Amazing origami and string art

Most who fallow my blog know my children love origami and kirigami.  Today my family and I spent the afternoon at BYU taking in a puppet show ( A  Mid summer nights dream) and going to the MOA ( museum of art) and just looking around.

These are free exhibits (the string and origami ones) so if you happen to be in the Provo area of Utah you should go.

There is a real amazing show on Origami there.
Warning this is super photo heavy ( over 50 photos)

May the force be with you

We have a good friend who is celebrating his 40th birthday real soon.  He is a big Star Wars fan massive understatement.  So my oldest daughter made this gift for him.  All my daughters love to make origami they are all pretty much self taught.  My husband and myself helped a little in the beginning but I haven't made anything this complex ever with origami.    She made this using a pattern for yodashe found on the internet.(when you get to the previous link click on the picture of Yoda to get to the tutorial). Here for the light saber.  If you think his other hand looks odd it is becasue he is holding his staff in that hand.

Origami

This one made by my middle daughter

My oldest daughter loves origami.  Over the years I have jumped over many little pieces of folded paper.  In the last 1 1/2 to 2 years the other daughters have started to love origami and kirigami.  Which means more little pieces of paper to jump over.

Two smaller balls made by my oldest daughter

This weekend there big thing they made with little pieces of paper took lots of little pieces.  These are the end results of their work.

Moon Festival Part 1

Just got back from a trip to California for my Vavo's 95th birthday. While there I went to the Moon festival in Hanford in China Alley. We had a ton of fun one of the first things the girls did was visit an origami both.

The man sitting here made all of the origami in this post. He is in the middle of writing a book about origami. I wish I had got his name so I could give him credit.

Daughter in black had two ear aches at the time of this photo and was happy to be at the festival and miserable all at the same time.

Part 2: Russian Nesting Dolls

Back to posting the Russian nesting dolls in my house for my MIL. This set of dolls belongs to my oldest daughter. She owns 4 sets.

She also has a Halloween set that has seen better days. These came damaged, but my kids still love them.

traditional set of 5

Russian nesting dolls with a Japanese Kokeshi theme: the Father carries the two sons and the mother carries two daughters. Bad photos, yikes!! We have a real Kokeshi doll in our house, too.

Set of nine traditional:

Kokeshi Doll

I posted this doll yesterday, but without it's story. If anyone can tell me more about this Kokeshi doll, I would love that.

I found it at a thrift store for 50 cents. I have seen these on the internet from $30.00 to $130.00. This looks like the lower end price scale to me, of the ones I have found, but I'm not sure. It has a signature on its base; I cannot read it, of course. Maybe someone can tell me the name of the artist who made it. I'm wondering if anyone knows how to date this, too.
Also, I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if it is a girl or boy figure. I am leaning towards male, but I'm not sure because of what looks to be Kanzashi painted in the hair. I really like this doll; I also like the fact that it doesn't have arms. I'm also wondering what type of flower is represented here.

Update:
So far, I now know for sure this is a girl, and she is between 30 and 40 years old. She is made from one piece of wood; that was a question I was asked. The name is still a mystery, but I have been told one of the symbols means stone and that that is a common symbol in names, so not much there yet.

Happy Chinese / Japanese New Year

I do know a few of these items are Japanese; I just like them together.

Kanzashi part 2

This was posted in the flickr group by Kurokami, if any one wants instructions in English, with nice pictures to help you understand the techniques involved.

Part 1: Preparing your Fabric
[link]
Part 2: Petal Folding
[link]
Part 3: Making your own Kanzashi - Base
[link]
Part 4: Making your own Kanzashi - Basic Flower
[link]
Part 5: Making your own Kanzashi - Base for Falls
[link]
Part 6: Making your own Kanzashi - Falls
[link]
Part 7: Making your own Kanzashi - Finishing Touches
[link]

Kanzashi

my kusudama, originally uploaded by amaebi79.

I am looking for tutorials on this subject and any information you might have as to where to buy supplies for this. I am also wanting information as to which flowers and colors are worn in which months or seasons. I also started a group to try and gather information. If any one knows of a book in English that teaches this, or a tutorial in English on the internet, that would be great, as well.

I am wanting to learn this so I can make some for my daughters' hair. They all have waist-length hair, and I think this is just lovely.

Thanks, sunshine

The two photos are by Amaebi79; her link is right below the photo or just click on the photos to go to her flickr page

tutorials in Japanese that I really like:

1. Part 1
2. Part 2
3. Part 3
4. Part 4
5. Part 5

Crafts and Family Time / Update

My kids are wanting to enter a Christmas Ornament /Decorated tree contest, so out came the crafts. So far, two are making quilled ornaments and one is working on Origami ornaments. I think they are going to have a lot of fun with this project, and they have almost two months till the deadline. So I can guess there will probably be lots of glue out for the next few weeks.

I have made a little bit of progress on the Halloween yoyo quilt.