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Thinking out loud... Although I've used the word origami a few times on this site, it's not really origami at all. Origami actually means "paper folding", but we're folding "oshibori" instead. A common question is where to buy oshibori outside Japan. If anyone knows of an English website selling Japanese hand towels, please let me know! I've seen oshibori on eBay, but they are usually cute towels with rounded corners. I think you'd be better off using a wet tea towel, cut down to 30x30cm. Finally, I know you can buy towel origami books Nick Ramsay An alternative... Hi Nick, I am enjoying your "Osibori Art" website and continue to refer to it. As I wrote to you before, I've had a hard time finding Osibori in California. None of the restaurants I've visited use or know where to get them. Last week, in our Target Store (a dept. store), my wife came across face towels that were 30.4 X 30.4 cm. She bought them for me (two 30 packs about 20 cents for each cloth US$). I tried one out and it works well! The corners are square and that's where I was having trouble finding a cloth that was acceptable. Most, whose demensions were good had rounded corners. The only thing that I don't like about them is that the two opposite sides are folded over slightly and give the edges extra thickness. But I can work with that. The name of the company is "Roomessentials" and it is a 30 pack, 100% cotton. John |
Step 1 Clear the table and lay out your oshibori in a diamond shape. 
Step 2 Fold all but the top corner into the center. 
Step 3 Fold the part of the towel upwards as shown in the picture. 
Step 4 Turn over the oshibori. 
Step 5 Fold the left third to the right as shown... 
Step 6 ...then fold the right side over to the left. 
Step 7 Fold the bottom part upwards. 
Step 8 Now the tricky part. Lift and pull the bottom flap upwards as shown. 
Step 9 Turn the towel inside out by pushing it under the flap you are pulling up. 
Step 10 The elephant's ears should appear. Pull them out a litte so your towel looks like the picture. 
Step 11 To give your elephnat some strength, roll the "head" upwards one time... 
Step 12 ...and twist the remaining part of the oshibori to make the elephant's nose. 
Finished! An oshibori elephant! |
How to make a... More information: 
This website was Origami Sites:
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on Amazon, but they are mostly for big towels or napkins.