Let’s face it, plants aren’t suitable for every building. Take a second home, for example: if you aren’t there for months on end, even the hardiest of plants are going to struggle to survive. And since dried plants are apparently bad feng shui, you might rule out the possibility of having any flowers in your home.

But never fear, you have options! Origami flowers may not have the health benefits of a living plant, but they can still bring a burst of colour to your home or office – added to which, you can have the smug satisfaction of explaining that you made them yourself, domestic goddess that you are…

Btw., not just for easter eggs but also for next christmas this is a nice idea:

We made a traditional lotus. This is how you can do it too:

1. Start with a nice bit of shiny origami paper (15cm x 15 cm). Having thinner origami paper really helps (we used a stack of square folding paper from Toys-R-Us). Fold along the diagonal axis, unfold. Repeat along the other diagonal axis.
2. Fold all four corners to the centre of the paper. You’ve now created a new, smaller square.
3. Once again, fold the (new) corners of the square to its centre to make an even smaller square.
4. Turn the paper over. For a third time, fold the corners of the square to the centre – but this time, unfold.
5. This is where it starts to get trickier! Looking at the diagram below, fold the paper so that the shorter side of each triangle is in line with a longer side the same triangle. Crease ONLY to the centre and unfold. Then fold the other short side of the triangle to the longer base. Again, crease to the centre, creating a pointed fold.
6. Repeat the above for all four triangular flaps.
7. Fold all of the triangles over the edge of the square, leaving a narrow border.
8. Flip the paper over and fold the four corners of the bottom square to its centre. This will create four ‘petals.’
9. Fold the tip of each corner down to the centre and flatten.
10. Flip the paper over and fold each of the points outward.
11. At this point, you can carefully curve each of these points away from you to form an extra petal. Or, if your paper is fragile, simply flip over and admire your finished lotus.

Once you’ve finished your Lotus, take it to Reading and name it Lotus Reading. Or make it some origami friends.