The origami kusudama flower is one of the most popular paper folding projects around. It is beautiful to look at and appears much more complicated than it actually is due to the delicate nature of the individual petals.
There were two major obstacles when trying to make a money origami kusudama flower. The first is that the dollar bill is a rectangular shape, where the instructions for a basic kusudama flower specify that you use square paper. The second is that it's really frowned upon to deface US currency, so you can't just glue the petals of the flower together like you would in a regular kusudama flower. So, this tutorial uses a slightly different folding technique and keeps the flower petals together with paper clips so it can easily be taken apart and spent by the recipient.
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Secure the Petals
Fold the bill in half and either secure with a paper clip.
Repeat the process until you have a total of five identically folded dollar bills. These individual petals will be connected to form your money origami kusudama flower.Continue to 5 of 7 below.
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Join the Petals
To join the individual petals together, simply paper clip the sides together. Use five petals to form a flower, even though traditional origami kusudama flowers are made with either five or six petals. With five petals made from dollar bills, this makes it easier to count how much money is in the gift. Feel free to experiment with the number of petals in your flower until you achieve the desired result, however.
Your money origami kusudama flower is now complete. This view shows the bottom of the flower. Notice how George Washington's head creates an interesting symmetrical center for the floral design when viewed from this angle.
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Comparing the Flowers
This picture compares the origami kusudama folded from 6 inch x 6 inch origami paper to a kusudama made from five dollar bills. You can see that they are similar in appearance, despite the change in materials. Mixing the flowers together would result in a very unique gift for a graduation or wedding celebration!
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