geometry

393: Six Intersecting Pentagonal Stars (SIP)

| wonko

When I first saw this thing on Happy Folding I knew I was destined to try it:

This glorious modular designed by Francesco Mancini uses a unit similar to a Frances Ow 60 degree unit but in a very different way to make chevron-shaped modules that lock together to form pentagonal stars.

The tricksey part is to then nestle the stars so they are inside each other, weaving one inside and outside every other star – thank goodness I chose a different colour for each star else I have no idea how I would have managed to work out what strut went where in the construction.

I am quite chuffed (and a little relieved to be honest) with the result as I attempted to construct it 7 times before successfully working out what went where. Fully formed it is quite stable and rigid – it was everything but that during construction however making it very awkward indeed.

Lovely stellar structure suitable for display.

389: Kusudama Dafina

| wonko

I saw Tadashi Mori demonstrating a Kawasaki Rose-based modular and thought I would give it a whirl:

Having failed miserably every other attempt to fold a Kawasaki Rose, I was chuffed to succeed this time.

I want to say I will fold this again – it took an age and although I was impressed with the rose, the modular attachments (tabs and pockets) did not positively hold it together (I cheated in the end and stapled them together).

Each rose is a masterpiece of box pleating prep work followed by a beautiful spiral collapse. Happy to be finished it tho.

386: Dimple Ball

| wonko

Looking for a neat, colourful use for a batch of poor quality origami paper I had, I stumbled across a modular dimpled sphere:

The paper cracked and spilt in ugly ways, so I had a good wrestle to actually construct this. Interestingly, when complete it became quite rigid and strong but prior to the last few modules were wrangled into place, it was floppy and kept unfolding inconveniently.

The result is spherical, with lovely pentagonal dimples, with modules centred in fives, meeting in threes – lovely application of maths.

I must look for modules that differ in the basic 32 module sphere, and also for one whose modules are more positively connected. This one is, however, randomly beautiful.

You can have a try of this yourself – go here for instructions

383: Slinky

| wonko

Now I am a fan of a simple but effective modular, and this one is a lot of fun:

Modelled after a spring-slinky, designed with skill by Jo Nakashima, it stretches, falls and steps like the real thing.

Using remarkably simple modules, each from a small square, the structure begins to behave when there is sufficient mass in it to be propelled by its own momentum.

I like this model a lot – it was a fun way to while away an exam supervision and the construction method was simple. I ended up making over 50 modules before it started behaving correctly but even this feat did not take very long.

Give it a try, you know you want to…

379: Dodecahedron

| wonko

In search of a new modular to adorn my computer lab, I stubbled across a dodecahedron that looked interesting enough:

Thirty modules later, I began to attempt to construct – after 7 different attempts and modifications I could not find a way to make the modules lock together convincingly.

Defeated, I resorted to a few well-placed pieces of sticky tape (on the inside) to keep the pentagonal faces together. Overall it is a pleasing construction (all be it a little cheaty)

I shall continue to look for modulars – there are lots of varying complexity – the geometry alone is reason to attempt them. This module constructs a 73ish degree angle which is a little big for a pentagon, causing a paper tension that naturally tries to spread the joints.

358: Pandora’s Box

| wonko

Come this time of year, we ALL engage in a sort of origami, with varying success and neatness – wrapping presents:

This is Yami Yamauchi’s “Pandora’s Box” – a devilishly clever fold that makes a beautiful cube that once folded is near impossible to un-fold.

The instructions suggest fold it part way, put something precious inside and close it up, only to watch the faces of the receiver as they try to open the gift without tearing the paper – lol.

An ingenious box folded from fifths – originally I was going to fold this in white, then remembered some rather splendid stripey wrapping paper and that solved 2 problems with the one roll really as I used the stripes to work out the proportions – 5×3 stripes = fitfhs of a decent size, hooray. There are many geometric constructions for making fifths but they often leave creases in the paper as you make them and I wanted it to be as blemish free as flimsy wrapping paper would allow.

In retrospect, it ended up being almost exactly the size of my Rubics Cube, lovely thing.

355: Robin Star

| wonko

I was trolling fakebook and came across a lovely video posted by noted origamist Jo Nakashima:

Designed by Maria Sinayskaya, this simple but beautiful wreath modular is a keeper – make it out of coloured wrapping paper, small, and it is a lovely tree decoration.

I like this a lot – a good solution to a “what the flooping heck am I going to fold today” situation. Folded in 8 parts, you should have a go at this.

Nearing the end – 10 more to go until this challenge ends – wooo!

Want this? BID for it NOW.

346: Urchin Star

| wonko

The “monthly modular” is something that would be suitable for hanging on a christmas tree that YOU could make along with me:

This is an Urchin Star, designed by Martin Sejer Andersen with the folding sequence videoed by Jo Nakashima here. I have made a cutting pattern that requires you to print it out on A4 paper twice – you can download that here: print-me-twice.

You need 30 modules, but they are easy to fold, taking no time each once you get into the zone, and they slot together really easily (certainly the easiest assembly of ALL my modulars so far) – even with fat, clumsy fingers like mine.

You should make these – they are lovely – if you use paper coloured on one side, the tips of the star are white, which is pretty also. Wrapping paper would work well – some of the thicker foil-based paper would work well indeed (not that thin plasticised stuff tho, it does not take folds at all)

Have fun with this – totally try it and post your result as a photo on facebook for me to see how it went please.

343: Squid

| wonko

Cephalopods are a tricky subject in Origami, this is a figurative squid by Jun Maekawa:

Having eaten and cooked squid on a number of occasions, the basic body morpholoigy is right, the yummy bits are all there.

A nice set of bilaterally symmetrical pleats, a fun collapse and a 3d re-shaping makes an entirely recognisable squiddy.

There are a bunch of Maekawa’s models that I would like to try – he/she (sorry, not sure) has an original approach to the square and the models have a unique character

326: Rough End First

| wonko

All too often we feel like we are dealt the “rough end” of the pineapple:

It is a curious expression that, I think at least, has something to do with inserting said pineapple in a pineapple-unfriendly place (makes my eyes water just thinking about it).

This is a pleated structure designed by David Petty and it contains techniques I will use elsewhere.

You can see the pineapple-like structure (squint, close one eye, through a mirror) … yeah, there it is and this design is meant to be folded with duo coloured paper, as the top would then be a different colour to the bottom – neat.

I have seen much larger paper sculptures using this “stretched pleated rib” technique and now I know how they were made, which is a good thing.

Paper and folding is taking up waaaay too much of my life right now – have other things I HAVE to do but will somehow muddle through,

325: 3 of 11 Dimensions – XYZ

| wonko

Now in my understanding, life/existence as I know it exists in 4 dimensions (X, Y, Z and Time):

I am trying to understand physics, it does my head in when they talk of strings and the need for 11 dimensions to make sense of them.

Busy day, a modular to bridge the gap. This nice little modular by David Petty.

Happy with this as a first fold. Other things in the pipelines.

315: Lest We Forget

| wonko

Today was “Remembrance Day”, at 11 am on the 11th of the 11th, 2011 the nation stops to give thanks and praise to the fallen soldiers from all world wars:

This is Frances Ow’s “Star Medal” – a lovely paper decoration (made even lovelier by making it in metallic paper) that I thought was fitting as a tribute to the day and also to distribute to a bunch of WWI ‘Aces’ who meet semi-regularly to play an old school board game with vigor and passion.

The gold medal was awarded to the “ballsy-est” move in the game – a near suicidal strafe on enemy base, the rest of us got bronze. In retrospect I should have folded one in purple, or better still folded a “purple heart” as one of the pilots was severely under the weather. Made from a 2×1 rectangle, based on a hexagon, the collapse is elegant and pleasing, a masterful design.

I originally folded this a while back, holding off until today to publish (so sue me)

Celtic Cross Revisited

| wonko

When I first folded Tadashi Mori’s Celtic Cross I knew it would come in handy, being that it is a part of the symbology of my College:

My year 12s (well, I call them mine, they were the leaders in my tutor Group – a lovely bunch of chaps) had their last day of classes today so I thought it a good idea to mark the occasion with cards – naturally they would feature origami.

Hope they liked them.

308: Carmen Sprung’s Kantenmodule

| wonko

I saw this modular and decided I wanted to try it:

Having no idea of scale, I initially used coloured squares cut from A4, but got the colour count wrong – notiing it was in 6 groups of 5, I mistakenly got 5 pages  each of 6 colours – dang.

I think the scale was a bit out – this thing turned out enormous – lovely but enormous. It is really strong, structurally – the multiple triangular cross section modules interlock really solidly and make for a nice shaped ball.

I toyed with the idea of doing this over a couple of days, but in the end I got really fast at folding the modules, and the construction process was really fast also – although it was a little tricksey ensuring the colours were distributed evenly.

Very happy with this model – it looks lovely and takes quite a striking photo also.

291: Hexagonal Prism

| wonko

John Montroll is a design genius:

In his book “A Plethora of Polyhedra” he explores the complexities of single sheet 3d-shapes, and this rather splendid prism caught my eye as something I wanted to try.

I like how the pre-folding teases of open edges up and inside the finished shape which locks itself – very clever Mr Montroll

There are some eye-poppingly complex polyhedra in this book, I shall be trying some more I think.