modular

1064: Fergus Currie’s “Frustum”

| wonko

An invitation went out on Fakebook to join a “fold along” session with Fergus Currie and, although it was after 11pm local time I thought why not:

Fergus Currie's "Frustum"

Fergus taught the module then construction of a 4-part modular Frustum (a truncated pyramid) – an ingenius and “frustrating” model in that the lock between modules is accomplished using a “latch crimp” tab inside the bent gusset pocket, making the actual construction a little fiddly.

I found I needed to ease the 3rd and 4th modules in place using long-nosed tweezers, when it sits right it locks tight but requires a bit of a controlled jiggle to get it to be seated just right. The final module is a bit of a challenge to insert without dislocating the two either side of it.

Patience and tweezers finally won over and the top half finally was locked tight and tidy, then a simple weave on the bottom flaps complete a lovely truncated pyramid. Material thickness is an issue here – the tab-pocket system assumes material of negligible thickness. If you use heavier paper you need to fractionally adjust either the pocket depth or the tab length – fortunately there are a couple of fold junctures that make this easier.

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1063: Just Dandy

| wonko

Anyone who owns a lawn realises it is a constant battle to keep it mowed, tidy, healthy and weed free. In a tropical climate like ours, doubly so:

dandelion

So we have a dandelion problem – hundreds of the little buggers pop their flowers up after I mow and I am loathed to resort to spraying them, chemical solutions are my last resort. I googled the problem and found a no-bend weeding prong that seems custom built to pluck the little suckers root and all.

weeding prong

We ordered 2 (a his and hers set) on the off chance we both would want to do this, the arrived in pieces and after a simple set of instructions they were assembled, ready to go. In our first session on the lawn we easily filled a large bucket with extracted dandelions and realised this was a solution, albeit manual and long term.

dandelion scale

In the latest Tanteidan magazine, by pure synchronicity, there were diagrams for a modular dandelion designed by Toshikazu Kawasaki. I set about folding the pieces and, after a fairly simple set of instructions, the dandelion was assembled and ready to go.

1062: Omicron

| wonko

Having recently purchased a bumper pack of 6″ duo paper, I was itching to fold something with it. Given we are in a new wave of Covid-19 (Omicron), I thought a virus-like kusudama was in order:

Xander Perrott's "Minaret"

This is Xander Perrott’s lovely modular design “Minaret”, a 30-piece ball of wonder.

Each piece is based on a 1: root(3) proportioned rectangles, intricately collapsed into beams with tabs/pockets on each end.

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1060: Second Stellation of a Cuboctrahedron

| wonko

To celebrate the release of his lovely new book of modular polyhedra (must get me one), Fergus Currie offered an early morning (for me at least on the opposite side of the planet) workshop on how to fold his second stellation of a cuboctahedron:

The second stellation of a cuboctahedron

I set an alarm, awoke at 1am and folded along with Fergus.

I like this modular a LOT – each vertex is a single piece of paper – it works well with paper that has only one side printed or printer paper. The design is ingenius, the angles odd and exacting but you get into a groove and they make sense in the end.

The second stellation of a cuboctahedron VIEWS

I went into production line, and using the template to establish the initial odd division, I found that using a fine ball stylus and ruler it was easier to lay in the intermediate creases with the accuracy to make the vertices crisp and accurate.

Once I had 24 units, I then interlocked them in groups of 3 using the narrow tabs and pockets – these interlock really tightly and I could not imagine trying to do these later. I then joined the triples as they tile on longer tab-pocket sets that slide together with a little encouragement. Eventually the units combine to become this wonderful spikey ball with unique geometry.

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1051: Rhombic Triacontahedron

| wonko

Origami designer Fergus Curry shared with me the diagrams for his Rhombic Triacontahedon, I was determined to give it a try:

Rhombic Triacontahedron

30 squares in 5 colours, some clever unit folding later and I had the bits needed to construct this little gem. A positive tab-pocket mechanism, some strategic placement of colours and pretty soon you have a lovely sphere made of rhombi. [edit]: A friend (JZag) pointed out this is a D30 (DnD reference there) – nice and nerdy.

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