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Showing posts from January, 2022

Inspiration Through Interpolation

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 A few months ago I came across a design by Alessandro Beber that intrigued me. It was part of his series about mosque designs.  I was able to successfully extrapolate the crease pattern, but it was one of those sorts with fiddly little folds that I tend to avoid.  Another few months later, I began an attempt to execute it. As I was in the thick of folding it, I saw a different idea within it and created this instead.  It begins with this idea, but I left out some elements and turned it into a curved 3-D fold.  This is actually my first curved fold. I'm pretty pleased with the result.  I used a 32 pleat triangle grid on kraft paper. I do have a crease pattern sketch for his original design. His design is a flat fold. There are tiny rectangles that flatten at the intersections. That's where I veered off course and decided to go in another direction. . 

Collapsed Small Hexagons Origami Tessellation

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 It occurred to me that I could collapse small hexagons in the same way that small triangles are usually collapsed on a standard triangle grid. So I went with it.  It's a little bit small and fiddly, but nothing too crazy impossible.  I used 28 lb printer paper. It could've been  a cleaner fold, but it's not too sloppy.  I thought about going with larger hexagons for the sake of neatness, but I'm a glutton for the harder stuff. So I went with the tiny ones.  There are some variations that could be done with this. I've seen some around already done by others.  Just one more wrinkle in an infinite array. 

Stacked Stars Origami Tessellation

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I was fiddling around with offset small hex twists and I stumbled into this idea. The twists graduate into star points. They fold in a dense way that almost looks stacked.  I managed to repeat them pretty tightly. It's a little fussy to get everything to work together that closely, but it's definitely doable in a clean finished design.  It's essential to work both sides of the paper to wind up with a neat finished product.  I used 24 lb. neon colored printer paper. It responded well to my manipulations.  The design is small offset hexagon twists. They layer with the points that come off of them. Hex twists on the reverse side flatten the star points and connect them to the others.  It's common to use very fussy reverse rabbit ear folds to create points in origami tessellations. But you can use hexagonal twists on the reverse side to achieve the same result.  I haven't seen this particular design before. So perhaps, just maybe, it's a new idea.  Even if not,

Lightning Bolts Origami Tessellation

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 I saw a post on instagram by Robin Scholz, but it was actually a design by Alessandro Beber.  It looked great and also not too crazy to figure out. So I went for it and quite enjoyed the process as well as the final result.  Essentially it's offset hexagons and triangle twists, however, the hexagons are an offset between a first pleat and a double pleat offset.  It backlights really beautifully. Personally, I especially like the reverse side over the front side. That's just me.  I have a crease pattern sketch, but it's not too puzzling to discern on your own.  It's down below for those that want it.  I used 28 lb. printer paper, but I think a lesser weight would've worked fine as well. If you're into origami tessellations, it's definitely one worth folding.  Even if you're a beginner, I think it's something within reach. 

Percussion Origami Tessellation

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  This is an idea I had for a odd shape I haven't really seen done.  It's not a twist tessellation. It's a collapse style tess.  Not too complicated. Not too simple.  It's a 32 pleat triangle grid. I used 24 lb bond paper.  Repeating the design resulted in standard hexagons in addition to the odd shapes.  It was a relatively simple fold.  Some of the folds are a little fidgety, but all in all, it's pretty tame.  Many of the folds are unnervingly misaligned/strayed from the grid, but they still make sense when you get down into it.  When I came up with the concept I was hoping for something a little more dramatic, but overall, I'm pleased with the end result.  How to fold it is probably pretty obvious. No secrets lurking in these backlit images.  Still I do have a crude crease patter just to be thorough.  

Star of David Flagstone Tessellation by Robin Scholz

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  Folded a Robin Scholz flagstone tessellation he named 'Star of David'. I was surprised to find a pattern of his I had not already executed.  I used standard 20 lb copy paper. It worked out surprisingly well. It's dead of winter here. So the paper does as I command without complaint.  It's a wonderful pattern.  What I love most about flagstone tessellations is that they're so logical.  Most, if not all, origami tessellations are logical, but flagstones are moreso somehow.  Everything works together in a neat little package.  If you're interested in folding flagstone tessellations the most helpful advice I can give is to work both sides of the paper.  The reverse side of a flagstone tessellation is almost more important than the front.