boxes

785: (235/365) Pentagonal Masu

| wonko

A Masu (or box) was traditionally square and used to measure rice in Japanese kitchens. These days, masu are typically used to sip Sake out of:

Having mastered David Brill’s Square Masu, I thought it time to try the pentagonal one. Apparently the pentagonal masu exists only in Origami circles – this makes sense as the woodworking skill necessary to make this in timber breaks my brain.

Page division into 6ths (to allow overlap/join) then gentle faceting and a magic corner hinge joint results in a lovely 3d shape that feels like it has volume.

I used thickish paper and found some of the internal collapses tough work to make them behave and sit tidily but overall it is a fin fold because you really have to think through how it works before trying the collapse.

783: (233/365) Simple Money Box

| wonko

I quite like the apparent simplicity of this design:

Folded from a square split on the 1/3 line, larger piece making the base, smaller for the lid, this ingenious design neatly makes a moneybox, coin slot and all. Continue reading →

760: (210/365) Akiko Yamanashi’s Scallop Box

| wonko

To celebrate the 201st fold in this challenge, I was looking for a shellfish-based fold – not sure why but there you go:

Leafing through a Tanteidan Convention book, I came across a “Scallop Box” design designed by Akiko Yamanashi. Continue reading →

749: (199/365) Oyster Box

| wonko

David Mitchell is a legendary origami designer, responsible for countless geometric wrangles:

This is an “Oyster Box” – a box that resembles a bivalve, that locks together rather satisfyingly and opens to reveal a spacious interior. Continue reading →

740: (190/365) Rubic’s Cube

| wonko

Long before there were “fidget spinners”, Pokemon and “Pogs” there was a craze that swept me away when it first hit the market. A Hungarian designer called Erno Rubic devised a cube, subdivided up into 3x3x3 cubies that all slid on each other in layers:

I instantly had to have one (well, in truth I had 9, including a triangular, circular and 4x4x4 one that I still have). Continue reading →

734: (184/365) Cube from Thirds

| wonko

Sometimes you need to fold a modular, and sometimes that modular really needs to be a 12 part construction:

This is “Cube from Thrids” designed by Tung Ken Lim, a simple windowed cube that works well with a 3-colour scheme. Continue reading →

729: (179/365) A Whole Lotta Love

| wonko

Searching for daily folds, O came across an interesting 6 part modular cube that has much development potential:

each face features a colour changed heart but I imagine that with a little inventiveness you could fashion diamonds, spades etc, or other things as the basic module solves the problem of liberating colour-changed flaps rather nicely. Continue reading →

702: (152/365) Burning Down The House

| wonko

I have been a fan of Talking Heads pretty well as long as it was possible to be one. “Burning down the house” remains one of the great songs of all time:

This is Martin Wall’s “Matchbox”, an ingenious model folded from a single, much tortured, piece of paper. A lovely little life-size matchbox, folded from a 50x17cm rectangle (3×1), it comprises an outer tray and a movable tray that slides open and closed. Continue reading →

697: (147/365) Flowered Window Cube

| wonko

Tomoko Fuse is a living legend in the Origami Community, her designs are numerous, intricate, ingenious and challenging to fold:

This is a 12 part modular with double-locks, frilly bits and framed holes in each face. Continue reading →

648: (98/365) Floral Vase

| wonko

It is rare that a simple bit of geometry is so lovely but this floral pot combines glorious proportion and an efficient use of the sheet:

A simple(ish) twirl causes the vase shape. I must work out how to fold this without the pre-creasing scars as I think this would look beautiful in large format hand-made paper. Continue reading →

644: (94/365) Picnic at Hanging Rock

| wonko

While in regional Victoria, in the vicinity of the Macedon Ranges, it seemed wrong to leave Hanging Rock off our agenda. Back in the 70’s, there was an important Australian movie made called “Picnic at Hanging Rock”:

A fiction/mystery, it involved the mysterious disappearance of some school girls at the rock, after they had a picnic. We visited, climbed and were not lost, thankfully, but by sheer coincidence we visited on the 50th anniversary of the book, and also by good chance they were filming a mini-serialisation of the same story in the woods we walked through.

Continue reading →

642: (92/365) No Luck Involved

| wonko

This fold was folded on our 34th wedding anniversary, chosen because a long and happy relationship is not reliant on luck:

This dice is clever is a little obscure – rather than traditional dots each face has a partial coverage of colour.

Continue reading →

604: (54/365) Heart-Shaped Box

| wonko

Any self-respecting Nirvana fan is familiar with the song “Heart Shaped Box”:

I was listening to some vintage Nirvana on Spotify and that simple song inspired this simple box. Continue reading →

589: (39/360) Box with Hinged Lid

| wonko

I seem to have an endless fascination with clever origami boxes – this one caught my eye and I knew I needed to try and fold it:

Anna Kastlunger has designed a nifty scalable box with an integrated hinged lid that is delightful and possibly useful for precious things. Continue reading →

557: (7/365) Jun Maekawa’s Borromean Cube

| wonko

Most Tanteidan magazines start with a section that deals with modular folding. I was surprised to find a modular cube designed by Jun Maekawa, along with a bunch of variations.

With cursory research, it appears “borromean” relates to interlocking shapes, and this cube has “ribbons” of colour that weave in among each other in an interesting way. Continue reading →