This origami tessellation is an exercise in how interesting I can make a simple idea. . I think it turned out pretty neat.  It appears as though right triangles are spinning off of the hexagons, but actually, it's natural equilateral triangles. It's the way that the rhombuses are oriented that creates the illusion.  Esta teselación de origami es un ejercicio sobre hasta qué punto puedo hacer interesante una idea sencilla. Creo que el resultado ha quedado muy bien. Da la impresión de que de los hexágonos surgen triángulos rectángulos, pero, en realidad, se trata de triángulos equiláteros. Es la orientación de los rombos la que crea esa ilusión. This is an intermediate tessellation . It can be folded quite nicely with plain printer paper.  Another neat thing about this particular tessellation is that because of the nature of the folds on the front, the reverse side features  smaller, hexagonal and faux right triangle twists.  Check out the crease pattern ...

 Here's a nice little twist tessellation that I recently designed. The interesting thing about this particular tessellation is that it features an unusual way of folding small hexagonal twists.  Instead of just an ordinary hex twist, it combines regular axes and bisected axes to make the pattern work. You'll see better what I mean in the crease pattern and the video.  It's this technique that makes it possible to have the odd arrangement of layered triangles that twist around the open hexagons.  Sometimes when you have weird ideas, you have to come up with creative ways to make the pattern work. So, that's how I created those unusual hex twists that you'll encounter in the crease pattern and the fold demonstration.  Check out the crease pattern as well as the video to see how it all works even though it probably shouldn't.  Filed under: October 2026  Origami Tessellations

 This is one from back in August that got overlooked for a while. It's a pretty simple concept that creates a rather tangled design.  The center is an offset hexagon with six triangles twisting around it. Three on the front and three on the back. A classic module.  Then I added some rhombus twists off of the corners of the triangles.  This is a mirror symmetry twist tessellation . The reverse side is a mirror image of the front.  I don't have a crease pattern for this one. However, this pic shows how to fold the six triangles. Alternate up/down. Then add the rhombuses to the outer points.

 I haven't done one of these in a really long time. This is a reverse engineer of a tessellation by gatheringfolds (Madonna Yoder). She calls the design: Incendiary.  While I don't generally fold other people's tessellations anymore, every once in a long while, I'll get the urge to do so just for the challenge of puzzling out someone else's thought process.  The center was obvious to me right away.  It took me a little while to notice that the other key piece of the mystery was the three triangles around the open back hex. Once I realized that, it was just a matter of filling in the rest of the gaps with the remaining shapes.  First time I went to fold it, I used regular printer paper. That was a misjudgement on my part. This tessellation requires sturdy paper. Once I switched to tant paper, I had no trouble folding it.  My diagram for how I sussed it out is below. 

This particular original tessellation is a little strange. When you first look at it, it doesn't really appear to have repeating elements. However, if you look horizontally, then you can see several different sets of repetitions. There are the triangle triads across the center. There are the double triangles. There are also repeating groups of hexagons and open triangles.  The same is true of the reverse side.  There are some trapezoid sets.Various rhombus sets.  So, while it might look random, it is anything but.  This is an intermediate level tessellation . It's not too tricky. It's also all tuck or collapse folds. No twists. No flagstone connections. It's a good way to practice those fiddly little triangle collapses.  Sorry, no crease pattern at the moment. I only drew the pattern on the paper that I used to fold it. Will probably unfold it at some point and upload one. 

 It's time for something a little less intense. Sometimes those turn out to be some of my favorite finished designs.  For me, I love the puzzle of aspect of complex origami tessellations . How, you come up with an idea, but then you still have to solve exactly how to make it work geometrically.  Even so, it's a nice detour to occasionally do something simpler. It also saves money on fancy paper. LOL. Since you can do the easier ones with ordinary paper.  This is 20 lb. yellow printer paper. It always backlights so well.  This tessellation is simpler, but it's not simple. I'd say it's probably an intermediate level fold .  I designed it as the second picture. But as often happens with tessellations similar to this, I wound up liking the other side more.  My crease pattern is somewhat worse for wear, but it still illustrates all the components of the structure.  And now... a video tutorial is also available! Subscribe @ YouTube

 Continuing my theme of things tucked into triangles, I have this intermediate tessellation . It came together very quickly. No puzzling or agonizing required.  It begins with rhombus stars. Then the aforementioned triangle. Three rhombuses are tucked into the triangle. Each of those rhombuses is a part of a separate star.  Filling in the gaps was no trouble at all. A couple more rhombuses did the trick.  Thinking about the structure prior to folding it, I wasn't sure whether it would be hard or easy. I thought probably somewhere in the middle. Turns out that it was not much trouble at all.  The actual hard part is sometimes the folding the tessellation . But more often tit's coming up with the idea. And the task of bringing the idea to completion.  Even when you have a good starting concept, it's not always simple to figure out how to make it work. In this case, it actually was pretty easy. But a lot of the time, it's a puzzle that takes some solving....

  This is an intermediate level tessellation that I recently folded. The idea is two kinds of triangles twisting around an open hexagon. Not too unusual. It's a little different though because the top corners of the triangles meet and they twist into one another. This is illustrated very clearly in the crease pattern at the end of this post.  In order to repeat the pattern, I used small hex twists and some triangle twists (which are not requited, but I liked them). They could just be left as regular corners.  I used ordinary printer paper because there are a lot of folds which overlap each other. Normally, when you do a hex twist you, just spin each axis in the same direction and they don't interfere with one another. In some cases, like in this tessellation , it's necessary to twist the axes in opposite directions. When that happens, they overlap. When trying to fold overlapping twists, I find it much easier to use thinner paper.  All in all, this paper type worked...

 I've  had the pattern for this tessellation for quite some time. It just kind of got lost in the chaos for a while. Finally folded it the other day.  When you look at the crease pattern (located below), it looks pretty complicated, but actually it's pretty straightforward. There are a lot of shapes, but creating the connections between them is fairly simple.  Another interesting thing about this particular origami tessellation is that it kind of looks like there isn't a tessellation pattern, even though there is. It takes a few steps outward, but right near the edges the central molecule does show up again.  The front side is mostly trapezoids with some triangles. The back side is exclusively open hexagons. This is an intermediate level tessellation . It'll take up a little bit of time, but it won't drive you crazy in the process.  Diagram to fold this one follows. 

This is an origami tessellation idea that I had a while back. Because it seemed so simple, I didn't rush to fold it. It languished for a while waiting for me to become interested.  On a day when I didn't have that much time, I decided to try it.  It's a very simple concept of large hexagons with natural triangles. I add small hexagons at the points of the triangles in order to repeat the pattern.  Some open triangle twists finish off the remaining space.  The diagram included below doesn't really fully illustrate the further finishing touches that I added to it.  Once I had the whole tessellation flattened I did small triangle twists with the corners of the large hexagons. This created kind of pseudo open back hexagons in their place. This led me to then fold their edges inwards, creating the final design.  It's hard to tell from my 32 pleat rendition, but the design is fully repeatable.  Even though it's a very simple concept, it wasn't easy at all ...

 This is a tessellation from back in mid May. It's kind of a weird one. It starts with a collapsed hexagon and then there are teardrop shapes tucked into it. In order to repeat the pattern, I simply added some long 'arms'. The edges of the 'arms' are half hexagons. The remaining spaces were filled in with six sided 'pyramids'. It's a fairly simple tessellation , but actually folding it is a little tricky. Only because there are a lot of small, fiddly shapes to work. I'm sure I had a diagram at one point, but where it is now is anyone's guess. I did, however, unfold it to crease a new one.

 This is a twist based tessellation that I created a few weeks ago. I was just looking for an unusual pattern that could work without too much fuss. I had the idea to rotate 3 trapezoids around an open hexagon and then tuck two triangles into each one. It was easy enough to repeat. Just angle the trapezoids off of each other. But that only gave me three repeated sides, not six. I don't remember how I decided I needed to add open triangles, but those filled in some of the other areas.  No idea what became of my original crease pattern. I seem to loose track of them quite often. But I will create a new one and add it soon.  I actually find the back side more interesting. That's just my opinion.  This is an intermediate tessellation . It would be easy, but I think how the small triangles connect to the open hexagons on the reverse side make it a little bit tricky.  Crease pattern and video added. 

link to full size image opens in google photos.  This original origami tessellation is fully twist based, but gives the appearance of something more complicated.  It actually uses a fairly simple idea of six sets of double parallel triangle twists around a collapsed hexagon. The back view shows how the collapsed hexagons work/look. I couldn't just straight up repeat the center because the twists would go in conflicting directions. I didn't have space to add buffer shapes and still have full repeats. So, I did mirror images as a compact work around.  I recommend clicking the first photo to open the full sized image in order to see all the unique subtleties of this particular design.  Crease pattern included. Now I also have a video demo on YouTube. Filed under: May 2026 Origami Tessellations

 This is an intermediate origami tessellation that I did last week. It's a simple design that creates an interesting pattern. Not every tessellation has to be intricate or complicated in order to be visually pleasing. In fact, sometimes the less complex models yield some very intriguing results.  This one is just an idea I wanted to do that centered around a very specific starting point. Three rhombuses tucked into a small triangle. I also wanted to be able to repeat that molecule as much as possible.  I wound up using a series of open hexagons and large triangles There are also some trapezoids, but far less of them.  It's a straight up tuck tessellation . No twists. No flagstone style collapse folds. Every shapes just tucks neatly into the others.  What I find particularly appealing about this kind of origami tessellation is that it's very easy to conceptualize. It's a great starting point for creating your own designs. Everything fits together quite neatly. ...

Here's a new flagstone tessellation using trapezoids in yet another way. They truly are the most versatile of all the standard shapes in origami tessellations.  I used to think it was triangles that were most versatile, but having explored so extensively with trapezoids, I am convinced that are even more so.  Just when I think that I can't find possibly something else new to do with them, they surprise me again. The central pattern was my inspiration. A hexagon flanked by two rhombuses on each side and trapezoids at top and bottom. From there, it was just a matter of working out how to repeat it.  I'm sure it can be done using many methods, but I landed on a couple that I liked. This is one of them.  My grid isn't really large enough to show the repetitions, but the pattern is fully repeatable. For the back side, lots and lots of triangles are required.  In order to fold this tessellation , you'll need a little bit of patience and a good quality paper. C...

This is a pretty simple original origami tessellation that uses the natural twist of an open back hexagon to create multiples series of spinning miniature house shapes.  The  unique array of disparate shapes combine to form what reminds me of small dancing microscopic hemoglobin cells. The hue of the paper, no doubt, contributes to the sensory illusion.  This intermediate level origami tessellation can be folded fairly easily, provided you possess just an intermediate level of skill and a small amount of patience.  Who knows what scientific phenomena the finished patterns will make you think of. It mostly depends on what color paper you choose.  The back side of the original tessellation is a crowded configuration of overlapping large natural hexagons which serve as spacers for the repetitions.  Crease pattern follows.  Top right corner has a different tessellation which can be ignored for these purposes.  Update: I'm adding a video I made of m...

 I don't really remember this intermediate tessellation from a few weeks ago. Had to unfold it to determine the structure. Looking at the finished photo doesn't really reveal any clues as to its origin.  But the truth is, that it's actually quite simple. Not that easy to fold, but the architecture is not that complex.  Basically, it's open back hexagons with rhombus twists tucked into them. I connected the repetitions by mirroring. In other words, I took the way that the rhombuses in the center connected to each other in the center and created opposite facing angles my chosen distance away. The actual molecules are not mirrored. They flow the same as the center.  Doing this creates an obstacle. The joining folds want to flow in opposite directions. This happens with rhombus twists because they naturally twist in opposite directions when connected to each other using certain methods.  To overcome this, I folded some shapes 'backwards'. This let me fold everythin...

 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