Tutorial: mini nihongami

Here's a fun ornament that I made, a paper sculpture of a traditional Japanese hairstyle!

To make one you will need:

Black card

Coloured card scraps

Patterned paper scraps

Silver card scraps

Jewel stickers

Two sewing pins

Something to display the hairstyle on, for example a wooden doll shape like I have used, or a large bead or a small doll

1. Cut out the two large shapes from black card, and cut slits where marked

2. Roll the sides of the base/side piece around your finger, and do the same with the front/back piece

3. Place the base/side piece on the item it will be displayed on, and press the card to mould it to shape

4. Glue the side flaps to the top of this piece

5. Glue the front/back piece on top, and glue the front and back flaps of it in place

6. Make a little parcel from patterned paper

7. Cut out the top piece from black card, and wrap this around the parcel and glue it

8. Glue this on top of the other pieces

9. Push the sewing pins in place

10. Cut the bira bira and kanoko dome pieces from silver card

11. Cut small repeating slits in these, across the bottom of the bira bira and all around the kanoko dome

12. Glue these in place

13. Punch some flower shapes from coloured card, and cut a small notch in each petal

14. Glue the flowers in place

15. Add some small jewel stickers to the flowers and kanoko dome