Origami Bonsai Rose Bush-1 - Trunk

The first phase creating an origami bonsai rose bush, preparing the trunk of the tree.

This is the first of five videos that will look at how to make an origami bonsai rose bush. So to begin

with I went out around the Internet for pictures of bonasai rose bushes. I came up with this one, and

this one, together the inspiration for the design we're going to look at here now. Get yourself some 20 gauge

cooper wire, nice and flexible. It does not necessarily need to be cooper. Create a frame. In this case its got three large branches. Wires

leading off it for flowers and the leaves. And a good bit of extra wire down at the bottom so you can tie it off once

you've based it in a bowl. So here's another design with a little different looking trunk. Lots of possibilities for trunks. So to start

get your paper mache gear together, some strips of paper, your frame, and your paper mache glue. The

glue consists of one part flour, to five parts water. Brought to a boil then let cool before using it.

Here's the wire frame with the first layer of paper mache applied.

So build up the paper around the based first. For the first pass there are about six or seven layers

of paper around the bottom. You don't want to go to thick otherwises its not going to dry. This is what

it looks like after the first pass. Six or seven layers on the bottom. Four or five for the midsection.

And, one or two layers for the exterior branches.

So let it dry, next day come back and you have something that looks like this. Nice and hard ready to

put another layer of paper mache on it.

So, get your paper mache glue out of the fridge. You may want to toss it in the microwave to warm it

up a little bit, but it works just as well cold. Apply some of the paper mache glue to the dried model

just to soften it up a bit, and then apply another six of seven layers to the bottom section of the trunk.

[high speed applying paper mache]

Pay particular attention to the joints of your model, and make sure that they're secured well.

[applying paper mache to the first joint]

Work all the bubbles out as best you can. The later layer its not so critical because it will smooth

out as you apply more layers. So let it dry, come back the next day and you have something that looks like this. In this particular

case I've probably put too many layers on the bottom so it still a little damp, so I'm going to leave

it for another day, and experiment with some different roses, in this case a paper rose, with a 10 inch

piece of paper. This one is a black tissue foil rose. This one turned out quite nice. So, I think I'll go

with tissue foil for the roses, perhaps red though.

So, next day, got back, had to add a couple more branches in for leaves. There was a bare space up in

top corner then applied another layer of paper mache and ended up with something that looks like this.

So you let that dry for a day, or maybe two, and then you apply the bark. So, this is a fine wood grain

type paper that I bought at a local paper shop. Soften it up with some water first, get it nice an pliable

so its easy to mold onto the base of your model. Apply some paper mache glue to the model, again to soften it up

And, then apply your bark paper.

So you'll want to make cuts in places where there's a corner so that

you can wrap the paper around. You'll want to try to keep the overlap of the paper in the back

where its going to be less noticable.

And cut off any excess.

[high speed applying the bark paper]

So in this case the paper is a little thin. You can see the newsprint, so I'm going to put a second layer

on. So after the first layer is applied, you let it dry for at least a few hours, maybe a day.

And then you apply a second layer.

[high speed applying the second bark layer]

So once your second layer's applied, work all the bubbles out so that you are not left with little divots

where that air works its way out. And, that's it. The trunk for your origami bonsai rose bush.