geometry

526: Sunflowers

| wonko

When asked by a friend (hey Trevor!) “can I make Sunflowers”, my answer initially was “dunno”, but let’s find out:526Sunflowers

I found a Youtube video by Ph2 with a flower base that was near identical to a number of other flower petal turnings I have done before. Squash then squash then squash and you get 16 petals per flower – nice. Using a simpler form the sepal works. Having the basis for the fold I set about selecting paper and scale to make these things near actual size.

I had some Lokta paper, in yellow and chocolate, so laminated a smaller chocolate square to the centre of a 26cm square, waited until dry then began the paper coaxing. Continue reading →

524: Happy Valentines Day

| wonko

I find it fascinating that there are so many models and folding techniques I have yet to try. The “Magic Rose Cube” is a case in point – I am amazed I have never folded it:v4

Such a beautiful little modular, 3 pieces the flower, 3 slightly different pieces the leaves, slots together into a cube easily, unfurls beautifully. Continue reading →

523: Francis Ow’s Double Cube

| wonko

I seem fixated on modular origami at the moment (a branch I have not really done very much in). When I saw Francis Ow’s Double Cube, I asked him if I could have a go at folding it:523DoubleCube

He generously shared some instructions with me (how amazing is the Internet – it can put you in actual touch with people you consider design legends) and I set about wrestling with the fold. Continue reading →

522: House Module – Group Activity

| wonko

As a teacher, I have a pastoral care group of students from multiple year levels, many initial strangers and new students at the start of the year.image

I look for an activity that we can all focus on, conversations and collegiality usually follows.

Francis Ow published diagrams on a “house” module (strangely appropriate) and hints on how to compose large structures using lots of them. Continue reading →

520: Blackstar

| wonko

Having pre-ordered the new album by David Bowie, I was delighted when it arrived in my postbox yesterday morning (Monday 11 January 2016). Much hyped, I put it on loud, in high rotation for the day, each listen affirming a new favorite Bowie Album.520BlackStarCover

In the afternoon we went grocery shopping, to return home to the news that Bowie had passed on, after a long and private battle with cancer.520BlackStarScale

Few aspects of the music industry were not influenced by this artist.

His music woke me up as a teenager, a welcome relief from the bang and twang that monopolised the music charts. Continue reading →

519: Before the Big Bang

| wonko

Curved creases seem to do interesting things to stiff paper.519twist

Paper tension that has been tortured by curved folds tends to force planes into curves and distorts geometry in interesting ways.519Snail

I had a huge offcut of Canson watercolour paper and decided to try Thoki Yenn and Josef Albers “Before The Big Bang” – an odd collection of concentric creases, alternating mountain and valleys. Continue reading →

518: Flasher

| wonko

I have had sheets of Elephant Hide for ages, and read that it was really good for geometric folding (corrugations and tessellations), so set out to find something I could do as fold therapy:518Flasher

Jeremy Shafer is a genius designer of origami action models and I had seen his series of collapsing “flashers” so thought I would give them a go. they are termed “flasher” because they are tiny when resting, but expand out in an explosion of pleats when you stretch them.

This is the “Flasher Hat” – perfect for the silly season where wearing paper hats seems mandatory. It combines the classic features of a flat flasher with special corrugations and crimps that raise a crown. Continue reading →

516: Jaws

| wonko

In 1975, after finishing year 10, a friend (hey Brendan!) and I decided to cycle to the Sunshine Coast as “something to do” during the Christmas holidays. Living in Maleny, this was a journey but not really that far in retrospect, but on a bicycle in the middle of summer it was kind of madness. 516Jaws

Our bikes were laden with water bottles, tent, airbeds and other camping equipment (I was a scout, and, generally, was prepared), down the range we made for our first campsite at Caloundra. In those days the caravan park/camp site backed on to the beach – cool breezes and ocean sounds – all good, right? That night, we went to the local cinema to see a new release blockbuster movie – “JAWS” directed by Stephen Spielberg. I’ll be honest, this movie really gave me the willies – the now classic film had palpable suspense, shock, gore and was set at the seaside. Continue reading →

Decoration

| wonko

Although I began folding paper when I was 11, I peaked at about 13 (back then, in my own mind) by mastering Jack Skillman’s “Jackstone”:scale

I had bought Robert Harbin’s Origami book series, the model featured in book 2 at the back which meant it wqas hard. It seems the Jackstone was at the time a measure of the complexity of the art and, strangely, the geometry made sense to me – so much so that, for whatever reason I committed it to memory and still fold it today. (read Dave Lister’s BOS account of it)detail

It is a masterpiece of pre-folding – that you unfold, turn inside out and collapse along existing lines – the magic still delights and fascinates me to this day. Continue reading →

495: Soma Cube

| wonko

I can remember a block puzzle my maths teacher introduced to me, the “soma” puzzle was a lot like 3D Tetris.495SomaDev

There are 7 puzzle pieces, all variations of stacked cube clusters that fit together into a 3×3 cube when put together right.495Soma1

A fab fold, a simple series of box pleat collapses and a variety of techniques make these fairly robust puzzle pieces. Continue reading →

494: Wolfram|Alpha Logo

| wonko

I have a low tolerance of boredom, so slack time between busy times at work required me to keep my fingers busy:494Wolfram

This is an interesting module, made up of useful units – tiles of joined equilateral triangles with solid pockets and tabs. Continue reading →

493: FuseBall

| wonko

They say “many hands make light work” and they (whoever “they” are) are quite correct:493FuseBallManyHands

My pastoral care group (the Mighty Magee F) and I folded Tomoko Fuse’s Icosahedron Kasudama, as part of a “getting to know you” exercise to start off the year, with the theme “the sum of the parts is greater than the individual”. Continue reading →

491: Black Sheep

| wonko

On February 15, Chinese New Year kicks off – 2015 is the year of the Goat, but a sheepie is close, right? I thought I would take a preemptive strike given that I am sure to be really busy at work by then.491BlackSheep

The latest Tanteidan magazine features diagrams for Beth Johnson‘s Sheep – a lovely 2 part model and I was itching to give it a go. Continue reading →

488: Burr Puzzle

| wonko

In the hiatus between receiving parts of the Ryujin to fold, I am always on the look out for something interesting to fold.488BurrPuzzle

I first saw Froy’s Burr Puzzle on the Hong Kong Origami Society’s forum and decided to give it a try. Continue reading →