Yas has been decorating our London Store for the festive season. Here is Yas's step by step guide of how to make an Origami Fir Tree, perfect as a Christmas Tree decoration. All you need is paper and a pair of scissors to help make clean cuts.
Step 1:
Start with a square of paper and fold and crease diagonally across both corner to corner. Fold along one diagonal to make a triangle and place the paper in front of you with the long folded edge at the top. Keeping the left side on the table, open the right side up.
Step 2:
With the right side of the triangle open, fold this down and crease the folds. Once done, turn the paper over and fold down and crease the other side so you have a folded square. If you looked at this from above you would see four folds coming out from a central point.
Step 3:
Putting the central point where the folds join at the top, lay the paper so one fold is sticking up. Place your finger inside this fold to create an open space. Then flatten down this triangle, moving your finger out of the space and making sure that the centre of the triangle matches the central vertical line below. Repeat this stage for each of the original four folds.
Step 4:
Once all four folds have been done, you should have a folded kite shape with 8 folded fronds centrally joined point at the top. Ensure you have an even number of folded fronds either side of the main vertical fold. Using scissors, cut off the bottom of the kite shape, ensuring an even cut as this will form the base of the tree.
Starting from close to the top, make a cut from the outside diagonal towards the centre vertical fold - ensuring you only go one third of the way. Repeat these cuts further down the diagonal, doing 3 or 4 in total. Repeat this on the other diagonal towards the central point matching the intervals.
Step 5:
Isolate a single folded frond and fold down from the inside of below the first cut to the outside of the cut below it and crease strongly to ensure the paper stays folded. This creates a triangle shape under the cut. Repeat for each of the cuts going down the tree.
Repeat this for each of the 8 folded fronds. Once all are completed, space out the folded fronds equally around the central point and the tree should be able to stand up.
Now you should have a lovely paper Japanese Origami Christmas tree to decorate your home. Try making different sizes and colours too using different papers.
