A cosy origami project for a dark afternoon

I find origami a little bit addictive. I can forget about it for months and then I sort of fall off the wagon again. And then I sometimes can't stop. It's not that I ever do very complicated origami, I dont have patience for that. I usually like to do one type at a time, and then I just can't seem to stop....! As you know, I like making my own paper designs. Not that I don't love traditional origami paper, but sometimes the colors overwhelm me. So I make sheets of more tone-in-tone patterns, many of which you can see here on the Pinterest board of my paper projects - with links to follow, of course.

Here is a little thing I made, which I decided I liked best in my own black/white graphic patterns.

The cheap LED string lights you can buy everywhere this time of year are great for paper projects, because the bulbs don't get hot. So I dressed up this one, in one of my favorite little origami-designs: small perfect square cubes, or as they are sometimes called; origami balloons. 

I put together a little tutorial, if you don't know how to make them. They are very, very easy!

They are so well suited for the purpose, because they have a natural opening, that the little LED bulb easily slides into. A super smart thing is to wrap a small rubber band around the bulb before inserting it, this will keep the paper cube quite firmly in place. I used some of those mini rubber bands kids make bracelets from: loom bands. They worked perfectly.

I like my version in the black/white patterns. And I also made them from smaller squares than the most common size origami paper, because I wanted the cubes quite small. And If you want to give it a go, I made these squares into a PDF. Just print a bundle, cut them and get going. Use thin, cheap paper (80 gr. is nice for origami) and a ruler and a sharp knife when you make your paper squares. 

They are lovely to make, almost meditative. It took me about two hours to make the fifty ones I used for this string of cosy November lights.

A sort of relaxed prequel to actual Christmas decorations, I think!

Download the 12 x 12 cm. black/white origami squares right here.

2021: I have a new location for my downloads, please go here:
Design 1  /  Design 2  /  Design 3