There's a variation on classic flagstones that doesn't use triangle twists on the rear. Instead, it's a tucking in of the space around the foreground shapes. I've folded several examples of this technique in models originally designed by others. It's a pretty difficult way to fold, but it does open up a new array of design possibilities  This design uses that technique to closely nestle rhombuses in rings around open back hex twists. The hexagons and the rhombuses are the only two shapes. No triangle twists are required on the backside.  Super hard to fold on average weight paper that isn't very large. I wasn't really confident I would actually be able to complete the model, but in the end it did finally come to fruition.  When folding in this style you'll benefit a lot from a blunt, yet pointy tool of some sort to tuck the paper under itself. I use a metal nail file. 

I was going through my boxes of origami. I had four shoe boxes worth. Most were already photographed and documented here, but I found a few early ones that had not been.  One of the earliest tessellations I ever attempted and succeeded at was the high density clover. It's a variation on Fujimoto's clover design that creates a multitude of layered squares using only a single sheet of uncut paper.. Depending on your patience the density can increase ad infinitum.  I learned how to fold it using a video tutorial at happyfolding.com. That site and its author, Sara Adams, really taught me alot. Great site.  If you follow the steps and keep at it you're rewarded with a really impressive final model. Once you understand the structure, it opens up other possibilities for creative variations. . 

I just sorta stumbled upon this tessellation pattern. It's typical of me. It's much too closely packed and difficult to fold properly.  It actually started out really promising and then I brought my paper home from work and it suddenly went to mush. I'd barely even started the folding process. All I'd done was the center module.  I put the paper in the freezer overnight to see if that would dry up some of the moisture and firm it up. It did help a little. Just enough to squeak by on getting the pattern folded.  This is a tessellation that would probably best be done  in the dead of winter at 0% humidity. It would also benefit from a very resilient paper.  But in the end, you work with what you have and you press onward with your ideas. Creation is a powerful driving force.  I'd like it to be neater, but I'll take it for now.  I have a crease pattern sketch for those who might want it. 

I was trying to come up with a new square grid tessellation. I thought that I had. Turns out that I just accidentally made a single level high density hydrangea tessellation.  It's been a while since I've worked with that genre of tess, so I thought it was slightly different. Turns out, not.  I've folded less dense versions to do a repeating hydrangea tess in the past.  I don't think I've posted that here on this blog. But I do have it in a box somewhere. This time I went a little crazier and did the pattern denser still. But I stopped at the initial level stage. I really don't think that my paper would have permitted much more manipulation. It was a pretty frustration free tessellation to execute. Came together a lot quicker than I thought it would. Very nice end result. 

I had the idea for this one pretty easily, but for some reason, tessellating it properly gave me a lot of grief. I just kept doing it wrong. I messed up the first attempt and also the second as well. On the third try it finally clicked.  It's been crazy lately, for everyone. I'm no exception.  It's comforting to keep doing some of the things that you've always done.  I keep wondering when, if ever, life will return to normal. And what that new normal will ultimately turn out to be.  It feels like we need to reconsider our priorities in the face of all this adversity. We keep trying to stop the changes. But the changes aren't stopping. We keep trying to beat the virus, but it's still winning.   The intentions are good, but it's time to consider a different approach.  Humans, Americans especially, like to think that we're at the top of Earth's hierarchy. We prefer to win at any cost. Perhaps, that's no longer an option. 

I fiddled with this one a lot. I had the single shape quickly and how to repeat it was pretty obvious. However, execution wa a bit tricky.  I've been having family issues that make really enjoying origami difficult.  At the same time, it's a refuge of sorts. A way to shut off my thoughts and just concentrate on a singular, benign idea.  The pattern kinda feels familiar and different at the same time.  I don't think I've folded this exact tessellation before now. I've certainly done similar ones.So many tessellations are just reimagining similar structures.   Whether or not someone else has folded/designed it, I don't know. Although, I seem to have cornered the market on very densely crowded tesses.  Reverse side view follows.

This is just a random idea that I had for a square grid tessellation. It's building off of several common shapes and techniques.  There are some octagons, some squares and some two way arrows. This kind of tess has a lot of flexibility though. You can fold the overlaps in any number of different variations.  Corners/points are also easy to switch between. You can have them stick out or you can tuck them in. How you choose to arrange these variables determines your finished pattern.  I find square grid patterns, for the most part, much easier to fold, than triangle grid based designs. The results though, are no less impressive. .  Reverse side is below. 

This tessellation reminds me of Lydia Diard's style. She may have folded something similar or the same. It also has shades of Robin Scholz as well. It may be an accidental rehash of someone else's work or it could be new. It's just a pattern that came to me quite quickly.  It's building upon other tesses I've done using the same basic techniques, but it's a different pattern. My first attempt to tessellate it, I misinterpreted the negative space. But that error led me to the correct solution and my second attempt was successful.  You can fold the wings of the modules in one direction for more of a floral design. But I went with a trine type pattern that to me looks a lot like butterflies.  Rear view and crease pattern pics are below. 

I once folded a tessellation called Ryan's Tess by Christiane Bettens. I first saw a picture of it at the back of Eric Gjerde's awe inspiring origami tessellations book. I didn't figure it out on my own.  I googled it and there was a tutorial. I was much too much of a novice back then to decode it on my own.  It was so different from other tesses that I'd done up to that point in the past.  I can't find that tutorial anymore, but I still remember the basic techniques. I use them sometimes to recreate the works of others and to come up with my own designs.  Now that way of folding is one of my favorite methods, even though it can be quite difficult and fussy. This is a minor variation on that tess. It uses rhombuses instead of triangles.  The inner corners of my rhombuses are a little bent. The folds are so small and delicate. Bigger and/or sturdier paper would be required to really get those points to pop. But I am still pleased with the end result.  The cr...

It's been a while since I've posted a new bit of origami. I've had origami writers's block being away from work this long. That's where I come up with my best ideas. At last, I have a new structure.  A central triangle has teardrop shapes off of it.  I added additional iterations of the central fold where the geometry permitted.  Filling in the empty spaces between with shapes that aligned. I tried to keep it all symmetrical. 

After some struggles, I've come up with a new design. New to me anyway. It's typical of my style - close together and circular. I've learned that I create and fold origami tessellations much more relaxingly and skillfully at work than I do at home. Better lighting. Better desk/seating. Less distractions. Since the corona virus I've been furloughed from work for several weeks. So I've been doing some origami at home. I can't just stop. You may as well ask me to stop my heart from beating. So I sit at my kitchen table and grumble and complain as I work the paper that normally bends so easily to my will. Eventually, the paper relents. I almost exclusively use a 32 pleat grid because I use somewhat small paper. I also have very small fingers. Even small paper is no mean feat to fold. So I try to come up with patterns that can repeat nicely within those constraints. This pattern was easy enough to conceive and tessellate. It was not, however, easy to ...

I'm not entirely sure if the method employed in this origami tessellation is considered a form of flagstoning. Although it's folded somewhat differently, it has a similar feel and end result. I've folded this odd triangular shape before in recreating other people's tesses. I just wanted to keep it simple and see if I could get a really clean, tight pattern. So it's just the little triangles and the bigger odd ones repeating. The odd shape triangles are made by alternating between two grid pleats, one offset until it becomes a closed shape. Pyramids on the rear create the negative shape triangles on the front. .  In this particular technique the little triangles are not twists. Picture the triangle inside of a hexagon. Then you invert the edges that make it a hexagon, leaving a triangle on top. The same is done to the edges of the other shape which are offset from the grid.

The beginning of this idea came to me quite easily. How to make it tessellate I struggled with for a bit. But when I get an idea in my sights, there's very little that's going to stop me from bringing it to fruition. It's inspired by the tessellations of others that use the same technique.Ben Parker and Arseniy K come to mind. It was a fussy fold. But it taxed the folder much more than the paper. I took a pic of the crease pattern for those that want it.

Here's a new tessellation. It feels similar, yet different to others I've encountered. It's a square grid tessellation using a 32 division grid. While my first major tessellation was Eric Gjerde's spread hexes , Fujimoto's clover tessellation was probably the very next one I went on to tackle. Between the two of them, my love of the art was permanently cemented in my psyche. This is much less complex than either, but still a wonderful exercise in the art of geometric paper folding.

I was fiddling around with triangle and rhombus twists again. Oh, rhombus twists, how you fascinate me. I'm a little lost since work closed. Coronavirus sucks! I do some of my best origami there. But the muse beckons just the same. I landed on a nice triangle based tessellation that is new to me. Three rhombuses off of a triangle. Repeat. They eventually come full circle to create open back hexagon twists on the other side. Quite accidentally, the backlit pic of this tessellation reminds me of the coronavirus. It was not intentional. At least, not on a conscious level. It didn't look that way as I was working on it. But the camera often shows a different view than the human eye sees. If you look carefully at the center you can see the initial triangle and the triad of rhombuses that emanate from it. The unlit photo below shows a very different view of the same tessellation. It's nothing ground breaking, but it's a pretty nice finished product.