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  • Beaded Origami Cherry Blossom Tree
    		•
    From "Crafters Coast to Coast"
    episode HCC2C-137F


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    Project by Stacie Tamaki from San Jose, Calif.

    Stacie is a Japanese American who is very in touch with her roots--so much so that she spends hour upon hour creating origami cranes. Although she learned the paper-folding art from her grandmother at the age of 5, she didn't come to fully appreciate it until adulthood. Now she spends her spare time creating highly detailed and stunning pieces of origami artwork, as seen in this beaded cherry blossom tree.

    Materials:

    origami paper for cranes
    20- and 28-gauge gold-colored craft wire to build tree
    gold metallic thread to hang cranes
    Ikebana dish
    small metal frog
    green floral clay
    green dried moss
    Delica glass beads for flower petals
    3mm round glass bead for flower centers
    hot glue gun and glue sticks
    scissors
    fine gold thread
    needle

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    Figure A
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    Figure B
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    Figure C
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    Figure D
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    Figure E
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    Figure F
    Steps:

    1. To make the cranes: Cut a 6-inch piece of origami paper into 16 smaller pieces. Fold into quarters and cut. Take one 3-inch quarter and fold into quarters and cut again. Take one 1-1/2-inch quarter and fold into quarters and cut again.

    2. Take one 3/4-inch quarter and fold into a crane (figure A). Fold lots of cranes.

    3. For the wire tree: Build base form with medium-weight wire using several strands braided together for trunk, tapering to single strands for individual branches. Wrap the medium wire with a fine gauge wire, completely covering the base form (figure B).

    4. Take a long length of fine wire and make a five-petal beaded flower (figure C). Don't cut the wire, but continue wrapping onto the branch and make another flower. Continue with this process until the tree is covered with flowers (figure D). Each flower is comprised of about 50 tiny beads.

    5. Tree is stabilized upright using a metal florist's frog and florist's clay.

    6. To hang the cranes: String cranes with a fine needle and gold sewing thread. Tie the end of the thread to one of the beaded flowers on a tree branch.

    7. Using a hot glue gun, glue each crane into place on the thread so they are all suspended with equal space between each crane. Continue this process until all of the cranes are strung (figure E).

    8. Add dried green moss to cover base of tree (figure F) and fill in with more handmade beaded wire flowers in different styles such as iris, forget-me-knot and tulips.

    Website: www.stacietamaki.com

  • ALSO IN THIS EPISODE:
  		• Two-Tone Block Print
  		• Recycled Jeans Car-Themed Tote
  		• Beaded Dragonfly Hair Comb
  		• Beaded Origami Cherry Blossom Tree