949: Tomoko Fuse’s Truncated Hexahedron

I love a good modular, and this little charmer uses a module not completely unlike “the little turtle” combined to form a rather lovely cube-like thing:

Tomoko Fuse's Truncated Hexahedron

I decided to use wood-grain paper, and the result looks like the work of a woodie with way more time on their hands than is healthy.

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943: Dragon Heart Tessellation

Researching tessellations, I stumbled across a paper, written by Helena Verrill (Queens University, Kingston, Canada) that generally introduced the concept and looked at a number of common tiling patterns, but the first CP is one I had not seen before:

dragon heart

I did a small tester and loved (fluked) the collapse, and decided to scale up to a full A3 sheet, starting with a square grid. Then nested adjacent squares are layed in on diagonals to provide odd inverse hinges.

I am quite happy with this, and if more ambitious, I would fold it much smaller on a larger sheet – it would make amazing dragon skin.

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935: Snapology Icosahedron

I have seen amazing geometric models based on Heinz Strobl’s strip-based modular technique called “Snapology”, and thought it about time I gave it a try:

Starting simple, I divided A4 sheets lengthwise into eighths, then gridded squares on those strips. I used grey for the core, 6×1 strips were cut for each triangular core. I used red for the connectors – 4×1 strips were cut for these.

The locking mechanism is simple, and in situations where the modules are tightly packed it just sort of holds itself together, but I can see how, with small extensions to the connectors you could easily and securely lock adjacent modules more securely. Continue reading

928: In Memoriam – Francis Ow

The international origami community recently learned of the death of Frances Ow:

Francis was an active and beloved member of the Singapore Origami group, and sadly I never had the privilege of meeting him in the real world. But, via the magic that is the Internet I have been personally encouraged and supported by him over both of my recent 365 challenges. You can try this Tsuru Wreath for yourself – one of many designs he shared freely. Continue reading

923: Concrete Mixer (aka. A Mixosaur)

At the risk of a family intervention, I present to you my first fold of Yoo Tae Yong’s “truck mixer” from the origami book “Origami Pro 3 – Machinery Origami” from a group of members of the Korean Origami Association:

From a square, via a very useful base, we arrive at what eventually looks mechanical but up until you begin squaring things up could also be an animal. This furthers my theory that heavy machinery is the living embodiment of once-thought extinct dinosaurs. More work to be done here. Continue reading