There is always time to make a little peace in our world.
It takes incidents like those that unraveled yesterday to realise that peace is a choice we make as participants of the world on which we live. Continue reading
geometry
486: Little Turtle Kusudama
A dear friend (*waves to Caff) holidayed in Europe, visited Florence and found some amazing block-printed handmade paper, popped it in a post pack tube and mailed it to me.
To be honest, I have struggled to use this paper because it seemed a such a terrible shame to cut it. Lovely irregularities, vibrant colours and relatively heavy cardstock suggested that a kusudama might be the solution.
Thumbing through Tomoko Fuse’s book “Multidimensional Transformations, Unit Origami”, I came across a unit called “little turtle” that I had not tried. I think they got the name because, as part of the folding process of the unit you make a shape similar to the “turtle base” I have used for other models.
Tim’s Surprise
A mate, Tim, knew of my paper bending tendencies. He is also a Bank Manager and so he came across a rareish paper Australian $20 note:
Once upon a time, boys and girls, Australian currency was made of paper, not shiny brittle plastic as it is now.
Much to my surprise, a letter arrived addressed to me, containing a lovely crisp $20 note – limited edition and precious, along with the instructions to make something out of it.
I have agonised about this – creasing a rare thing is fraught with guilt and I am sure currency collectors would be horrified, but it came with challenges – most “dollargami” is geared towards American “greenbacks” which are not 2×1 – the $20 note is oddly a 2×1 rectangle, meaning conventional dollargami landmarks are in the wrong place. Continue reading
482: Four Interlocking Triangular Prisms
Procrastination, thy name is Wonko!
I had some time, and some coloured paper, so decided to try Daniel Kwan’s lovely geometrical modular:
Simple units, reminiscent of Frances Ow’s 60 degree unit interlock to form one, then two etc triangular prisms – choice of nice bold colours make this a real charmer. Continue reading
476: Shiny
In desperate need of some occupational therapy after a punishing term, I looked for a “no brainer” fold to calm my racing brain – instead I found this:
The CLO Kusudama, designed by Isa Klein was beautifully demonstrated in a video by Jo Nakashima, and I decided to give it a go. Continue reading
474: Six Intersecting Squares
While browsing an origami forum I frequent, I came across a modular that I had not tried, based on 120 degree units:
I have a stack of oddments (the ends cut off A4 sheets when squaring them up) and decided to see if they were close enough to the right size for this module (it called for 2 1/5 x 1 rectangles, my odments are more 2.5×1) Continue reading
472: Decoration Cube
I came across a bunch of variations to a 12 unit modular cube that variously used a 1×1, 2×1 and 3×1 rectangle. I settled on the square variant (in retrospect I should have used the 2×1 version – half as much paper required, but you live and learn.
Initially I just was interested in the locking mechanism of a cube, so folded a red one. then I decided to see how a yellow one might intersect, then because I had some purple paper left over from the torus I thought to link the yellow to a purple, and the idea sort of grew from there.
I scoured my dealer’s (Rhonda, the custodian of paper supplies) shelves and ended up finding 11 different colours/tints – I added a “black” origami paper as the 12th colour and, hey presto they formed a ring of particular beauty.
It just sort of happened – I resolved to only fold during breaks at work, in front of kids, and over a period of 2 weeks it grew into a long chain and I was finally ready to join it into a ring.
I want to say this join was an easy, simple thing. I did not find it so – I tried, undid it, tried again, unfolded it (muttering obscenities under my breath). tried again, thought I had it until I realised it was wrong (the pattern should repeat, the join should not be visible – doh! Continue reading
467: Weave
Early morning catching up on Facebook, I saw a friend had posted a link to a Youtube clip of a woven ring:
I took 8 11cm squares (left-overs from the torus project) and split them into quarter strips (making a total of 32 strips of paper), then folded each strip in half longways then in half shortways – nice easy folding. Continue reading
Folding Algorithms – Sato Rose
Much of Origami is algorithmic (algorithm = procedural solution to a problem). A rabbit ear is an algorithm, one knows how to fold it on a corner – double rabbit ear is the same solution, folded two simultaneously. Petal fold is also a standard maneuver which got me thinking of the Sato Rose algorithm.
I like this algorithm particularly because of the free-form nature of much of the folding, and the way it seems to “fit” a pentagon. I decided to use the same folding algorithm but try it with other regular polygons – I tried triangle(3), square(4), pentagon(5), hexagon(6), heptagon(7), octagon(8), nonagon(9) but gave up on the decagon(10).
The algorithm involves “nearly” bisecting each vertex to form an echo shape at the centre of the sheet – you then halve that internal echo to create a slightly offset echo and use that as the basis of a “kawasaki twist” Continue reading
460: Torus
Christmas is just around the corner, so I was thinking “wreath” shapes and stumbled across an astonishing torus made entirely of Tom Hull’s “Phizz” units:
The structure is based on twisted units that combine in 5’s (a pentagon has positive curvature), 6’s (a hexagon has zero curvature) and 7’s (a heptagon has negative curvature).
The inside has 10 heptagons and hexagon spacers, the outer rim has 10 pentagons with hexagon spacers and the rest of the shapes are hexagons.
This shape does my head in – heptagons take up more paper yet less space in the shape … huh? Negative curvature makes the inside of the donut by making a series of “saddles” which is pretty neat. Continue reading
459: Electra
Browsing an amazing book by David Mitchell called “Paper Crystals”, I spotted an interesting modular ball based on pentagons tiled with triangles named Electra.
Coupled with the original model was a suggestion that it was possible to make a 60 module version consisting of pentagons surrounded by squares separated by triangles. Continue reading
Chiyogami/Washi Hex-Boxes
When life gives you Chiyogami or hand-made Washi, with a relatively simple twist you can turn it into a hex-box: 
Lovely hand-printed Washi (swirls of fibres, block printed 20+ years ago) and modern Chiyogami (machine made but lovely) are actually fairly difficult to work with because you cannot see the creases and Fujimoto’s hex box establishes a bunch of landmarks to form the base-creases.
This is not a first fold, but the form and ingenious locking mechanism, slight variation to form lid and base make this one of my favourite folds – a jewel box when made from lovely paper.
Want one? Buy some nice paper (A3 or A4 work just fine, this is folded from a “golden rectangle”) and I will make it for you (or teach you how to make it yourself if you are near) – have your people call my people and we will make something beautiful together.
447: Black Forest Cuckoo Clock
In need of some therapy, and with my procrastinator set on FULL, I embarked on a punishing box-pleating exercise:
I remember as a kid in New Zealand we had a cheezy Cuckoo Clock (Mum loved it) that used to have metal pinecones as counterweights and a faux timber case that used to “cuckoo” and scare the life out of me every hour. It had the loudest tick of any clock I remember.. I am fairly sure it did not survive the emmigration back to Oz because I do not remember it afterwards.
Robert Lang is known for beautiful mathematical models and when I first saw photos of his “Black Forest Cuckoo Clock” it seemed impossible to tease all that details out of an uncut sheet. Continue reading
439: Nick Robinson’s Penrose Triangle
The “Penrose Triangle”, also known as a Penrose Tribar is an impossible object:
If you look at any vertice it makes sense but the shape, as a whole, cannot exist … well, until now that is.
When I first saw folds of this I was intrigued, knowing a folder on Facebook, he suggested I approach the designer, Nick Robinson, who graciously shared his design with me (isn’t the interweb amazing). Continue reading
433: Spikey Cuboctahedron
So I have this line I sometimes use: “find some nice paper and I will make something for you”:
A friend (*waves to Jan*) found a packet of 15cm (ish) hand-printed Washi and teh challenge was on.