Origami Tree Ornament Tutorial

Growing up I loved doing origami. I had many books (many in Japanese that I couldn't even read) and loved to challenge myself with new designs. I have since forgotten many of the folds except for a select few of my favorites. This fold is really a flower. It's just one piece of what normally is a ball (fold 36 of them and string them through the narrow end). But I love the single unit and it makes the perfect Christmas tree ornament. Use a larger piece of paper and make a centerpiece that the kids can decorate.

I apologize if the directions are unclear and hope that the pictures help. The better you match corners, the better the end result.


Materials:

• Green paper
• Star Beads
• String
• Large eye needle (for string)
• Glue

1. Cut paper to a perfect square. To make the ornament, I used 5.5" squares... the one in the tutorial is for a standing tree for my daughter to decorate. It measures 8.5" square.


2. Bring opposite corners together and crease it down the center to make a triangle. Open and repeat with the other corners. Unfold to open.

3. Fold opposite sides together and crease to form a rectangle. Open and repeat on the other sides. Unfold to open.


4. When you open the paper, you should have 4 folds that all cross in the center.

5. Fold along your previous crease to make a triangle. Take one corner along the fold side and bring it to the top, folding it into the middle of the triangle. Crease along your previous folds.

6. Repeat with the other corner.

7. You should now have a square with two corners the meet in the middle.

8. Stand one flap up and push the fold down to meet the center of the square.

9. You should have a smaller triangle with the center crease lining up to the center line of the square.

10. Repeat on the remaining three flaps.

11. You should have a kite shape once all 4 flaps have been folded into the center. Fold the flaps over (they should fold over like turning pages of a book) to one other sides that does not have the small triangle.

12. Fold the flap in to the center lining up the top of the kite shape to the center fold. Repeat with the other flap.

13. Fold the top that you formed down to the center (see picture).

14. Unfold back to the kite shape and flip over to repeat on other three sides.

15 & 16. Unfold all folds.

17 & 18. Flip the square over and refold the folds you made in steps 12 & 13 from the inside (you have already made all the creases, so you should not be making any new folds).

19. Repeat all the way around.

20. The last fold will be tight, but be sure to tuck the tip all the way inside along the original fold.

21. You should have a cone shape with a flower pattern on the bottom.

My daughter decorated hers with sequins and googlie eyes (in her opinion, they belong on everything... lots and lots of them). We glued a star bead on the top. For the ornament, I threaded a string through the top of the tree and strung the string through the star bead before gluing the bead down.



I love this fold as a tree as it's very versatile. I cut some branches into the larger one...

And even painted some white tips.

These would make great package toppers, centerpieces, ornaments, or even place holders if you snip the top.

I tried to find a better tutorial that shows this fold, but couldn't find one. If you know one, please let me know. Thanks!