Five Intersecting Tetrahedra

This is my first all-out origami defeat - the Five-Intersecting Tetrahedra.

The initial set of instructions I found to construct this piece came from the Rick Beech book, "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Origami," and from that, I was easily able to construct the units. However, the assembly was an unmitigated nightmare, and I just couldn't figure it out from the book. I searched desperately on the internet for different sets of instructions, and I did find several - even a couple of YouTube videos - but alas, none seemed to be able to convey how those final two tetrahedra were supposed to be weaved into the three previously interlocked ones. GRRR. The videos were especially frustrating - they would jump around and skip the critical actions that needed to be taken to find the right insertion points.

Sigh.

After working on this for several fruitless days, I put the whole mess on the mantle over the fireplace, where its incompleteness silently mocked me for about a week before I crumpled the whole thing up and threw it in the recycling. Someday, someday I am going to come back to this and WIN - I swear it.

Carmen Sprung Icosahedron

This is the Carmen Sprung Icosahedron. A little Googling suggests that Carmen Sprung is (a) German, and (b) a hugely prolific inventor of origami pieces. (Without being able to read German, that's as much as I could gather.) This icosahedron seems to be particularly popular.

I really enjoyed making this piece, the units (30) were relatively easy to make, and the assembly mechanism was quite clever. It's surprising how solid and resistant to compression the final product is. Instructions for this piece can be found at:

http://www.origamiseiten.de/diagrams/kmodul02.pdf

You can also make an octahedron using 12 of the same units - very flexible. And just a heads up - the instructions are in German too, but it was pretty easy to work around the language barrier given the clear diagrams and universal origami notations.

Black & White Cherry Blossom Kusudama

I enjoyed making my first cherry blossom so much that I made a second one immediately following the first. This time I used my secret stash of quality black origami paper that I hide from the kids. (The white inserts are just regular printer paper.) I love black & white things - the crispness and contrast really appeal to me.

I made a lot of the units for this piece on the plane during a business trip. My work travel companion was amused.

Multi-Colored Cherry Blossom Kusudama

My very first cherry blossom - this is a very popular piece invented by Tomoko Fuse. Just Google Ms. Fuse's name and "cherry blossom" and you'll see what I mean -- everyone who has ever completed one of these has apparently felt compelled to share their success with the world by posting a photo of it on the internet. (I'm no exception.) Plus you'll find lots of sites with video instructions, so if you want to make one, hunt around a bit for the video that seems most understandable to you.

This piece took me several days to do all the folding and assembly, but it was totally worth it. I even spent the extra time to make the little yellow inserts, which are basically glued in after the base shape is completed. It was with this piece that I discovered that you can listen to NPR and still have enough brain cell wattage left over to fold origami units. Streaming audio of "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered" and "Car Talk" made the long hours spent on this piece fly by.

Castle

My son found a book called "Origami in King Arthur's Court" at the public library and promptly became obsessed with building a castle. The book is quite well done - it teaches you how to make basic building blocks (walls, pointy tower tops, etc.) as well as more custom pieces, like drawbridges and portcullises.

My son built this castle all by himself with no help at all from me. Interestingly, my son had no interest in making the figures in the book - damsels, knights, horses, etc. - he proclaimed them "not realistic looking" and ignored them completely. He's more of a structures man, I guess.

One thing that I will suggest to my son if he tries to make anything else from this book in the future - use thicker paper. The castle here was made from very thin, standard origami paper, and as you can see, it tended to deform too much.

Four Interlocking Prisms

Wow. Just looking at this photo brings back, with startling clarity, the enormous waves of frustration and grouchiness I felt when constructing this piece. Not only were the units hard, but assembly was a nightmare of epic proportions. The final product looks spectacular, and I give myself a lot of credit for not giving up, but it was hard. Oh so hard. I also give my family a lot of credit for giving me a wiiiiiide berth while I was putting this one together. "Shhhhh - Mommy's mad at her origami."

If I haven't discouraged you from trying this one, you can find instructions here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8303956@N08/651459642/

XYZmbe

This piece is called XYZmbe by Nick Robinson. The XYZ in the name is self-explanatory, as this is an intersecting planes piece in three dimensions. The mbe, however, is a little more obscure.

Apparently, the invention of this piece coincided with the awarding of a Member of the British Empire to Mr. Sam Evison, who was an officer and member of the British Origami Society. According to the BOS website, Mr. Evison won for "promoting origami in the Manchester region." I like that - giving national honor and recognition to a man who quietly encouraged others to fold paper and make beautiful things. I believe you can gain a lot of insight into a culture based upon what types of individuals that culture chooses to honor. Too bad it seems quite unlikely that any US Presidential Medals of Freedom will be bestowed upon an American origamist any time soon.

This piece is fun and relatively easy. Directions can be found at:

http://www.nickrobinson.info/origami/diagrams/xyzmbe.htm

Red & Pink Pinwheel

Here's a pretty little pinwheel. I don't have any recolllection of where I found the instructions to make this, but if you Google "origami pinwheel" you can keep yourself busy for months making all the hits you find.

I'm not usually one for making sappy, sentimental Valentine-y colored pieces - I must have been feeling somewhat maudlin when I made this. Perhaps I had just re-watched Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge."

Petal Box

I folded this little petal box as a lark between bigger modular projects. I like how using two-sided paper creates a nice contrasting ribbon detail on the sides of the box. The original instructions gave you steps to follow to make the petals into a more twisted structure that closed the top of the box, but I kind of liked just curling the edges down and leaving the box top open.

OK, I'll come clean - for the life of me I couldn't decipher the instructions to make the twisty top, so I finally gave up and just scrolled the edges down. It still looks nice, but in my mind, this simple little box still represents somewhat of a failure to me. Ah well.

If you want to take a crack at it, the instructions are in "Decorative Origami Boxes" by Rick Beech.

Espirals

These are called Espirals and were invented by Tomoko Fuse. I made and photographed two so that you could get a sense of what the finished pieces look like from both straight on and from the side.

There are videos of how to make this piece on YouTube. The one noted below is particularly good - extra points for the great "music to fold by" - Greensleeves played on what at first sounds like a harpsichord, but which is likely a mandolin or other similar instrument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pmr2fdt_ms

Not only is the Espiral really easy to make (just be extra careful to observe the handedness of the folds), but the end result is quite rugged and can be repeatedly thrown against a wall by a manic 5 year old boy with little ill effect. That's rare for a finished modular origami piece.

Modified Waterbomb Base Units

These two pieces are made from the same modified waterbomb base units - one has 12 units and the other has 6. This demonstrates one of the wonderful things about modular origami - i.e., the fact that, quite frequently, the same units can be assembled into many different configurations by varying the number of units used.

The units here are simple to make if you are already familiar with the waterbomb base. To "modify" it to make the final unit, you need to orient the piece with the pointy right-angle corner upward, then figure out how to invert the point, kind of like if you put your finger on top of a mountain peak and pushed it straight downward to form a crater. Making pre-creases to create the "edge" of the crater can help a lot.

I don't have any guidance on where to find instructions for this one, unfortunately. I learned it myself via oral instructions from attendees at the local origami club monthly meeting.

I love living in a city with a local origami club, by the way.

WXYZ Modules

This is called WXYZ Modules by Tung Ken Lam. I love the Escher-like quality of this particular piece. Like all intersecting-plane type pieces, initial assembly of units isn't too difficult; it's the final few units that are killer. Getting the colors in the right place also takes some concentration - good thing I had oily fish for dinner before tackling it. The result, though, is really worthwhile - a lovely, intriguing final product.

Instructions for this piece can be found at: http://www.davidpetty.me.uk/origamiemporium/lam_wxyz.htm

Another Kusudama

I know, I know - it's yet another kusudama. But this one is special because my son spent several days' worth of after-school extended day time making the units. I was proud of him for persevering and making all 30 requisite units -- he carried his sheets of origami paper and finished units back and forth to school with him in a ziploc baggie until he finished. That was a big deal for a kid who has some sort of congenital inability to finish projects that he starts.

Eight-Point Star

This was one of those "quickie" projects I decided to do one evening when I was tired and I really needed something with a pleasing return on a very low investment of effort. This piece is actually made of only two sheets of paper - the yellow unit fits inside and is held in place by the four little right-angle triangles of the orange unit. If the whole thing took me more than 10 minutes, I'd be surprised.

For the life of me, I can't remember where I found instructions for this peice. I'll update this blog entry if I do.

Modular Lizard

This clever articulated lizard was invented by the master Japanese modular origamist, Tomoko Fuse. Using 12 sheets of green paper (all the same size), you create a head, tail, torso, and legs, and all are connected with ingenious locking joints that keep the pieces attached while still allowing them to swivel freely. The final result is both realistic looking and fun to play with.

Instructions for this lizard came out of "The Practical Illustrated Encyclopedia of Origami" by Rick Beech.

My sister said the lizard looked cool except that its disturbing flatness made it look like it had been run over by a car. Hmmm - interesting observation.

Spiky Star

This is the Spiky Star. I love the sharp, crisp points.

This is a VERY easy figure to make, so it's a good one for kids to try. It makes a nice hanging ornament (with a little tape to secure the pieces together) - I'm thinking red & green for a Christmas ornament, red white & blue for a July 4th star, pastels for an Easter wreath, etc. Instructions can be found at:

http://www.origamiwithrachelkatz.com/folding/spiky_star.htm

Rachel Katz's website is worth exploring for other fun and easy folding projects to do with little ones. It is also worth checking out to see a picture of the creator of the website. She looks like a nice person, plus I love her blouse.

Gwiazdka

I found the instructions for making this spiral star on YouTube. It is called Gwiazdka, which is apparently Polish for "star." (If you know Polish and I am wrong, please let me know.)

The inventor of this piece is Grzegorz Bubniak, and the YouTube video instructions were created by Mr. Bubniak himself. The units were pretty easy to make, and the assembly slotting was cool. The main difficulty for me in making the piece was that Mr. Bubniak's voice-over for the video was entirely in Polish, which, let's just say, added an extra dollop of challenge to the endeavour.

If you are interested in trying this piece (and perhaps learning a bit of Polish in the bargain), you can find the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2SsCzf1no0.

XYZ Squares

This one is called XYZ Squares, which is a bit of a head scratcher, because the planes are rectangular. Hmmm.

This piece is relatively quick to make since only 6 units are required. It's super easy to get the first 4 units assembled; getting the last two is frustratingly difficult. Instructions for this piece can be found at:

http://www.davidpetty.me.uk/origamiemporium/ow_xyza.htm

This piece was invented by Francis Ow of Singapore. (He also invented the XYZ Diamonds of the previous post.) Mr. Ow has a lovely website which is definitely worth a visit, especially if you want to see the amazing number of ways you can fold origami hearts.

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~owrigami/

Finally, I must say I love Mr. Ow's motto: "Peace and harmony through origami." Can't beat that.

XYZ Diamonds

This is XYZ Diamonds - another cool intersecting planes piece. Instructions for this can be found at:

http://www.davidpetty.me.uk/origamiemporium/ow_xyzdiamonda.htm

Assembly on this is quite tricky, especially because it is very, very important that you get the colors in the right orientations. Also, getting the last few units in place requires a great deal of patience and finesse. One suggestion for anyone out there who wants to try this one - do not make the center slits completely flush, or worse yet, with a slight overlap. A little gap makes assembly much easier. Of course, the tradeoff is that a gap may not be as aesthetically pleasing to some. And to those people I say - "whatever."

Octahedral Cross

This is the first "intersecting planes"-type modular origami I attempted. I really like the way this type of origami creates the illusion of solid planes intersecting each other - it's quite a neat effect.

This particular piece is called "Octahedral Cross," and instructions to make it can be found at:

http://www.davidpetty.me.uk/origamiemporium/lam_octahedral_cross.htm

As it turned out, this was a great first intersecting planes piece to try as a novice. The units are simple to make, there are only 12 to have to make, and assembly is actually quite easy. I really appreciated the hint on the instructions to use paperclips to aid assembly - that really, really helped.

Do note how there are a handful of paperclips scattered artfully in the lower left-hand corner of the photo.

Rhombicuboctahedron

One day, someone at work remarked in passing that her favorite 3D shape was the rhombicuboctahedron, so I took that as a sign that I should try to make one. That evening, I hunted around on the internet for instructions for a modular origami rhombicuboctahedron, found something ostensibly workable, and off I went. It took 4 frustrating hours to make this - 24 units and a very tough assembly. I ended up taking my half-built piece apart and rebuilding it several times before I got it right. Or sort of right, at least. The colors are supposed to be arranged so that it looks like each band is one continuous piece of paper, but I just couldn't get it to work out right, so I finally gave up and just slapped it together willy-nilly. Not the neatest folding either, and the inside is a mass of tape. Oh well. Better luck next time.

My First Sonobe Piece

This is a stellated octahedron made from 12 Sonobe units. The Sonobe unit is probably the most well known of all modular origami units. It is easy to fold (instructions can be found all over the internet) and you can make an endless array of different shapes using different numbers of units. The unit itself is a parallelogram shape with 45 and 135 degree angles.

In researching the history of the Sonobe unit, I came across a wonderful collection of essays by David Lister of the British Origami Society. Mr. Lister writes about the history and culture of paperfolding and has a very nice article about the Sonobe unit at:

http://www.britishorigami.info/academic/lister/sonobe.php

According to Mr. Lister, there is some unclarity about whether Mitsunobu Sonobe really invented the unit that now bears his name, but, he writes, if he did, "...Sonobe made one of the very greatest contributions to modern origami. It is most unfortunate his achievement should be so poorly documented. I will continue to look out for more information."

Just for the record, Mr. Lister's website notes that he is not the vindaloo-loving character from Red Dwarf, which is, incidentally, in my opinion, only second to Blackadder in the great pantheon of classic British TV comedies.

A Card From My Son

One day my 6-year old son came home with a card for me that he had made in school. When the card was opened, a 3-D flower emerged.

In case it is too hard to read, this is what the card said inside: "I [heart] U Mommy. Here's a pop-up flower for you. Thank you for helping me for doing the origami." My son isn't usually very demonstrative, so this was very special.

Octagonal Star

This octagonal star comes from "Unfolding Mathematics with Unit Origami." It's a nice one to do with kids because the units and assembly are very easy. This star is also fun for kids because the units can slide outward so that the shape becomes an octagonal ring, just like a stop sign with a smaller octagonal hole punched in the middle.

And here's a fun question from the instruction book: "Describe the rotational and reflection symmetries of the octagon star and the octagon ring. Are the symmetries the same or different? Explain."

Butterfly Ball

This is known as the butterfly ball. The units are quite easy to make - they are, in fact, simple waterbomb bases. Twelve waterbomb bases interwoven together make up this ball, and while the units are quick and simple, the construction of the ball is devilishly difficult, especially when using thin paper. Next time - sturdy, thicker paper, I think.

The reason it is called a butterfly ball is that it breaks up into 12 fluttering butterfly shapes when you toss it in the air and swat it gently with your hand. Nice effect, but of course that also means that the ball comes apart quite easily both during construction and even after done. It only lasted a few minutes in our household of two elementary school aged boys before it was utterly annihilated.

Modular Star

This was my first modular star piece. It has 30 units. Looking back on this piece, it just looks sloppy and imprecise - the points aren't crisp, the joints aren't flush, etc. Still, it was a lot of fun to make, and you know what they say - sometimes it's the journey and not the destination that is important.

Very First Kusudama

According to Wikipedia, kusudama means "medicine ball" in Japanese, and the word was originally used to describe balls of flowers or herbs used as incense and tied together with string.

In modern day origami parlance, the term "kusudama" seems to be commonly used to describe any spherical modular origami structure where the units resemble flowers. The variations are endless. This particular kusudama is featured in Rick Beech's "Practical Illustrated Encyclopedia of Origami." The instructions for this kusudama states that, "This [is]...a very complicated model to assemble, and patience will be needed." It was probably a bit ambitious of me to try this so early on in my modular origami life - the units (of which there are 30) are tricky, and assembly is tough. But I am glad I persevered - the results were quite pleasing.

The book's instructions were great, but it would have been really helpful for the book to also note that during assembly, (a) a toothpick is incredibly helpful to guide the tabs into the pockets, and (b) putting the piece in a rounded bowl as you build up the sides of the sphere does wonders in helping you shape the final piece.

Finally, this was the first piece in which I made extensive use of tape on the inside of the piece to help keep units connected as I assembled. Purists will sneer at my use of tape, but for me, it was either that or shoot myself in the head out of frustration.

Two Traditional Classics

While I prefer doing modular origami, there are two traditional origami patterns that I love - the Japanese crane and the lily. Both, I believe, have been around for centuries, and anyone who does origami with any dedication will at some point learn these two figures. I have done them so often myself that I have the steps committed to memory.

For an extra challenge, I made these out of very small sheets of paper. You can see the penny for a size frame of reference.

Fireworks Redux

My son was so excited about the first Fireworks piece we made together that he stayed up late in his room and made another one all on his own. He was only 6 at the time, so that was pretty impressive, I think. Those are the hands that made the piece.

Fireworks

Fresh off the inspiration provided by the modular origami demonstration at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, I scoured the existing origami books we already had for any instructions for modular pieces. It just so happened that we had a copy of Rick Beech's "Practical Illustrated Encyclopedia of Origami" - and towards the end was a short but interesting chapter on modular origami. My son and I chose to try making the "Fireworks" piece first since the units were relatively simple to make and only 12 were required. Here is the result - my son was so intent on finishing this piece before bedtime that he chose completion of the piece in lieu of bedtime story. The extra fun thing about this piece is that it expands and contracts like an accordion, and you can also turn it in on itself endlessly - around and around. Very cool.

Our First Modular Origami Pieces Ever

Back in October 2009, my son and I attended an origami show at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. The show was terrific and featured some beautiful works of art, but as it turned out, the best part of the show for us was an ad hoc demonstration of modular origami by a local high school math teacher. The teacher had brought paper, models and instruction sheets, mainly to be used by his students (who he had encouraged to come out) but he also helped out anyone who happened to express an interest in learning. Aren't teachers great? So, for about an hour, my son and I sat on the floor and made our very first two modular origami pieces. Neither piece was particularly neatly done, and the damp air made fitting tabs into slots very tricky, but we had a SUPER time, and even better, we were hooked.

Hello World - This is The Origami Hen

About half a year ago, I took up origami as an activity to do with one of my sons, and while his interest has waxed and waned since then, I've started to enjoy it more and more. In particular, I've really started to get into modular origami (also known as "unit" origami), which is basically making origami pieces from multiple sheets of interlocking folded paper. I started as a complete novice, and today, I'd still say I am not better than a good beginner. But it's really fun, I plan to keep it up, and hopefully I will keep improving as time goes on. And as part of the process, I wanted an easy way to document my progress. Hence this blog.

So basically this blog is for me, but if anyone else out there reads it and enjoys it too, that's just gravy.

So here goes. The Origami Hen - end of Post #1.