Origami A Day 10 and 11: Lotus Flower and Camellia

I've been making my way through おりがみ辞典 (Origami Jiten) lately. The first section is all about flowers, so I decided to try a few I've never done before. No need to talk about the diagrams. They were clear and concise as they are throughout the book. I used 5 7/8 inch Fold'ems paper for both models. They took about 10 to 20 minutes each to fold.

The first flower I tried was a lotus. I think it came out alright. I had to pay close attention to the written directions toward the end of the instructions as you fold over the four petals from the back. I ripped the paper a bit before realizing that unfolding the front flaps allowed the paper to fold easier.

I'm not entirely sure this would be recognized as a lotus (I don't know flowers), but I like the shape regardless. Curling the tips of the flowers was easy as they stood apart from the rest of the model. I also learned my camera has a difficult time processing dark purple for some reason.

I don't like the camellia as much. I think I folded it competently and I like the Escher like infinite patten for the petals, but the overall model is just not interesting to me. Maybe it's because it is so flat.

Due to their size, the inner petals tended to fold rather than curl. I didn't feel like fighting them. This would be a great model to display on a flat surface like a blackboard, but I prefer 3D models like the lotus over ones like this.