Origami Flower Prototypes

I've been experimenting with the idea of using orgami flowers in my wedding decorations and bouquets. I figured out that I can use high-quality gift wrapping paper as a less expensive alternative to origami or washi paper. Here are some prototypes I made this weekend. They don't have the finishing touches yet, like the center embellishment or calyx. And this isn't the actual paper I'll use for the wedding -- it's just what I had on hand. :) It will look better with a more even-toned paper.

I'm using the book Origami Flowers by Hiromi Hayashi. The reviewers on Amazon are right -- in this book, the instructions for many flowers are missing some steps! So it's a bit of a challenge to figure out the steps that the book skips over.

Below is my attempt at Rose #3 from the book. They use a soft tissue-like paper for this rose, which looks cool, but I couldn't get that to work (the paper tore so easily). So I tried gift wrapping paper and it was easier. I like the more sculpted look, anyway. You can click the picture to get a bigger view.

Below is Rose #2 in the foreground, and the Rose #3 in the background. I figure I'll use big #3's in the bouquets with small #2's in a different color.

Below shows Rose #2 on the left and Rose #3 on the right. The #3 is made from regular white copy paper, and it's not glued together. It was my first prototype. :) I will definitely use more fancy paper for the wedding! Anyway, I think #3 has a lotus look'n'feel more than a rose look'n'feel, but I like that just fine!

I got the gift wrap paper from Sally Foster -- someone at work was selling it to fundraise for their kid's school. It's good quality paper that can take some abuse before the design starts to rub off. Still, I tried to fold and handle the paper as little as possible to prevent worn edges.