Every once in a while I'll come up with an unusual configuration of rhombus twists that I use to create a new tessellation . Unlike traditional twist based rhombus tessellations, these designs will feature awkward patterns and unorthodox overlaps.  I just enjoy trying to come up with functional patterns that seem like they shouldn't work.  This tessellation is a new one in that style.  It features overlapping rhombus twists around a large hexagon. Some triangle twists help make the pattern repeat.  The back view is mostly unremarkable. Although, there are some interesting micro right triangles.  Whenever I create tessellations like this I'm always hoping for a surprise interesting pattern on the other side. Sometime I get one and sometime not so much. Still, a good  fold regardless.  My crease pattern is a little messy, but it mostly gets the point across. Filed under: April 2026 Origami Tessellations

 This is a recent collapse style, somewhat difficult tessellation that I created. It starts off twist based. Three triangles twisting around another triangle on the other side.  Then I tuck some trapezoids into those three triangles. From there I'm able to add two different molecules that repeat.  One is an open back hexagon. Three edges have the trapezoids and the other three have triangles. Those triangles can then repeat the central point.  The other is twisting three trapezoids around a triangle on the other side.  There's a healthy dose of tucks and twists to keep most folders excited.  Getting everything situated is tricky. There are a lot of micro triangle twists on the reverse side.  I'm a big fan of these kinds of tessellations . They're intricate, yet easy to understand.  Crease pattern included for those who dare!

  This is a new flagstone tessellation that I did last week. It uses trapezoids and triangles in a linear pattern.  The pattern is particularly interesting because of how the smaller subsections of the shapes each continuously mirror on diagonal paths. A pair of two triangles one way, then mirrored, then again and so on.  Same with the trapezoids. up, down, up, down on a diagonal plane.  Back side is all triangles.  Another interesting feature of this tessellation is that some of the triangles on the back side only worked right in certain gaps. While there were a few choices of the spaces to put then into, if you chose the wrong one, you were left with gaps that didn't quite work.  I can usually tell if a gap will work if it has certain features. Either it nestles right up against the shapes on the other sides. Or there's only a micro rhombus gap on one side. Or there's a small hex gap, but one edge is cut off.  I've tried to illustrate these conc...

 This is one of those tessellations where I pack an absurd amount of triangle twists into a small space and see what the result is. More often than not, you'll get a pretty interesting design on the opposite side.  This tessellation starts its life with an open back hexagon. From there, it's pretty much a chaos of triangle and rhombus twists. Not really chaos, but it kinda looks that way when you see the other side.  My grid wasn't large enough to actually repeat the center, but I think it can be done if you have more pleats to keep going.  I did this one quite some time ago, so I don't really remember how it came to be exactly. Although, I do remember that I was kind of fixated on folding the edges of open back hexagons in on the center.  My crease pattern is below. I think I remember that I made a small mistake when tracing it. I believe there's a missing triangle in the right mid edge section.  I like to fold twist based tessellations using thinner pap...

 I've been meaning to add this particular origami tessellation for at least several weeks now. I just had a lot of trouble getting a good photo of it. It's still not a great pic, but it was the best that I could get.  I had hoped using thinner paper would allow for a nice backlight pic, but it didn't work out that way. So, I just went with a standard photo instead.  It's kind of an unusual pattern for me. There's a large natural triangle at the center with three small triangle twists rotating around it. Then on the other side there are three sets of three triangles twisting around it.  I repeated the center three times and then filled in the other three areas with a different collection of triangle twists.  It's a fully twist based tessellation.  I can't really decide if I like the front of the back better. Although, I do remember that the design the the center of the back was my original inspiration. Interesting how things evolved so much from there....

 This is an odd one. It's kind of like multiple patterns mixed into one. I really don't know why I did it this way other than just experimenting. Thinking about it, I would probably like to take the multiple patterns and do a few different tessellations with them in the future.  For now, this is what I have.   I'm sure that if one had a large enough grid and took the time to work it out that it could easily become a truly tessellating design in and of itself. It's both random and intentional. Kind of interesting in that way.  What I really like about simpler twist based tessellations like this is that you can do them successfully regardless of what paper you use. And the weather doesn't matter much either. They are a great way to teach yourself how the shapes rotate on the angles of the grid. As well as how the various shapes can and cannot interact with each other.  Crease pattern included. 

 This origami tessellation uses the fact that trapezoids can create overhang in order connect to the next set of shapes. That's one of the things that I find so interesting about them. You can arrange them in ways that a lot of other shapes simply can't do.  In this particular tessellation, I did alternating trapezoids and rhombuses around open back hexagons. The gaps between them left space open for me to add opposite facing trapezoids. Which allowed me to repeat that molecule.  The repeating process created the more standard six trapezoids around a hexagon in the other spaces.  It's a nice, fluid design that highlights the versatility of the trapezoid shape in tessellating.  If you're a fan of flagstone tessellations , this is a pretty cool one.  Crease pattern below. Created the pattern last week. Just fold it the other day.  Filed under: April 2026 Origami Tessellations

 This is a twist based origami tessellation using trapezoids and hexagons. I think that I created it two weeks ago and just gto to folding it about a week ago.  The most notable thing about it, is that even though it uses hexagonal twists, it's actually a linear configuration.  This was achieved by connecting the hexagons to each other rather than just repeating the trapezoids all around them.  This happens pretty naturally when you connect the trapezoids vertically and look for a way to repeat the design horizontally.  It's also a mirror symmetry design. Each side is a mirror image of the other.  It's a pretty easy tessellation to fold. Any ordinary paper will work fine.  My diagram is below. 

 This is the tessellation that I reference in the previous post. I had the central idea. That came to me quite easily. It wasn't hard to figure out how to repeat that. However, when I did, I was left with a rather large gap that I didn't know how to fill.  I played around with various sets of shapes and still wasn't sure what would actually work.  When you're stuck, sometimes it's best to just take a step back and work on something else for a while. So, I did.  A week later, I was thinking about it again and came up with a new plan to reconcile those empty spaces. I still knew that it wasn't quite right, but that I was almost there.  At that point, I decided I would go with what I had so far and see if I could figure out the final answer as I folded it.  This isn't an approach that I usually take. It risks wasting fancy paper and a lot of grid folding time. But, occasionally, this is the only way for me to figure trickier things out completely. It doesn...

 I was stuck for a while on how to repeat a somewhat unorthodox pattern. That roadblock gave me the idea for this tessellation . It's a similar, but more fluid design compared to the other.  The basic inspiration was a large pyramidal style array of rhombuses around hexagons.  Depending on how you look at it, you might see that. Or you might see the rhombus stars more prominently.  Tilt your head 20 degrees or so as you look at it and the central concept might stand out more.  I have the sneaking suspicion that this tessellation may have been done previously by Joel Cooper or someone else of that caliber. It just seems like something he might do. I'm not sure though. At the time of creating it, it was new/unknown to me.  Incidentally, I did later figure out the original idea that I had been stuck on. Which I just completed earlier today. It turned out to have some surprising and new techniques for me. I will post that one soon. It's very interesting. ...

 This flagstone tessellation was all about three triangles and an open back hexagon. From that starting point, I added shapes that seemed to make sense in order to create a coherent and repeatable pattern.  I'll be the first to admit that I have a small obsession with flagstone style origami tessellations . There seem to be an endless array of possible patterns and I enjoy finding as many of them as I can.  It's interesting because every once in a while, I'll feel like I'm all out of ideas. Then, I'll take a breather and  out of nowhere I'll find a new configuration.  It's a reminder that inspiration comes on its own schedule. Trying to force it doesn't work. Let it come to you.  The additional details of this design feature small hex twists with six triangles as well as alternating trapezoids.  Crease pattern included. 

 This was a new discovery for me. The fact that trapezoids can be tucked into each other around an open back hexagon. I don't think that I've encountered this particular origami tessellation before. Moving out from the center, I saw that I could do alternating trapezoids and long parallelograms around a small offset hex twist.  From there, I was able to repeat the center again.  It neither an easy nor a hard tessellation . It lands squarely in the middle ground. Although, getting everything tucked posed a few small challenges.  My crease pattern is included below.