tessellation

545: Stacked Triangles Tessellation

| wonko

I spend a lot of time waiting for students to ask for assistance during practical assignment lessons. This  is a good thing – if they do not ask and are skilled enough to work independently then I have done the right thing, so it is all grist for the mill. (When kids need help but do nothing about it is much less good, but again a choice the student makes):545StackedTriangles

This is my first attempt (and probably last) at Eric Gjerde’s “Stacked Triangles” tessellation, based on a triangle grid that had a 6mm spacing. Continue reading →

533: Gjerde’s Pinwheel Tessellation

| wonko

After leafing through Eric Gjerde’s “Origami Tessellations” I knew I had found the motherload of paper punishment:Tessellation6

This is the “Pinwheel” tessellation and it has a hidden beauty. I am learning that a tessellation is a regular repeating pattern, magically interlocking “molecules” that go together like tiles on a mosaic floor.

Usually based on a grid (at least initially), this one is based on a triangle grid, and features closed hexagon twists and open triangle twists that compliment each others vertices very neatly. Backlit they reveal an intense and curious but often completely different geometry. Continue reading →

Tessellations

| wonko

Folding is something I do, often to stave off boredom. When my students are working on assignments, I get large slabs of time where I need to be there but am not needed, so I bend paper relentlessly:t3

Folding grids is painstaking, but excellent discipline – accuracy is the key Continue reading →

528: Joisel’s Pangolin

| wonko

Few Origami models reach Iconic status, few have the charm and grace of Eric Joisel’s Pangolin. I thought I would have a go at this fold:528Pangolin

Based, in part, on a field of diagonal graduated pleats that are “popped” into scaley plates, shaped simply to suggest tail, head and feet, his folds have a unique life breathed into them. 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 →

455: The White Keep

| wonko

In days of old, when people of a township were threatened they retreated (as their last best hope) into the Keep – a heavily fortified “core” of the castle that was designed to withstand the most vigorous of attacks

So I had this odd but interesting idea that it should, given the right size of paper, be possible to fold an entire castle from it. After being inspired by Gachepaper and his exploration of Lotka I decided to give it a whirl

Continue reading →