Another time sponge, based on a square grid initially that was torturous to fold and pre-crease. Based on Eric Gjerde’s tessellation molecule, it is an amazing use of paper that features largely an “all at once” collapse.
Many tessellations sit flat while you do them, their interim stages are still flat – not this mongrel. Once you start, you gotta finish and then work out how to flatten – interesting but not very portable in the end. Continue reading
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):
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
Continuing my exploration of some of Eric Gjerde’s introductory tessellations, I liked the look of a square-twist based weave:
Sitting on a square grid, off-set squares are added to near diagonals and twist to collapse and lay flat again. The front side then is a jumble of rolling squares but when you flip it over to the waste side a lovely weave pattern has been made as a side effect of the surface twisting. Continue reading
After leafing through Eric Gjerde’s “Origami Tessellations” I knew I had found the motherload of paper punishment:
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
