Kusudama Tutorials and Time for Blog Candy!!!

Several months back, I mentioned that I was working on a kusudama ball tutorial and pondered whether a kusudama ball blog candy might be of interest to anyone.  While I have been a bit distracted by random and various other projects, I have not forgotten either of those ideas! 

First things first . . . for the blog candy . . . if you would like to be the proud owner of a kusudama ball created by me, please leave me a comment on this blog post before August 6th at midnight (for those reading this on Facebook, please make sure to click through to the blog to enter your comment in the right place).  I'll use a random number generator to pick who will be the lucky recipient and announce that person the week of August 8th.  If there are enough comments (like more than 30), I will make more than one ball (although paper designs may vary from the one shown), so I can choose more than one recipient.  Here are some photos of the kusudama ball someone will receive:

Now, on to the tutorials for those who'd also like to make this project themselves!

The first step is to select the designer paper you would like to use.  For the kusudama ball above, I used four 12 x 12 sheets in two designs from the Flirtatious Designer Series Paper.  You need to make 12 flowers to make the ball, and each flower requires 5 petals, which if you do the math means you need 60 squares of paper.  The squares I used were 3 inches by 3 inches, so I was able to get 16 squares out of each designer series paper sheet (you'll have two of each design left over . . . I plan to use those to make cards!) 

Next, you will need to cut your squares. 

Then, it is time to start folding each of the petals.  To begin, bring the top corner of your square to the bottom, with the design on the outside that you would like to be on the outside of your flower.  Here's a photo of that:

Then, bring each of the outer corners to the top, like this:

Take each of those flaps, and fold in half toward the outer corner, like this:

Then, squish the flaps open like this:

Fold down the top of each of the flaps, until it is in line with the edge leading to the top, like this:

Then, fold the outer edge of each flap in half, back toward the center, like this:

Finally, put glue on one of the flaps, and attach to the other flap:

Assemble five petals together by attaching side to side.  I use Tombo Multi to do this. 

I made a video to show you how I do both the petal folding and the flower assembly.  Here it is:

After you have all 12 flowers assembled, it is time to arrange and glue them into the ball.  I divide the petals in half, and assemble each half of the ball.  I start by figuring out which will be the center flower, then place 5 flowers around that.  I hot glue in any rhinestone brad or other center I may want for the flowers, then attach the flowers to each other using hot glue. 

When both halves are finished, I create a ribbon loop for hanging the ball (this takes approximately 12 inches of ribbon . . . I simply loop it and create a knot at the other end), then hot glue that in between the two halves. 

Here's a video to show you what I mean:

Did you catch my little goof in the video?  Those are actually rhinestone brads, not rhinestones.  (It is possible to attach rhinestones, it would just be a bit more challenging!)  

Hope you will try this out.  Please be sure to leave a comment to enter for blog candy or if you have any questions! 

- Michelle