise, causing the smaller flaps to lay down on the paper and the center to pop out. Open out the edges in the center and press them flat.

8. Flip the paper over so that it appears to have four quadrants. Hold the bottom right quadrant with two fingers and pull and rotate it 90 degrees to align with the quadrant above it. Pull and rotate that quadrant to the quadrant to its left. Repeat with all four quadrants and release.

9. Gather all four sides of the rose and cup and place your hand around them. Round the edges and press the insides slightly outward. Create a bottom for the rose by folding down the edges one at a time and tucking the final edge under to secure the bottom.

10. Finish the rose by curling the edges of the petals and adding leaves cut from paper if desired. Pin the finished rose to an elastic band or wire to make a corsage.

Make a Crepe Paper Carnation

11. Lay out a sheet of crepe paper in pink, red, white or whatever color you want your carnation to be. Fold or lay several sheets on top of one another so that you have four layers.

12. Cut out one larger circle and one smaller circle so that you have four large and four small circles of paper. Stack all the circles together with the smaller ones on top.

13. Fold a green pipe cleaner in half. Pierce all the crepe paper layers with both ends of the pipe cleaner. With the pipe cleaner through the paper, twist the halves of the pipe cleaner together to bunch up the paper and arrange the paper layers.

14. Make construction paper or tissue paper leaves and glue them to the stem if desired. Create a variation of this flower with different colors of tissue paper in the same flower.