Making origami bookmarks

My usual bookmark is a receipt, train ticket or flyer - nothing very special. I saw these cute origami bookmarks in issue 9 of Making magazine. They are easy to make & look super cute! I used some scrap wrapping paper and an old Cath Kidston magazine. Much nicer than a tatty old receipt!

Decisions, decisions...

OK, so after much deliberating, I have finally decided that my kingfisher piece is to be a wall hanging. See my rather messy sketch here.
I just love promarker pens! First things first I sampled paints on the silk, unsurprisingly the pebeo silk paints worked best! I also added small highlights of colour with Markal paintsticks.
Then to the origami, here it would be helpful to have a couple more hands (especially hands that were immune to the heat of the iron!). Folding, ironing & then small stitches to keep in place and voila!
One silk painted origami base crane... now to repeat for all these colours!

Back to the grindstone...

The first week after any break is always tough. After a small hiccup at the start of the week, where I was tempted to scrap everything and start again, hopefully I am now back on track. Firstly I painted used acrylics to paint cotton & organza. This was not very successful!
Then I looked at the origami crane base again, and made different sizes in paper. I am drawn to the shape of this, but need to explore what happens if there is a contrasting colour on the underside?
Finally a suggestion by Pat Ashton-Smith was layer up pleats to resemble feathers, using three different fabrics I had a rough go. I like how they float over each other.
Kingfishers are very popular this week, as they have become magazine cover stars! Not quite Vogue, but on the latest edition of the Radio Times. Which reminds me to watch a new programme starting on BBC1 today, Halcyon River Diaries as these feathered friends are due to make an appearance!

Cranes and Kingfishers

Today's post is inspired by paper. Samples of blue papers were sponged with acyclic paints, these were then cut in to strips to create a silhouette of a kingfisher. Bright and bold.
I am enjoying exploring the colours of a kingfisher, but feel I need to look at creating texture. I am particularly interested in the textures created by the layering of feathers on the wing and back. Here there are many different colours are seen, all pouring over each other. I was reminded of origami chains. There is an ancient Japanese legend that anyone who folds one thousand paper cranes will be granted a wish. These are then usually strung in 25 strands of 40 cranes. The cranes lay on top of each other creating an amazingly rich texture. I thought I'd have ago at creating a crane, not perfect I know!
I really liked the shape of the crane base (which is interestingly also the base for some other birds). I wondered if I could layer these over each other?
Also how would this work with fabric? I used an iron to help fold the fabric (and also burn my thumb!). Maybe some small stitches might help keep it in place?
I quite like how some of the seams fray, and how my folds are not entirely straight. I wonder if there is another way to create this texture?