Anne's Origami Blog

What: Jack O' Lantern
By: Anita Barbour
From: http://www.ulster.net/~spider/jakolan1.htm

Why: It's October, Halloween is coming... and I'm to teach a class at our local library with some "seasonally appropriate" models, ideally flat ones that can be used for cards. Anita's "Jack O' Lantern" is an intermediate level model, but I think I can teach a small class of beginners, even, as it's only got a few tricky folds. And the end result is well worth it!

What: Star
By: YAMAGUCHI Makoto
From: Enjoy Life with Practical Origami (in Japanese), Yamaguchi Makoto, ISBN 4816334041

Why: Although I was going for an "Autumn" theme, I thought it was late enough in the season that something vaguely Christmas-related might go over well for my workshop. This star is simplicity in itself - you fold three small squares in half diagonally, and then assemble (yes, with glue, sorry). You can use it flat on cards, or as a tag for gifts, or an ornament.

The really funny this about this star is that it looks like a normal, regular, five-pointed star. If you turn it sideways, though, you can see immediately that it's only a very rough approximation of the correct angles, and it looks quite "off." But when you view it upright, somehow the side-to-side symmetry overwhelms the lack of symmetry in the points, and you're fooled into thinking it's a proper star. Or something.

What: Leaf
By: TANAKA Tomoko
From: 100 Origami Shikishi Flowers (in Japanese); published by Gallery Origami House

Why: Continuing the "Autumn" theme for my workshop, I wanted a nice, easy leaf that we could do in various colors and then mount on a card. This one's flat when finished, very easy - although, interestingly, the zig-zag fold needed to do the stem in the center is often very confusing for total beginners, as there are no landmarks of the "match this corner to this corner" type for folding it - but it worked out well.