793: (243/365) Jun Maekawa’s Tetra tetra

Looking for today’s fold, I returned to a collection of bookmarked models from my growing collection of Tanteidan magazines:

Made of 4 tetrahedral modules, each with deep tabs along a pair of adjacent sides, you then fold a pair of interlocking preliminary bases as the core. 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

781: (231/365) Naomiki Sato’s First Pentagonal Rose

I am seriously attempting to perfect the “rose” form in Origami. In my mind, there is no better master of this flower than Naomiki Sato:

I bought his book (and DVD) entitled “Rose” and am determined to work though the various forms presented therein.

This is called his “first pentagonal rose” and I can see ancestor forms in the one that are also in the one I fold freehand currently. This is essentially a bud, but has a unique spiral centre and a nicely controlled twirl terminating in some lovely little petals. the base is also fully closed. Continue reading

761: (211/365) Spirit House

When I went to Japan in the early Noughties, I loved so much of the culture I encountered in the everyday. On my return I decided our house deserved a “Spirit House”. The principle is simple, it guards our front door, traps the bad spirits from entering and amplifies the good:

Since it’s install, it has worked a charm and today I brought it into this century by adding a solar-charged light inside the stone lantern section, that glows softly at night. To commemorate the renovation I was looking for a fold of a spirit house and happened across one designed by Ichiro Kinoshita. Continue reading