Topologically convoluted geometric modulars confuse the brain – shapes that morph into different shapes in stable but seemingly unpredictable ways are fascinating:
This is a wedge-flex – a modular hinged construction of a series of triangular prisms (wedges) that fold, bend, twist and re-align in interesting configurations. Continue reading
I am seriously attempting to perfect the “rose” form in Origami. In my mind, there is no better master of this flower than Naomiki Sato:
I bought his book (and DVD) entitled “Rose” and am determined to work though the various forms presented therein.
This is called his “first pentagonal rose” and I can see ancestor forms in the one that are also in the one I fold freehand currently. This is essentially a bud, but has a unique spiral centre and a nicely controlled twirl terminating in some lovely little petals. the base is also fully closed. Continue reading
So I was messing with a low-grade triangle grid and what to do with it (I often fold grids to keep my eye in) and came across a rather neat geodesic hemisphere that used a section of it:
So I cut 2 the same size and proceeded to collapse – one fits inside the other and makes a rather lovely icosahedral prism box. Continue reading
I am clearly in the wrong business, if making money is the aim. Being slightly (well, I think it is healthy) obsessed with paper, when a new dealer arrives on the scene I take notice. A colleague asked if I knew of “The Paper Empire” – a new QLD outlet in Newfarm:
I had not heard about them, but visited and found some papers of interest. They are the second outlet in a franchise that has been in Melbourne for a while, and their online shop has some interesting paper products imported from Norway. Continue reading
David Mitchell is a legendary origami designer, responsible for countless geometric wrangles:
This is an “Oyster Box” – a box that resembles a bivalve, that locks together rather satisfyingly and opens to reveal a spacious interior. Continue reading
Busy times indeed – perfect for folding a 12 piece modular:
Fairly simple modules that sit over one, inside another adjacent module, locking fairly positively into swirls of 4 “petals”, you get a shape that describes a cube when you look just at the points. Continue reading
Anyone who has seen any of the “Lord of the Rings/Hobbit” movies will recognise the profile of this hat:
Gandalf the Grey wore a wondrous felt hat like this, Mike Luo’s “Witches Hat”. Continue reading
Long before there were “fidget spinners”, Pokemon and “Pogs” there was a craze that swept me away when it first hit the market. A Hungarian designer called Erno Rubic devised a cube, subdivided up into 3x3x3 cubies that all slid on each other in layers:
I instantly had to have one (well, in truth I had 9, including a triangular, circular and 4x4x4 one that I still have). Continue reading
Sometimes you need to fold a modular, and sometimes that modular really needs to be a 12 part construction:
This is “Cube from Thrids” designed by Tung Ken Lim, a simple windowed cube that works well with a 3-colour scheme. Continue reading
Searching for daily folds, O came across an interesting 6 part modular cube that has much development potential:
each face features a colour changed heart but I imagine that with a little inventiveness you could fashion diamonds, spades etc, or other things as the basic module solves the problem of liberating colour-changed flaps rather nicely. Continue reading
So you take a 2×1 rectangle, fold it into 4×2 squares, then halve the squares:
Then bring one pair of adjacent corners for each square, sink the dimply corner to lock, then repeat. Continue reading
Sometimes a simple crease pattern leads to some interesting emergent geometry:
This is Charles Santee’s “Star Block”, a 2 part modular that I found when trolling among Origami USA’s “The Fold” issue #22. Continue reading
A colleague recently spent an extended time back home on Kythera, a lovely island in Greece:
Returning to work is never easy after such time away, but I can feel and understand her longing to return. This shell is meant to evoke dream memories of Kythera. Continue reading
When you are sitting, you have a bunch of time to think. When you have cylindrical media on hand, you start to think about what you can do with it:
Having previously dabbled in loo-roll faces, I began wondering if there was some geometric beauty in cylinder wrangling and happened across a scalable technique that allows a twist without completely breaking the cylindrical form. Continue reading
The internet is an amazing thing, it affords connections between mortals and luminaries in the field:
I noticed Sara Adams (a living legend in the Origami World) was asking for test folders to test diagrams she was drawing and I immediately put my hand up. Continue reading
