Origami Display Shelf

I enjoy making origami! However, I did not have a good place to display the origami I made. They were scattered around the house on bookshelves and my drawers.

I needed something that can be flexible so to fit origamis of different sizes. It also needed to be adjustable from time to time so I can change what to display without take down the whole structure. Ideally it should be lightweight and space saving. It also needed to be made made of some material I can handle easily and independently.

Supplies

Materials

Styrofoam boards
Tape (Duct tapes, optional Decorative washi tape)
Skewer sticks ( I used metal as well as bamboo ones, whichever I can find at ho
Sewing pins
Nails (2)

Tools

Cutting knife
Ruler
Hammer

Structure: Location, Design, Pre-setup

Decide where you want to set up your structure in the house. Find the studs in the wall and hammer in the nails. Measure and record the desired size of the structure on this wall.

Paint the Styrofoam

Paint all sides of the styrofoam pieces. You will want to paint the tops and sides first, wait for them to dry, then paint the bottoms.

Cut the Styrofoam As Designed

Given the layout of the shelf as designed earlier, cut the styrofoam with a cutting knife.

Trim all of the similar (same-colored on the diagram) Styrofoam pieces to the same length.

Assemble: Add Metal Skewers

Stick 2 metal skewers in the sides of each of the holding pieces (yellow). Leave some portion of the skewer hanging out.

Assemble: Attach Styrofoam Sides

Use the ends of the metal skewers to attach the holding pieces to the side pieces (blue in design).

Assemble: Attach Styrofoam Top/Bottom Supports

Use the pins to attach the styrofoam cover supports to the top and bottom of the shelf (red in design).

Assemble: Wrap Duct Tape

Wrap duct tape around the perimeter of the shelf for extra support.

Assemble: Deco With Washi Tape

Add washi tape around the holding segments (top, middle, and bottom) of the shelf.

Setup: Paint Backgrounds

Paint, draw, or make your own backgrounds for each piece of origami.

Setup: Arrange Origami

Arrange the origami on the backgrounds.

Consider origami and backgrounds that go together in an interesting setting, for example, the sword goes well with the cube cross sections, the magic balls go well with the black-and-white shapes, and the bird goes well with the telephone wires.