Author: wonko

1202: Pineapple Tessellation

| wonko

At the beginning of the pandemic, I bought myself a copy of Ilan Garibi’s wonderful book “Origami Tessellations for Everyone”, but looking through recently I realised I had not folded many of the wonderful designs before, so set about remedying that:

This is a SINGLE molecule of the “pineapple” tessellation. After a simple set of diagonal pre-creases are imposed on a square grid, the first level collapse is really satisfying. You then have to perform a transformation (essentially turning part of the previously collapsed part inside to create the final structure.

You can then inside reverse the “scales” and you have a lovely form that resembles the body of a pineapple, kind of. The molecule tiles a number of ways – given it lies on the diagonal, you can either tile them in X or O formation – I chose to do a 4-molecule O form, just to see how difficult it was dealing with the interactions, but it turned out fairly easily.

By spacing the molecules correctly, and arranging them in an X you can create a rather lovely “Dish” that is dimensional, stands freely, has a satisfying volume and most importantly gives you free paper to shape pineapple “tops” to act as legs.

It was a fun fold, particularly if you accurately place the pre-creases, and get them in the right orientation (mountain/valley) before you attempt the first collapse. It is a terrific addition to the “what can I do with a square grid” pile.

I must explore more, Ilan’s work is well described, challenging but fun to fold.

1201: Corrugated Tubiform Trefoil Knot

| wonko

The internet (in this case Instagram) sometimes delivers to you by pure chance (or deliberate algorithm) inspiration that is timely:

A recent work (a square-tube based mobius strip) by Henk van der Vorst sparked a curiosity that led me to damaging a few A0 sheets of Kraft paper to explore a tubiform corrugation, and then work out something to do with it.

There is something interesting (for me, recently) in corrugations, and Henk’s work uses simple right-angle hinges, first documented by Paul Jackson, to use a large-scale fanfold without the tiresome necessity of reversing sections of the crease, and allowing you to curve that fanfold onto itself in an interesting way.

I discovered I could hinge on proportions of 6 and 3, making rectangular tubes that articulate and bend in very interesting (the kids would call it “satisfying”) ways.

I fashioned a bunch of different sizes to test the proportions and see just how small I could fold it reliably and accurately. On the large test folds I glued the seam – not sure why, but as I got smaller, the seam just seemed to keep itself shut and become invisible – especially when the tube was twisted.

A Trefoil knot is historically interesting – it is like a set of interwoven mobius strips, and originally was associated with the “Holy Trinity” : the Father, the Son, and the holy GOAT, or something similar. Renditions of it exist in historic engravings, statuary, heraldic depictions – even common images like the Girl Guide logo/symbol … thing.

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1200: Road To Nowhere

| wonko

I have this image in my head, of a petty little orange man, walking in circles because he has not realised he in on a flight of M.C. Escher’s stairs:

Oddly … this abstract concept is not that far from what the petty little orange man is actually doing (but, I do not really understand the lure of a golden ballroom), but I digress.

I first saw this model on John McKeever’s Flickr, and think it is a Fujimoto-style set of Escher steps, but the etymology of the model is less clear as it seems to be a variation on a clover-like tessellation, but is deliciously evil in it’s convoluted crease pattern.

I decided I had to try it, but really struggled to understand what the actual floop was going on with the crease pattern – it seemed like the prescribed creases could not co-exist. Naturally I turned to an old trick – I folded a maquette:

After a few days of twiddling with printer paper CP copies until they disintegrated, I finally found a collapse sequence that … somehow … sorted itself out by repeatedly bending back on itself. The real trick was working out which vertices go up and which go down – when you sort that out it is still counter-intuitive … until it isn’t.

I started with a 55cm square of Kraft, using a pencil I divided it into 12th, then trimmed 1 unit off 2 adjacent sides to reduce the grid to 11×11. I then used a stylus to place all the of the pre-creases, ensuring I oriented them mountain/valley as indicated. I was soooo chuffed at how CLEAN the pre-creases were, knowing how important it was to NOT mark some faces that would be solid squares in the final model.

I then had to walk away from it, as pleased as I was with the eventual success on maquettes, committing it to the actual fold is a step that made me oddly nervous.

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Torus

| wonko

When gifted a Larson a Day tear off calendar (thanks Matt), I was faced with a problem – each tear off day is a perfect square and there are 365 of them (for the year), and … I obsessively fold paper so naturally:

This is a 360 unit modular, based on Tom Hull’s Phizz unit – sort of origami lego.

The construction relies on inherent curvature of clusters of units. If you link 6 into a hexagon, the resultant shape is flat. Less than 6 units and the structure curves into a bump (ie. positive curvature), and groups of 7 or more negatively curve (like a saddle).

The basic structure is an inner strip of 6s, either side is a strip of 7s – this then forms the middle of the donut. A strip of 6s, then a strip of 5s to outcurve and then a strip of 6s to close – sounds more complicated than it is, but boy is it fiddly. Docking 3 phizz units together requires interleaving layers over a bend – when there is nothing else in the way it is simple, when there is lots surrounding it then it becomes very difficult, particularly when you cannot reach both sides of the join in the later stages of lacing it up.

The result is lovely, the geometry draws the eye. This used up what will be 1/4 of the total sheets torn off for the year – whether I keep going is up in the air at the moment – long term projects are fun so we shall see.

1199: Get Knotted

| wonko

As a paper folder, when someone tells you to “get knotted” … you have “options” – right?

I was playing around with offcuts – those inevitable slivers of paper you cleave off a sheet as you are squaring them and an idea struck.

I keep all my off-cuts, particularly those off beautiful papers – you never know when you might need some colour/texture. In the past I have added them to my paper pulp to add “thread-like” inclusions, and sandwiched them in-between translucent layers of wenzhou in paper mache sculptures etc.

I wanted to do something more “origami” oriented … so I tied a knot in a thin strip, and remembered that a flat knot resolves into a perfect (all things aligned and taut) pentagonal knot. If you string a few knots along the length then the strip does some pretty sculptural zig-zagging. I found I could decide the direction of the zig/zag by how I tied the knot, and that I could “graft” other strips on by simply knotting them there and hiding the extra end inside the graft knot.

I played around with Kraft paper strips to get my bearings, then added coloured accent strips of Hanji (purple, and green with acrylic ink spatter) and Kozo (red dry brushed with gold), knotted to intertwine like tendrils of an invasive weed. The original composition had a bunch more colours, but as I kept coming back to it, simpler seemed better so I gradually removed down to what you see here now. Initially I photographed it resting atop a sheet of my hand-made Kozo tissue because it looks classier like that. Should i ever decide to show/frame it I would prolly do the same. The geometry and composition is pleasing to me none the less.

It reminds me a little of the bold linework of Joan Miró, or the architectural geometry of Piet Mondrian, the fiddly intricate linework of Wassily Kandinsky, or the delicious geometry of Alexander Calder. We can all aspire to greatness I guess.

Origami “purists” will probably look down their noses at this because it is not folded from a square, contains multiple pieces and used some glue under each knot to anchor it to a sheet of olive Canson Mi-Teintes. That sort of folder snob can go get knotted 😛

1198: Shuriken Trunk

| wonko

I seem drawn to corrugations lately – there is something cathartic about folding such geometry, and this one, designed by Boice Wong is very satisfying to play with:

Although the CP and demo from Boice is based on a 24 gridded square, it is possible to expand the pattern infinitely on the long axis – I decided to try it as a 2:1 rectangle and found it fairly easy to fold accurately. The collapse, although a little more exhaustive, is none the less straightforward.

This corrugation is a self-sealing “tube-like” construction that folds back on itself – I think there is a more positive lock possible, but this works fine. The base structure is a crenellated plus (+) sign, that you then shape the arms using a series of inside reverse folds.

Once collapsed, and flexed a little, it becomes deliciously bendy – you can transform it in a variety of ways, twist it tightly and then it collapses back into a compact stack form – what fun.

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1197: Java Sparrow

| wonko

The Java Sparrow is a type of Finch, and is characterised by some very brightly coloured but well confined patches of colour. It represents a challenge for an origami purist because it typically needs 4 colours, and paper is usually (at most) duo colour:

The approach of this model, like a few in Kyohei Katsuta’s repertoire, is to use multiple (in this case 2) sheets of paper folded in together to give you access to the double colour pallet.

You know that feeling you have seen something before – I get it in origami a lot. I was sure I had seen a “Java Sparrow” before, and was sure it was in a Robert Harbin book from my youth, turns out the one I actually remembered was in an equally old book I had as a kid (and still own) “Origami” by Toyoaki Kawai which I remember clearly used a colour change “cheat” that involved colouring in parts of the square strategically with colours that would be presentation areas in the final fold. This “technique” is currently called “Kimiroing” because a modern designer (Kimiro) uses little laminated (or sometimes painted) colour patches to achieve tightly controlled colour change in some of his models sometimes.

I searched my stash for suitable paper and settled on blue/black thick Shadow Thai, and orange/white Yukogami, cut 25cm squares of each and then set about nursing the thick papers through a lovely but precise sequence.

Although uniaxial (bi-symmetrical along a long axis), the shaping ensures the model does not spread open like so many in that ilk. The legs are really fine – a little too thin to support the model weight, but I will probably mount it on a wire armature to fix that. The sequence lets you use quite thick paper while still managing the layer build-up well. Even though I struggled to get a square of Yukogami that was actually square because of the rough texture, the results of the mixed paper types give the model the illusion of a fluffy tummy, scaly feet and smooth flight feathers.

I really love the result, and think it a good display model for my next cabinet exhibition.

1196: Basset Hound

| wonko

Mum loved Basset hounds, we had a Purebred “Rebecca”, who we had paired with another purebread, and kept one of the resulting pups also (“Cleo”).

Bassets are very intelligent, loyal and lovely pets, but I remember Rebecca had a wicked sense of humour – she used to specialise in sneaking up behind you and unleashing a single deeeeep bark from hell, just because the human reaction amused her. Rebecca was a tri-colour (black, tan, white), whereas Cleo was a bi-colour (tan and white).

Their body shape is distinct, and this origami design captures the actual dog morphology really well (prolly the best I have seen, and I have looked long and hard for suitable basset models to fold). Their stocky body, large shoulders, ridiculous amount of extra loose skin, pendulous ears and face that is south of where it needs to be make them quite adorable.

Mum misses “the girls”, so I folded her a pair – this one, designed by David Illescas, along with Lee Jae Gu’s. I used the same size paper and they really look good together – a nice memento for her to remember her favourite pets.

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1195: Third Wave

| wonko

I have been enjoying exploring curved folds recently and an idea came to me:

I designed 3 complimentary “wavy” line patterns using Affinity Designer. They were designed on A4 and A5 templates. I printed them out and used them as score templates for pieces of 180gsm watercolour paper.

Hand-scoring curves is fraught with non-smoothness moments, but the watercolour paper was forgiving enough that, when laying in the creases, I was able to round out the little lumpy bits.

This is a Triptych – the 3 panels relate to each other, and could be smaller sections of a larger rippling mill pond.

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1194: 3 Gyroelongated Square Dipyramids

| wonko

Just trying to get my head and mouth around the name of this geometric modular provided the imperative to fold it:

Designed by Daniel Kwan, it is based around Francis Ow’s 60 degree unit, folded on a 4:1 rectangle that then has 30 degree crimps placed at thirds down the length of the paper, on opposite ends. The resulting units seem to spiral.

Units are joined in groups of 4, making a single solid descriptively called a “Gyroelongated square dipyramid” – “gyroelongated” meaning it is an extruded and twisted solid, “Dipyramid” because there is a regular square-based pyramid at each end of the solid.

Daniel illustrated they could be interwoven – 3 can be symmetrically interwined to make a visually startling whole.

The hardest part of this model was working out the symmetry of the intertwining. Merely seeing a finished one was not enough, you need to discover the scheme that, symmetrically, distributes spokes of each sold over and under, taking into account the twist, yet still meet at a pyramidal end WITHOUT overly distorting the units.

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1193: Ammonite

| wonko

There are many legendary folders out there and, thanks to the Interwebs, it is possible to connect with many of them via socials (and rare cases in the real world – wherever that is):

I am obsessed with the intricate sculptural pleat work of Goran Konjevod (@foldsome), and love playing in the space of densely pleated paper.

This piece, inspired by a piece from Goran, started as a 12:1 rectangle. With regular mountain divisions (1/2, 1/4…) until the creases were just over 1cm apart. I then successfully guestimated a tight and completely circular SPIRAL by pleating each mountain on the same angle, creating a lovely rosette.

Next, using a padded surface, on the reverse I scribed an irregular spiral track from centre out to edge.

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1192: Tortle or Turtoise

| wonko

I have a “2 fold” pile that stretches back years. One fold, from the book “VOG 2” finally bubbled to the top:

This is the wonderful Tortoise designed by Nguyen Hung Cuong, a fully 3D model that, although it has a simplified structure, has all the hallmarks of a Testudine (the family of Tortoises – generally slow-moving land-dwelling relations to turtles).

After test-folding the major structure of the model, I dug out a 50cm square of Satogami, from Origami-shop and began folding. The sequence is lovely, and rewards the folder for taking time and contemplating the angles of the many “to about here” folds inherent in the shaping phases.

Someone more talented than me could probably add more details to the head and shell, but i like the suggestion of detail and attention to proportion of this model. I wet-folded sections of it and, because it has such good locks, it is pretty stable by dry-folding alone.

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1191: Non-Euclidean Tttttsuru

| wonko

I have been playing with approximations of non-euclidean based geometric representations of “squares” – those shapes that have 90 degree corners. In curved space that geometry gets seriously weird, really quickly.

I operated on some standard Kami to create shapes that had 90 degree corners, but to my surprise, I managed a 2,3,5,6 and 8-sided “square”, depending on the size of the “plug” I grafted into the square.

I could then form “square bases” with these sheets – the preliminary fold is the base for many designs. Interestingly, the number of points a sheet has when put into a preliminary base is governed by the number of sides the sheet has.

Working on the 8-sided square, I then went about folding a traditional crane (Tsuru), and noticed I ended up with a surplus of appendages. With some re-arrangement I was able to return some of the classic vibe to the rear of the crane, but that resulted in 5 heads.

I have seen similar (like up to 3 I think) multi-headed cranes designed from conventional 4-sided squares, but the model efficiency is usually terrible because the point-splitting methods necessarily reduce the size of the final model exponentially.

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1190: The 5-Sided Square

| wonko

We are all very familiar with planar geometry – we see, for instance, a square or rectangle is a plain shape with all 4 corners being right angles (90 degrees). Curved space gets a LOT weirder:

It is possible, for instance, to construct a shape on a curved surface that has 5 (or even 6) corners, each having a right angle. Origami typically deals with sheets that start flat – a non-flat sheet affords fascinating properties.

After a conversation with Goran Konjevod (@foldsome), I wanted to try a technique he pioneered involving radially pleating such a non-Euclidean square.

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Hana Midoh (Sweet Shower House for Celebration Buddha Just Born)

| wonko

Ages ago, using up the white papers from a cheapo pack of coloured 15cm square origami papers, I first had a go at folding an origami “Spirit House”:

Designed by Ichiro Kinoshita, this model emerged from my “to fold” pile and it was meant to be.

I had not long returned from a trip to Japan (in the late nineties), and fell in love with the idea of having a Spirit House at our front door. Apparently it is a tradition to provide a home for good spirits – they then repel bad spirits. We have had our “spirit house” for decades, I love it.

I decided it was time to fold a better version of the rough first go, so turned to my stash of hand-made Kozo and cotton paper I had made from pulp back in October 2024 – it has a “stone-like” appearance so I thought it would be perfect.

I cut 3 18x18cm squares and a 20cm square, then set about folding the parts (it is sort of a modular, 2 parts of which need to be glued together). The paper is fairly thick and fabric-like, but takes folds fairly well. I used some strategic glue spots to keep seams closed, wrestled a little with the thickness but was happy with the results in the end.

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