891: (341/365) Drop Box

Apparently there is a lolly in Holland called “Drop” – it is most likely a salted licorice, must look that up. This box is designed to gift “drop” to friends:

When I first saw the model I was sure it was a bomb … I mean, look at it! Continue reading

890: (340/365) Arches Tessellation

David Huffman is a bit of an origami enigma it seems – he pioneered a bunch of tessellations and surface corrugations and seems to be one of the first to explore curved creases and their bizarre effects on flat sheets:

This is is “Arches” tessellation, an intriguing offset brick valley folded grid that then has parabolic mountain folds at each intersection. The resultant sheet is really hard to tidily collapse (in my experience) – perhaps it was the paper or the scoring technique I used to form the parabolas, or perhaps it was the parabola itself – with no guidelines I just sort of guessed a curve.

You get a sort of waterbomb base forcing one trough deep into the arch of an adjacent fold – when it is tidied up it is fascinating – I could see uses for this as an interesting textural pattern or ambient light panel as it makes funky patterns when backlit. Continue reading

867: (317/365) Not Drowning, Waving?

This time of year is horrible. The plain truth of it is that, for a teacher, we have more marking than a reasonable person can do, and deadlines that seem impenetrable:

I guess it is why teachers in Australia are payed the big bucks, right? Continue reading

861: (311/365) Tessellated Star Box

I saw a photo sequence of a tessellation that was fashioned into a box and knew I had to try it:

Well, I say tessellation, but really this is just one molecule, but it is none the less beautiful. Continue reading

792: (242/365) Fractal Folding

Speaking of fractals, as I was (well, kinda sorta) I realised I had never tried the Fujimoto Hydrangea fold before:

This is an interesting thing, with each iteration folded inside the previous – in theory you can keep folding this infinitely. In reality the tryanny of paper thickness and fat clumsy fingers stops you. Continue reading

791: (241/365) Flower Tessellation

Browsing a MiniNeo eZine that I follow, I noticed a rather interesting looking hexagonal flower and thought it worth a try:

You triangle grid a hexagon into 16ths, then put a hex twist in the middle, then add the swing-back on petals and tidy up the tessellation to make a swirl. Continue reading

789: (239/365) Trojan Helmet

While scanning Deviantart for an entirely different reason (replying to comments on some of my works there) it’s algorithm decided I needed to see some of Cahoona’s folds and this delightful helmet was among them:

Although it does not appear that way, this CP is deceptively simple.

An offset waterbomb base and a colour change for the plume and you are nearly there. Continue reading

777: (227/365) Icosahedral Prism

So I was messing with a low-grade triangle grid and what to do with it (I often fold grids to keep my eye in) and came across a rather neat geodesic hemisphere that used a section of it:

So I cut 2 the same size and proceeded to collapse – one fits inside the other and makes a rather lovely icosahedral prism box. Continue reading

753: (203/365) Origami Lampshade

I am clearly in the wrong business, if making money is the aim. Being slightly (well, I think it is healthy) obsessed with paper, when a new dealer arrives on the scene I take notice. A colleague asked if I knew of “The Paper Empire” – a new QLD outlet in Newfarm:

I had not heard about them, but visited and found some papers of interest. They are the second outlet in a franchise that has been in Melbourne for a while, and their online shop has some interesting paper products imported from Norway. Continue reading

728: (178/365) Bumpy Octahedron

So you take a 2×1 rectangle, fold it into 4×2 squares, then halve the squares:

Then bring one pair of adjacent corners for each square, sink the dimply corner to lock, then repeat. Continue reading

723: (173/365) Feathered Tsuru

Few would argue that the Tsuru (crane) is the quintessential origami figure. Everybody starts there, the form is so familiar and the skills necessary to fold it form the backbone of so many models:

While I have tried many variations of this model, few compare to Riccardo Foschi’s “feathered Tsuru”, a glorious and complex variation with such beautiful wings. Continue reading

722: (172/365) Baby Dragon

Reporting is a beast of a thing, particularly semester reporting where we seem to joust with nit-picking grammar on parts of a report that parents do not read. Slaying the beast is particularly satisfying:

This is Riccardo Foschi’s Baby Lizard Dragon … thing. I found the CP and a photo of the finished model and thought ‘how hard could this be?’. Continue reading

704: (154/365) Shuzo Fujimoto’s Stars n Squares Tessellation

Starting with a square-twist tessellation, you add to the intensity by folding it some more:

Alternating spin squares with stars, you get this nightmare of paper torture. Continue reading

703: (153/365) Square Twist Tessellation

Assignment time can sometimes be boring for a teacher, especially when kids are beavering away independently:

This is a tessellation I have not tried before. Based on a square grid, diagonal squares rotate 45 degrees to lie flat again, causing pleat ripples that are cancelled out by adjacent twists – clever. Continue reading

682: (132/365) Sy Chen’s Hangman

Struggling to make it through Friday, I stumbled across Sy Chen’s Hangman:

This paper puzzle allows you to gradually reveal parts of a hangman, suitable for a table top game. Continue reading