Today I am showing you part 2 of how to make a kusudama ball. You can find the first part here.
In part 1, I showed you have to make the individual flowers; you should now have 12 flowers made from 60 individual petals.
For part 2 you will need:
· 12 flowers (made from 60 petals)
· Glue
· String or a ribbon
· Bead(s)
As you might be able to see from the finished kusudama at the top of the page, I made 6 flowers from blue paper and 6 flowers from a recycled map. To make it easier to see how I am putting the ball together I will use 1 blue flower in the middle and 5 map flowers around it.
Start to glue the flowers together one petal at the time - this will give the nicest result. In the photo (right) you can see that you apply the glue a little to the right of the middle line. Hold the 2 pieces together in place with your fingers until the glue is dry. Then glue the second petal in the same way.
When you add the 3rd flower, there are 3 petals to connect. Make sure you work from the middle; glue, hold in place, wait until the glue is dry. Now work your way all around the first flower.
After you have attached all 6 flowers you end up with 2 sets of half a kusudama. Now it is time to attach the cord.
I used 3 beads on the bottom. (Left pic) I made a knot over the first bead to lock it in place and then put the other beads on the string, locking it in again with an overhand knot.
Now take one of your 1/2 kusudamas and put some glue on the top. You can see the yellow glue I used on the right-hand picture.
Glue your string down, making sure it is nice and straight. Now glue the other half of the string down, making sure this time that you put the glue exactly on the middle of the petal. After this is nice and dry, start gluing the other half of the kusudama on top of the first half. I normally work around from the top.
That’s it! You have finished your kusudama ball, now find a nice spot in your home for it.
atorat