The “orchidgami” project developed by the Smithsonian’s North American Orchid Conservation Center has been an important part of my fundraising efforts in orchid conservation. Along with my orchid watercolor prints, I sell these amazing creations at orchid shows, with all proceeds benefiting the Smithsonian’s Orchid Conservation projects.

 

What is “orchidgami”? You can probably guess that it involves orchids, and paper-folding. A very talented artist has created models of a number of North American Orchids which are part of the Smithsonian’s research efforts. These orchid models are printed on card stock and processed through a special die that makes them able to be punched out (very carefully, of course). Each card contains elements of a single orchid, and includes assembly instructions, along with a photograph of the completed “orchidgami” construction.

 

By featuring these orchidgami cards as part of my sale table at orchid shows, a number of orchid societies have helped to sponsor the creation of a new orchidgami design. This has prove to be an effective fundraiser for orchid conservation.

 

Up to this point, all the orchids in the project have been North American varieties. However, the orchid conservation projects of the Smithsonian have gone international, and I am happy to announce the latest orchidgami model, the Palau Hyacinth Orchid. This was of particular interest to me, because my interest in orchids began while I was working in the Philippines as an ex-pat with Texas Instruments. My wife Trudy and I decided we would sponsor this beautiful specimen from the far east. Read more about the Smithsonian’s Palau project here.

 

A completed Palau Hyacinth Orchid model is shown above. The picture below shows the punch-out card printed on 8.5×11″ card stock.