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TULIP PLANT WITH BLOSSOM
A Story-gami by Michael G. LaFosse, Origamido, Inc. From Traditional Design Elements
Use one green square for the plant, and one brightly-colored square of the same size for the blossom. They do not have to be white on the back.
TULIP PLANT
Here is another episode of the amazing adventures of Lefty and Righty that I remembered while I was relaxing on White Diamond Lake.1
In the distance, I could see Green Mountain, which reminded me of my two good friends, Lefty and Righty, who live on opposite sides of Green Mountain.2 A couple of days ago, Righty met Lefty over at Lefty’s place. 2 & 3
They talked about which trail they would hike, and what they would bring to a picnic on top of Green Mountain the next day. Righty went back home,3 & 4 and they both got plenty of sleep. The next day, as planned, they went around to the other side of the mountain.
They hiked straight up Center Ridge, and met on the top of Green Mountain. Here goes Lefty, right up the ridge, all the way to the top. And here comes Righty, up the ridge, all the way to the top. They shared this sandwich, cut in half along this diagonal.5 The day was clear. Up above the trees, they could see for miles. They pretended they were flying! There was no need to rush back, so they explored the other side of the mountaintop and noticed a gift shop.5 & 6 They each bought a large green kite that looked like this.7
Outside the shop was a sign: “NO Kite Flying”, so they returned to the front where they had eaten their picnic.8 Their kites were large enough to use as hang gliders! Lefty and Righty leapt off the mountain in opposite directions, just like this, and now they really were flying! This shape makes a simple, but elegant, origami plant!9
On this plant, here are the leaves, and the root is pointing down. Let’s fold the root out of view, by first turning it over. Fold this bottom point up, away from you, matching the point at the square corners before you press the paper flat.10 Fold it firmly, and then lift this little triangle. When you place the triangle on the table, the leaves will be standing up.11
BLOSSOM AND FINAL ASSEMBLY
Now let’s fold the blossom. Use the same size square as we did before. As before, begin at White Diamond Lake.1 When you look up, you will see Bright Color Mountain in the distance.2
Fold it in half, then open, and place it in front of you with the centerline ridge popping up from the table, just as we did before.3
Each climber starts up his own side, but this time, it is so windy at the top, they don’t make it all the way. Just as Lefty goes up, he attaches a safety rope, and gets blown slightly off to the side of the peak. Now here goes Righty! He better have a safety rope!4 They get blown just a bit away from the summit, like this.5 (Fold the paper when these two points are at equal distances from the summit, about like this.) In origami, we call this a RAT fold. RAT stands for Right About There, so look up and see what my shape looks like, and then try to match what I have done. There are no precise landmarks for you to use, and they all might be slightly different, which is nice. I think mine looks like a tulip blossom! Try teaching this folding sequence to a friend, using mime to tell the story with only the folding, using no words at all! Take your green plant and hold the leaves slightly open at the top. See the pocket (between the two layers of the plant’s leaves)?6
Now, and insert the bottom of the blossom right into this pocket. The plant part holds the blossom upright.7
