Starting with 2 squares of paper, some simple creasing, an odd thing happens – a solid shape emerges:
This squarish donut is odd, it slides together with nearly no folding and creates an interesting geometry. Continue reading
modular
597: (47/360) Jun Maekawa’s “Gemini”
Puddling around in an old Tanteidan magazine, I noticed that the first few pages are usually devoted to smaller folding projects – often modular in nature:
This 2-part modular is fascinating and initially I found it baffling as the diagrams were not really clear (the illustrator was trying to represent stages that were 3d in 2d line drawings) and the instructions are all in Japanese. Continue reading
585: (35/365) Many Hands Make Light Work
As a teacher and pastoral care “tutor”, I am always looking for ways to get kids working together. At the beginning of the year the tutor group room is a mixed-year level (6-12) mixture of strangers and established friends so “GTK” exercises (Getting To Know you) are great icebreakers if you can get them actually talking and working together:
A few years back I struck on an idea to get kids collaboratively folding an origami mega-structure. The model is fairly simple – I taught the newbies (in this case the year 6 and 7 students) a simple modular unit. They then had to go teach another kid in the group, who in turn taught another. The central metaphor is “the WHOLE is greater than the sum of the parts”, “many hands make light work”, “we are as strong as the weakest link” … and so on.
583: (33/365) Hearty Cube
This delightful 6-part modular cube is designed by Meenakshi Mukerji:
The modules cleverly isolate a colour-changed heart at the centre of a “U” shaped module that forms one side of the cube. Continue reading
580: (30/365) Jun Maekawa’s Six-Roofed Regular Dodecahedron
Trolling around in my collection of Tanteidan magazines, as one does, I came across a little 6-piece modular designed by Jun Maekawa:
Oddly named until you notice that each of the modules is a little “house” shape, complete with pitched roof. Continue reading
579: (29/365) Half and Three Quarter Cube
Leafing through “Folding Australia” I came across an odd modular that results in half and three quarters of a cube:
Simple folding, deft locking mechanism and a little geometric brain bending. Continue reading
564: (14/365) Francesco Guarnieri’s Stella Garland
I was casually puddling around in origami blogs, as you do, and came across the one page diagram of this little charmer and decided to give it a whirl:
8 pages, sort of a spectrum, combine in a whirl not unlike the leaf garland popular in Roman times however the locking mechanism leaves a small hole in the middle rendering it unwearable.
I could imagine folding these in red/green/gold/silver, pimped out with baubles and glitter (in a craft project from hell) that would make a lovely seasonal wreath – something to consider I guess. Continue reading
557: (7/365) Jun Maekawa’s Borromean Cube
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
551: (1/365) Mummy Star
When my sister in law went to Nepal, she found some rather charming Lokta paper, hand-made with block printed gold floral designs. She carefully transported it back with her for me to wrangle. I had a modular in mind and the orange Lokta seemed the obvious choice:
This is Miyuki Kawamura’s Mummy Star, a startlingly complicated modular in 30 pieces. The technique of folding splayed fans, then folding them back on themselves gives the appearance of “wrapping” or bandages I suppose (think Mummy Movie). Continue reading
530: Crown of Thorns
I am always on the lookout for something to keep my hands busy in the boring bits of the day. At the moment, many of my classes are doing assignment work, when they do not need assistance, rather than sit idle I fold:
This “Star Twirl Torus”, designed by Yuri Shumakov, was a bit of a mistake – I must learn to read the fine print (you know, the bit that says “now repeat this 196 times”) – facepalm.
A simple module, 6 of which interlock to form an overlapping hexagonal star that is part of a twirl that keeps going. I sourced 6 different colours, sort of spectrum-themed and began to fold. Continue reading
523: Francis Ow’s Double Cube
I seem fixated on modular origami at the moment (a branch I have not really done very much in). When I saw Francis Ow’s Double Cube, I asked him if I could have a go at folding it:
He generously shared some instructions with me (how amazing is the Internet – it can put you in actual touch with people you consider design legends) and I set about wrestling with the fold. Continue reading
522: House Module – Group Activity
As a teacher, I have a pastoral care group of students from multiple year levels, many initial strangers and new students at the start of the year.
I look for an activity that we can all focus on, conversations and collegiality usually follows.
Francis Ow published diagrams on a “house” module (strangely appropriate) and hints on how to compose large structures using lots of them. Continue reading
494: Wolfram|Alpha Logo
I have a low tolerance of boredom, so slack time between busy times at work required me to keep my fingers busy:
This is an interesting module, made up of useful units – tiles of joined equilateral triangles with solid pockets and tabs. Continue reading
493: FuseBall
They say “many hands make light work” and they (whoever “they” are) are quite correct:
My pastoral care group (the Mighty Magee F) and I folded Tomoko Fuse’s Icosahedron Kasudama, as part of a “getting to know you” exercise to start off the year, with the theme “the sum of the parts is greater than the individual”. Continue reading
488: Burr Puzzle
In the hiatus between receiving parts of the Ryujin to fold, I am always on the look out for something interesting to fold.
I first saw Froy’s Burr Puzzle on the Hong Kong Origami Society’s forum and decided to give it a try. Continue reading