The inspiration for this origami tessellation was alternating rhombuses and triangles around six sided 'pyramid' shapes. As I was plotting out how to repeat it, I wound up with small hexagon twists on the other side.  When I went to fold it, I was thinking it was a pretty easy one. It is, provided you're familiar with how to nest six triangle twists around a small hex on the opposite side.  I hadn't done that particular fold in a long time, but it all came back to me pretty quickly. Even with thin printer paper, I had no problem executing it very nicely.  Had I realized before starting exactly how the design would fold (I had forgotten how this six triangle set looked in diagram form), I might've opted for thicker tant paper instead.  Which wouldn't have given me such a wonderful photo of the final product.  That's the dilemma I often encounter when beginning a new tessellation . Which type of paper should I use. There's no debating that thinner paper...

 At first glance this tessellation might not look very unusual, but it's somewhat different in subtle ways.  It begins pretty typically, with open back hexagons. But the rhombuses that twist off of them kind of go in the opposite direction than what you'd normally see. It's this deviation that creates the lines when I add the additional shape of open back triangle twists.  Personally, I find it to be an interesting variation. It's not hard to do. I'd say it's an intermediate level tessellation .  When you look at the opposite side you can see the hexagsons and triangles quite clearly. You can also see the long parallelograms that form in the remaining spaces.  It's not a very complex design, but it's an interesting one still the same.  My crease pattern is below. Filed under: May 2025 Origami Tessellations

I haven't posted an advanced tessellation in a while. So here is a new one. It's an unusual pattern that also features some very small folds. There are tiny rhombuses and compressed triangles with which to contend. It is an original origami tessellation that I just recently created. The main shape is a six sided polygon of alternating edges. One pleat bisecting the grid, then one pleat following it and so on until you close the loop.  One the other side are open back hexagons and some oblong six sided parallelogram-ish shapes.  When I folded it the small rhombuses weren't actually on the front at first. It was after I had completed it that I realized I could reverse some of the folds to bring them up to the top.  There are some very tight folds and also some very small ones, which is why I believe this to be an advanced tessellation .  Evenso, I actually used thin printer paper because I figured thick paper would never let me make some of the tighter/smaller fold...

 This is a wacky one. A just to see if I can pull it off kind of tessellation . For the most part, I was able to do so successfully. Could be better, but it's a tough one .  It's basically just layers upon layers of elongated hexagonal folds around open back hexagons.  I used thin paper because I figured I would never be able to layer everything using anything thicker.  When I first plotted it out using a small grid of only 16 pleats it seemed so easy and worked beautifully. However, as with many tessellations , adding more repetitions made it exponentially more difficult.  The crease pattern looks pretty innocent, but it's anything but.  As I was folding it, I found myself wondering if maybe medium thickness paper might've been a better choice.  Most of the folds are mountain folds with the exception of the open back hexagons and a set of convergence points. In the diagram the blue dots indicate where the paper should be tucked under. When I drew it I...