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Showing posts from December, 2023

Origami Tessellations: Convection Ovens

This is a flagstone style tessellation using triangles and rectangles.  The center is six triangle twists around a small hex twist on the other side.  The small rectangles connect to the tops of the triangles. It's from there everything repeats.  The negative spaces are blunt corner triangles on the other side.  I may or may not have done this before. It feels familiar, but I couldn't find an older version.  When you've been folding tessellations for as long as often as I have been, you start to lose track.  It's possible I saw someone else's rendition long ago and it laid dormant in the back of my brain until now.  I don't know for sure.  The best way to fold this one is to do the center first. Then twist the outer hexagons on the back. That will make it easier to get the rest of the repeats to fall into place.  I think that I have a crease pattern. Will add it here later if I can find it. But all the shapes are pretty obvious from the view of the front.  It fi

The Wings of Icarus Origami Tessellation

Nested shapes are a favorite of mine. This tessellation makes grand use of them.  I've explored similar patterns before. In this case, it's alternating trapezoids and triangles around an open back hexagon.  In order to tessellate the pattern, I found that a quadruple set of triangles did the trick.  The other side also has some rhombuses.  There are a lot of multi-corner intersections with which to contend. But patience is the key.   See the pic of the reverse view below for further clarification. A crease pattern diagram is also included at the end.

Origami Tessellations: Winter Wonderland

This tessellation is a hybrid of flagstone and tuck/collapse techniques. I've been finding a lot of new designs using this combination of folds.  The central component is a rhombus star twist around a small hex twist on the reverse side. There are triangle collapses tucked into the ends of the rhombuses. This kind of makes them look like snowflakes.  It's at the point that I begin to tessellate everything.  What's particularly nice about this tessellation is that the ends land rather fortuitously on my 32 pleat grid. So I was able to create pretty tidy borders.  It looks harder to fold than it actually is.  I would say it's an intermediate level tessellation to fold.  The reverse side is seven hex twists and a whole lotta triangle twists.  For further assistance see my crease pattern diagram below. 

Hungry Rhombuses 3.0

 When I was folding this tessellation it did feel familiar, but I couldn't really remember why. So I pressed onward thinking it just reminded me of others, but was different.  Turns out, I've done this one not once, but twice before.  Each time, I created it from scratch in my head not remembering that I had  already done it. I guess that just means that my brain really likes this pattern a lot.  First time was in 2020 and I called it Hungry Rhombuses. I couldn't really get nice photos of it with the phone I had back then.  Second time was in 2021 and I called it Cannibal Rhombuses. I used kraft paper that time and it does not back light well at all.  This time around it came out pretty close to perfect. The pics are very nice. The execution is pretty spot on.  To fold it yourself just do rhombuses around an open back hexagon and repeat.  Be forewarned. Those triple intersections where three rhombus points converge are a tricky fold and there are a lot of them. 

Solved Tessellation: Apline by GatheringFolds

Folded this one just cause I liked it. I am always impressed with the great patterns that she conceives. They're mostly not overly complicated, yet they are always innovative and inspired.  There wasn't a whole lot of solving going on on my end. The shapes are clearly defined. It was just a matter of ensuring everything landed in the right places.  Repeating rhombus twists combined with trapezoid twists.  A great idea. I don't know if I ever would've thought to combine those two twists if I hadn't seen her do it.  She's the twist expert. I'm more of a collapser when it comes to creating.  Anyway, a fun fold for anyone interested.  Fits nicely on a 32 pleat grid. Works with ordinary paper.  My sketch is at the end. 

Origami Tessellation: Acrobats on the Trapeze

 This tessellation pattern is similar, yet also different to some others I've done. The central module repeats in six directions from the original starting point. A variant of that same pattern fills in the spaces that exist between them.  It's a lot of shapes, but one of your less intense tessellations to actually fold. Everything just tucks into each other.  The main pattern, which inspired the idea, is alternating rhombuses and trapezoids nestled into each other.  The tertiary arrangement is also trapezoids and rhombuses, they just land in a more twisting circular pattern.  The reverse side is all open back hexagons.  It's helpful to work the back side almost as much as you work the front during the folding process. Although, that's probably true for most origami tessellations.  A crease pattern diagram is included at the end for those that want it.