CREATIVE CREASINGS

HEART FLOWER 2 -- KUSUDAMA

2010-03-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a cubic kusudama folded from the heart flower variation.

There are some pluses and some minuses. The flower petals are longer and wider. This hides the connecting pieces quite well. On the other hand, this is a difficult model to put together. At first the connections between flowers were folded into pockets on the back/inside of the model. This became more problematic as the model neared completion. The last five folds were folded from and into pockets on the front.

A VARIATION ON THE HEART FLOWER

2010-03-19T06:00:00.001-07:00

Here is a variation on the heart flower. In this model the heart shape is formed on the corners instead of the center sides.

Once again, the differently colored sections provide information about the size of the five paper additions to the basic flower unit. There position on the crease pattern are an approximation of their final place in the flower unit. Once again, the side additions connect the flowers together without glue but this time they are folded slightly differently from those used for the other heart flower. (See the photos in the following posting.)

By the way, many of my creations appear on my Flicker Photostream before they make it into my blog. If you are curious about what is in my origami pipeline you can look there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46625176@N00/
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THE HEART FLOWER KUSUDAMA

2010-03-19T05:16:00.000-07:00

Recently, a reader requested information about one of my origami lanterns which she hoped to fold for her upcoming wedding. Unfortunately the item has not been diagrammed yet and the lid section is not an easy component for a near novice folder to fold or to put together.

I informed the reader that many kusudama models an be easily modified to become lanterns and I referred her to a kusudama of Russian origin which featured heart shapes, a theme which seemed appropriate for a wedding.

Contrary to the conventional rules of origami, that model required that the folder make cuts in the paper. I guess this cross between Kirigami (the art of paper cutting) and Origami (the art of paper folding)could be referred to as Kirorigami.

I found myself wondering if the model could be modified so that it was not necessary to make cuts in the paper. So I experimented.

I came up with the following model. It has a number of features which differentiate if from the Russian original, including the fact that it incorporates several pieces into each flower unit and that these units can be connected without glue.

The CP is included for those who can follow such things. The differently colored squares are the same size as the additional pieces required, and in approximately the same position from which they will be folded into the model. The center piece is not folded and simply sliped into the center of the flower. The corner pieces connect the flowers together. One of the photos shows how this is folded. A folded corner is folded together with a corner of the flower. This is held firmly in position when the sides of the heart shape are folded over at the back.

SPRING BLOSSOM QUILT

2010-03-06T02:24:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite signs of an immanent Spring is the many trees which burst into blossom around this time. First the fruitless pears become a froth of white and then the peach and prunus trees shower us in pink confetti.

This hexagon based quilt is appropriate for the season with its pink flowers backed by salmon colored sepals and buff colored connectors.

Although the crease patterns look complicated this is not a terribly difficult model to fold. Nor is it particularly time consuming, as modulars go. The example was designed and folded in a day.

When I get around to making Step Folds and a set of diagrams it should be within the reach of all but the novice folder.

The quilt follows my usual practice in having a carrier module (with the salmon colored sepals or outer petals), a central flower which is tucked inside the center of the carrier module and connecting units which are folded over the edges of the module and tucked firmly inside.

The model does not require glue and is quite sturdy. It sits flat because of the hexagonal shape of the basic modules.

I am currently working on a pentagonal variation which, of course, does not sit flat and will form itself into another in my series of flower balls.

The hexagons which form the carrier case and the flower are derived from a sheet of American Letter or A4 sized paper. See previous entries for links to instructions on how to make a hexagon from a sheet of copy paper. After folding, the bottom and top flaps are cut off to form the hexagon shape.

The connector units are derived from a similarly folded sheet which has been cut to size according to the pattern shown here. This time the bottom and top flaps are retained.

CITRUS FLOWER KUSUDAMA

2010-03-02T13:21:00.001-08:00

Here is another kusudama which does not require glue to keep it together.

The construction uses a combination of regular pentagons and squares. Take a look at the table of pieces to see what these are.

The pentagons can be folded from a square and cut to size, or they can be drawn up on an graphic image program and printed out directly onto colored copy paper (used here) or onto plain copy paper which is then used as a template. Lay the template over decorative paper and attached with clips, magnets on each side of the paper or repositional glue. Cut out the pieces.

If you use the model as a lamp it is recommended that you use the new generation 7 watt LED globes which replace 60 -100 watt incandescent globes. At this stage of their development they are rather expensive although this will no doubt change as they become popular and production runs increase. Do not use cheaper globes as they are made to a different pattern and fail to give out much light.

THE HOOKED VASE

2010-02-22T20:41:00.000-08:00

Since I have been working with pentagons it was inevitable that I would come up with a serendipitous design.

This model combines some of the features of my Coaster Bowl and its lids, some of the features Pentamontanas Flower and some of the features of one of Francis Ow's bowl. The hooked points are a novel feature that arose by accident and looked sufficiently interesting to preserve.

The model can be varied by folding the points and the top triangles hard against the base or by lifting them away from the walls.

THE PENTAMONTAÑAS FLOWER KUSUDAMA

2010-02-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

True to form, I have been creating other models while struggling to finish large and time-consuming ones.

The kusudama displayed here is a good one for folding between major projects. It is really easy and quick to fold from pre-printed pentagons.

If you want to be more adventurous you can fold a pentagon from a square. Phillip Chapman Bell (known as Oschene on Flicker) has provided instructions for doing this which you will find here:
http://origami.oschene.com/cp/Decagon%20SCP.pdf

My pentagons were created with the Draw program provided on Microsoft Word. I chose a pentagon shape from the shapes menu, clicked somewhere on the page to make it appear without ruining its aspect ratio, chose the "format autoshape" menu, locked the aspect ratio and then changed the size to suit. Mine has a height of five inches. I can fit two of these on a standard letter sized sheet of paper. The result is a ball of about 8 inches in diameter.

I outlined the central star and filled it in. Unfortunately my laser printer only prints in black ink which results is a rather boring dark gray color.

There is a lot of room for improvement in terms of folding material. I made it from cheap and simple stuff to prove that the idea would work. I think I have succeeded there.

Making diagrammed instructions is a lot of work. Making and photographing a series of Step Folds is almost as time-consuming. So today's lazy solution is to describe the relatively easy process in words and hope that all of the excellent origamists who follow this blog will be able to figure it all out.

I wonder who will be the first to do this? My bet is on one of my many Brazilian fans. They are an enthusiastic and dedicated lot. But perhaps my French, Russian or Japanese fans might beat them to it. Now all these people have a language barrier to circumvent so by right of text the English speaking Brits, Aussies or US Americans might get there first. If we go by volume then US Americans have a distinct advantage because there as so many of them. But I am willing to be surprised.

Here is the challenge: be the first to provide a comment to this blog entry which contains a link to a photo of this model which you have folded yourself. One more thing: tell us how long it took you to fold and complete the model. Can you do it in under an hour?

Go to it, my folding friends.

The folding sequence is this:

On the "white" side, fold and unfold all points in half, extending the crease to the opposite side. Turn the paper over.

On the "colored" side, refold as valley folds (and unfold) the part of the creases which extend from the center to the flat edge.

Fold and unfold all points in to the center.

Fold and unfold all points to the indented crease pattern on the opposite side. In other words, not quite to the other side.

That is all of the precreasing completed. Now let's finish the unit.

Turn over the tips of the five points at the ends of the extending crease lines. See the crease pattern for clarification.

Reverse fold (make vally folds into mountain folds) the triangles on the five flat sides. Valley fold the side edges of these triangles to their opposite sides. That is, fold these triangles in half lengthwise.
See the crease pattern for clarification.

Collapse your flower. Reinforce the valley folds around the central star. Note: the inner pentagon creases are non-functional. They are marked as blue dotted lines on the Crease Pattern.

Make 12. Six coordinating colors works well.

Now for the construction.

Glue the tiny triangular points to the same points on the neighboring flower. (I used bulldog clips to help keep the tips together until the glue dried.) Work in units of three to make a twelve sided ball. That is, each "hole" has just three flowers around it. See the photos for clarification.

Happy folding.

THE WORRY BOX

2010-02-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

This box was made as a gift for a friend. It is made from letterhead paper which is 8.5 by 11 inches. The back of the paper is red. The front of the paper is white with a black and white striped border surrounded by a red pin stripe.

I used a standard Tomoko Fuse design but modified the lid in order to make the best use of the pattern. The rim is folded over several times and appears on the outside of the box. Unfortunately I could not line up the stripes at the diagonal fold on the sides.

THE CORNER WINGED BOX

2010-02-07T03:17:00.001-08:00

This series has side wings or wrap arounds as corner shapers.

The first in the series has truncated diamonds on the outside of the box and the tips turned into the box to prevent the wings from flying outwards. If you like the wings popping outwards then make the box without turning the top hem over and into the inside of the box. The side wings are folded from to the left and the edges of the top diamond wraps around it on the left and turns under freely on the right.

A variation has the top turned out as a rim and the internal wings halved and squashed across the edge seams. The covering truncated diamond cannot tuck into the underlying diamond in this version.

The next version turns half the diamond into the box and converts the turned over edge into triangles in the middle of the sides which are turned outwards.

THE BOAT BOX

A variation folds these triangles to look like a sail boat.

DECORATIVE MODULAR RING

2010-02-02T00:09:00.001-08:00

Carrying on from yesterday's paper connection model I created a modular ring. There are two sections, which differ only in the finishing pattern of the center twist. The orange module overlaps the brown module at both ends.

THE WATCHBAND RING

2010-02-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

I have been experimenting with modular paper connection again. This time I aimed to make a long ribbon of connected pieces of paper which could be used as a ring, bangle, belt, napkin holder, or similar.

I have called the model The Watchband because the decorations on the front resemble the links of the standard metal watchband.

The green and blue model was folded from standard 6 inch kami squares which were folded into quarters in both directions and then cropped to produce 4 x 3 rectangles. This provides enough paper to ensure that inside is relatively smooth and can be worn as a ring or bracelet without irritating the wearer.

The original model, shown here in white, is folded from 2 x 1 rectangles. The advantage of this version is that the model is less bulky and folds neatly from thicker paper. The model shown is folded from 4 x 2 inch pieces of copy paper. The disadvantage of this sized paper is that the back side of the model is bumpy and is uncomfortable on the skin if worn as a ring or bracelet. Of course, this problem might go away if it were also folded from thinner paper. Alternatively, the band can be worn inside out, with the link pattern on the inside and the diamonds showing on the front.

Crease Patterns for both the original 4 x 4 and the 4 x 3 (Variation 2) model are shown here. A third option, Variation 1, will produce a model with pointed bumps around the edges.

ROSITA'S STAR

2010-01-30T00:07:00.000-08:00

I have been working on several kusudamas lately. More about them when they are completed. The problem with kusudamas is that they can take a long time to complete, especially when they have 60 or more pieces. So I get bored and fiddle with other foldings. This is one such fiddle.

I am not sure whether this is an original creation or whether someone else has discovered it already. It is not particularly completed, as stars go, although there are a couple of surprise moves towards the end.

The pink star is made from 20 lb copy paper. The two images show the front and the back.

The photos featuring blue paper are a rather messy step fold sequence which may provide the reader with enough information to help them try out the star on their own.

1. Begin by folding a square in half lengthwise and diagonally. Turn the paper over.

2. Halve the angles.

3. Collapse the creases to form diamonds, as shown.

4. Turn to a face with a full diamond. Fold the sides in to the center at the top. Repeat on the four faces showing a full diamond.

5. Unfold and collapse these creases inwards.

6. Turn to a face with a truncated diamond. Fold the bottom tip up to the top edge of the partial diamond. Fold the bottom part in half again. Repeat on each of the four faces.

7. Collapse upwards and inwards.

8. Turn to a face with the flat top. Crease the right side of the bottom section as shown. Repeat on the four faces.

9. Gently push the model flat. Ease the creased sections down.

10. Slowly fold down the remaining four flaps, easing them so that they sit flat and are equidistant between the contiguous folded sections.

Enjoy!

UPDATE:

Svetlana Kovac from Serbia has folded one of these stars. You will find it here on her "lyraorigami" blog. http://lyraorigami.blogspot.com/2010/02/rozitina-zvezda-rositas-star-rosemary.html

I like her choice of paper.

Very nicely done, Svetlana!

THE DECO TOP BOX

2010-01-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

This box is made from two or three squares of paper: one for the decorative lid and one or two for the base.

The base has two versions. The plain version has the hem turned inwards, folding from left to right. The decorative version has the hem folded outwards and tucked under to form triangular projections on the corners.

The two versions can be combined by slipping the plain version under the triangle projections.

The plain base, which is folded inwards, is made from a square which is about a quarter inch smaller than the lid, depending on paper size and thickness. The decorative base, which is folded outwards, is made from a square which is about a half inch smaller than the lid. For the combined version the plain version is made from a square which is the same size as the decorative version. That is, both versions are made from squares about a half inch smaller than the lid. This allows the plain base to slip over the white part and under the corner triangles of the decorative base.

Here are the crease patterns.

There are no folding diagrams at this time.

THE SERENDITY BOX AND LID

2009-12-01T23:56:00.001-08:00

Here is a box which began life as an attempt to follow someone's verbal instructions for making a vase. I never did figure it out but was satisfied with the box which I created along the way. Since I began the experiment several days ago, it has been through several variations and ended up with a couple of lids .

The yellow box is version three. It begins life as a square which is pre-folded into quarters. The outside eighth is divided into thirds by the simple expedient of folding the edge in towards the next crease until it looks to be about half way. It is reasonably accurate, if you are careful to check the corners to see that the edges line up.

Version four is folded from a square which has been pre-creased into thirds. In one of the early blogs on this site you will find the URL for a convenient division helper template. It uses the parallel lines trick.

The nice thing about the thirds version is that corner ends which are tucked in around the box in a clockwise direction are lined up well enough to give the impression that the edging is braided all the way around. It is, in fact, an illusion.

Once the sides have been rolled over and the end strips formed, collapse the model into a preliminary base. This will push up the overlapped ends until they form a long point. These points will be tucked into the adjoining side in a clockwise direction.

The slanted sides of the box are found by lining the base of the V on the pointed corner end strip with the middle crease on the side panel. Line up the V and push the piece flat to form a slanted side. You can minimize the creasing by rolling the stip a little before bending it. The wall crease should begin from the pre-crease line below it. In the thirds version you will not need to fold the base up after forming the wall slants as the edge coincides exactly with this pre-creases. However, a little bit of extra creasing at this point helps the final assembly stage.

Unfold the creased flap and move to the next side.

Once all four sides have been creased go around the model again, tucking in each end strip and creasing the tips in line with the slanting crease from the next side panel. Un-tuck and proceed to the next section.

Once this has been done tuck the ends in all the way around and leave them there. The last strip will have to eased over the bend of the adjoining wall.

Finally flatten the floor, firm up the base of the box and gently push the tucked-in strips up as far as they will go. {They slip down a little during construction.}

The first lid is very easy to fold. It is basically a variant of the windmill base. The top square is a little larger than the top entry of the box. In order to lock the box the corner tips (yes, them again) are folded under the lid and then folded back on themselves. I estimate this distance and you can too. Just make sure that the line is parallel.

Finally, put the lid on top of the box and tuck the tips into the corner pockets around the top of the box.

The second lid is almost identical except for the addition of a halving fold which allow the underside of the paper to be seen.

Emjoy!

THE SUNSET KUSUDAMA 2

2009-10-16T00:03:00.000-07:00

The Sunset kusudama has been modified. I took it apart and added a woven dodecahedron in the center. Then I threaded beads onto fishing twine and pushed the thread through the center of each flower. It looks good, but it was quite fiddly and I am not in a hurry to repeat the procedure on a different model.

Next time I make this model I will reverse the petals so that the seam runs down the middle of each petal and the connecting crease turns up in the center of the flower giving it the impression of stamens.

THE SUNSET KUSADAMA

2009-10-12T00:19:00.000-07:00

Here is another kusudama designed to be put together without glue. I almost achieved that goal. I resorted to a little glue on the last flower and its neighbour as the tension of the model at this stage of construction was a little too much for the joints. I also suspect that my folding had become a little sloppy by then. It was late at night and I had spent the entire day on the model.

First came the idea. Next came several prototype foldings to see if the design worked out in practice. I made a couple of modifications as the result. I tried out several slightly different patterns and finally decided on one which was almost the same as the one I started with. Next I cut up some pretty paper and started the folding process. Twelve five-petaled flowers where every petal is shared by a neighboring flower means that I had to cut and fold 30 pieces of paper.

I settled into a rhythm as I folded piece after piece. Nevertheless, it became tedious after the first dozen of them. I kept working because I wanted to see how it turned out.

Some time after midnight I finished the last two pieces. Unfortunately the last flower fell apart when I tried to slot in the final petals. Tired out and disappointed, I abandoned it and went to bed.

This morning I fiddled with the locks on the final flowers for a few minutues before deciding that the paper had lost its firmness and glue was required if I did not want to refold another five petals. Perhaps my readers will be more patient.

Here is the crease pattern for the model. The angles at the base of each petal are 60 degree (hexagon) angles. There are number of internet sites which provide graphic instructions on how to find this angle.

The hexagon angle works in this pentagonal flower because the flower is not flat. The pattern will work for a hexagonal flower as well which means it is suitable for kusadama patterns which use basketball design. The basketball polyhedron uses a mix of hexagons and pentagons.

CUBIC FRAME

2009-10-04T09:08:00.001-07:00

I have been looking for something in which to store and display my increasing collection of kusadamas, some of which are almost 12 inches (30 cms) in diameter. Clear boxes have one or more of several problems: they are too small, not the right shape, too weak or very expensive.

I decided to make my own.

First I sought out designs for cut out boxes. None of these were entirely appropriate, either.

I began to think of making a rigid frame to which I could attach clear sheets of something. I wondered if the frame itself could be made out of some clear material. I am still wondering about that but do not have a clear answer yet. So far I have not come across anything clear that I would fold well. The closest thing is thin glassine which is not, of course, very strong. Velum cracks. Most plastic will not hold a crease.

I consulted the origami literature on the web but discovered that frames which I might be able to utilize just did not fit the bill. Some of the better ones were difficult to put together, where designed to form balls rather than cubes or had too many visually distracting struts. In other words they were meant to be an art form or their own rather than a vehicle to show off something else.

After weeks of frustration I decided to design my own display cases. I dislike working with huge sheets of material so I decided to make a modular frame which was strong enough to be made in a large size, be stacked up several high and be capable of having a floor inserted into it and acetate sheets glued to the struts or folded into them. I also wanted one which could be made into a cube or a rectangle and have struts where the thickness could be varied from model to model. In other words, I wanted a model which was fairly flexible in the way it could be made up and in the strength of the material which could be used to make it.

After several attempts which did not come out quite right, including one in card weight material, I came up with the model shown here.

The example is made from thin (20lb) copy paper in three colors. In spite of the flimsy paper the model is surprisingly strong. The example has strut reinforcers in the four uprights only and has a thin paper floor which is folded into the struts on two opposite sides.

As my dedicated readers will know, I tend to use copy paper for all my prototype models as it is cheap enough to throw away in bulk as I discard one failure after another.

Successful models are often made up with better paper but sometimes I post the designs here before I get around to that task - especially if the piece is a modular design which takes a long time to prepare, fold and put together. This one is a case in point. In any case, using three different colored papers helps demonstrate the way the model is put together.

I intend to make the functional models in stronger metallic paper reinforced with relatively thick card in all twelve struts. The disadvantage will be that the last tab in each triad will be relatively more difficult to push in. The acetate sheet walls and floor will be glued on as acetate tends to crack if folded. I will experiment with other types of relatively inexpensive clear material of various rigidities. Velum may work. Overhead projection slides may work. I doubt, however, that something as thin as the stuff used for wrapping food will be of any practical use.

Here are the crease patterns for the model.

This time I have included thumbnail copies of the folding instructions. The full sized ones will be available in my book when it is published. You may not be able to read all the written comments but the diagrams and images are big enough to allow you to make the model anyway. Have fun.

LaFayette Class

2009-10-01T13:18:00.001-07:00

Last week I taught a class of enthusiast first-time folders in the SF East Bay district of LaFayette. Sonia, Carol, Steffie, Bruce and a courtly gentleman who insisted that his name was Paul and not "you": all did a sterling job of folding several models over a three and a half hour period on a Saturday afternoon. The session was punctuated only by a marvellous Japanese banquet provided by Sonia and her local Safeways store.

We commenced by folding the name cards outlined in the previous blog, continued to fold a conventional modular double-petaled lotus flower with a pipe cleaner center [http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-fold-an-origami-lotus-flower ] and finally, we folded a collection of the wallets which have been featured on this blog in an earlier post.

The completed models of these people are all the more praiseworthy when it is known that one member of this group was legally blind and one had suffered a stroke which has affected the visuo-spatial cortex of his brain.

There were also a couple of people there who show real promise as origami folders. Not half bad, you two. You know who you are.

The session included a display of some of the work I have been folding lately, including a brown and orange kusudama ball which has not been featured on these pages yet. You can see it on the left of the group photo, in front of my right arm.

NAME and TITLE CARDS

2009-09-29T00:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some simple folds which create stable name cards for table placement and title cards for display models. They are both made from A4 or American letter-sized paper.

In deference to my many Spanish speaking readers I have labeled the examples in Spanish. Hola mis amigos.

My many Brazilian followers will wish to translate these as "O Nome" and "O Titulo" respectively. Olá pessoal!

The dotted crease marks at the top and the bottom of the Crease Pattern for the Name Card are lightly folded marker creases which do not extend into the space reserved for writing (or printing) the name.

They are there so that the side hems can be folded accurately. The model is completed by tucking the side hem at one end into the side hems at the other end. This forms a triangular shape with the floor being the only section showing the marker creases.

This is a very stable model.

The Title Cards are commenced by marking the center on the short side with a short light crease before folding the piece in half in the other direction (lengthwise). Now make a cupboard by folding the short edges into the center. The top and bottom quarters shown on the Crease Pattern will now crease themselves as you crease the topmost sheets (which is why these creases are shown in a lighter color).

Next, mark the diagonals on the sides. I have only shown these on one of the quarter sections. You can fold them on both if you wish, or else copy the sharp folds onto the other side by folding the layers together.

Next we halve the angle made by the side marker creases. Then fold a diagonal from the other direction (as shown) to meet the end of that halving fold. Fold the other side to match (if you have not already done so by folding through all layers.)

You should have triangular points on both ends made by two side flaps. Tuck the shorter one into the longer one on both sides. (See the photo of the back of the card for an example.) The resulting model should now slant at an appropriate angle for reading when placed on a table. Adjust the sides and the angle as you wish by folding the back triangles inwards or outwards.

THE TODD LILLY and THE T BALL

2009-09-04T06:53:00.001-07:00

I have been working on this model for several months now.

There were some design problems to overcome in the early stages. One of them was solved while waiting to see the eye surgeon Dr Todd Severin. His assistant, Tamie, left me in this dimly lighted man's office after dilating my eyes. Bored, I grabbed a sheet of paper from one of his notepads and worked on solving the problem of how to make the carrier case of this flower look like petals. The insight gained from this fiddling resulted in a solution which looked pleasing.

In appreciation for the use of his notepad and his office (among other things) this lilly-like flower has been named after Dr Todd Severin. I have named the ensuing kusudama ball "The T Lilly" after both Tamie who is also know quite simply as "T". Of course, the "T" title can be used to cover both of these T-beginning names.

The Severin practice is one of the most pleasant medical establishments I have ever visited. All the staff are relaxed and fun to be around. It is clear from the beginning that this is a place where miracles of vision happen on a regular basis.

There are artists in the Severin family and this shows in the decor. Sitting in the downstairs waiting room is like sitting in a comfortable lounge room in an artisan's house. I would recommend a visit to the bathroom. It is the nicest bathroom I have ever had need to visit in a doctor's office: art, flowers, dried plants pieces, wallpaper, interesting tables and decorated cupboards. It is a wonder the staff don't charge an entrance fee.

The petals of the Todd Lilly are made from paper of two different tones of the same hue. The photos of the red flower do not show this well. It is easier to see in the original. The tonal difference gives depth to the flower.

The pink and red flowers are the original design. They have flower connectors which do not include "leaves".

The red flower ball was my first kusudama from this series. While I was completing it I used it as a model to teach folding enthusiasts at the July WCOG meeting in Los Angeles. You will find a record of that meeting and my mini "class" on Michael Sander's blog. http://havepaperwilltravel.blogspot.com/

Here is a link to Michael's video of that meeting. As you can see, it was a fun-filled meeting.

Michael is an amazing chap. He now posts from the future. Here is the evidence.

The second version of the Todd Lilly uses connectors with attached leaves. Here are two differently colored versions of this. The white and blue flower with copper, navy and aqua centers and teal connector leaves was made to fit the decor in the Severin Clinic. The blue petals do not contrast well with the teal petals and I am in the process of making a different, and much larger, kusudama using copper colored petals instead.

Here are the Crease Patterns for the model. For the sake of clarity I have omitted drawing the reflected creases in the center of the pattern for the central stamen. They will reproduce themselves if you fold the shown creases after blintzing the paper as shown.

THE TWO PART BOX

2009-08-16T17:13:00.000-07:00

The rectangular box by Clemente Giusto, featured in an article a couple of months ago, has similarities to a square-based box diagrammed in Florence Temko's book Origami Boxes and More (Tuttle, 2004). (The domed box made from daisy flowered paper is the model shown in Tempko's book.) Both boxes have double layered roof sections. In both boxes paper strips are "woven" across the lower roof to form the upper roof.

Similarities in origami are common. Many would-be origami artist has been irritated to discover that the creation they have just proudly designed has merely reinvented an origami wheel.

The problem with both the Giusto box and the Temko box is that the walls are relatively weak compared to the roof sections. This can result in wall collapse during construction.

Yami Yamauchi solves this problem by placing an acrylic block in the center of the pre-creased paper so that he can support the walls around it and squash the roof sections firmly on it. The problem with that solution is that you either have to make all your boxes the same size or you have to cut a new block every time you want to make a box of a different size.

My solution to the Giusto box has already been documented in a previous blog. My solution to Florence's box was to add a simple double thickness box in the center.

I also redesigned the external roof section so that it avoided the central hole and folded down flat. In order to achieve that purpose the ends of the protruding strips are tucked inwards.

The variation, showing the color on the back of the sheet, was achieved by turning a larger section of each corner under. A look at the Crease Patterns and a consideration of the photos showing how the boxes open up should explain the differences.

If you make this box from the crease patterns provided here, start the internal box by dividing the paper into an 8 x 8 grid with two diagonals. Then bring the corner points into the center (blintz). Proceed by folding the model according to the crease pattern shown in the central diamond. During assembly the walls are folded over each other from left to right all the way around. The last wall needs to be lifted so that the corner section can be tucked to continue the pattern of its neighbours.

Although this makes a box with walls that are thicker on the left half than the right half of each side this is disguised by the decorative outer shell.

THE GLASSER QUILTS

2009-08-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more creations which continue the quilt theme as well as the practice of dedication.

These two quilts are dedicated to Keryn and Russell Glasser, a brother and sister team who broadcast thought-provoking material on public radio from Austin, Texas.

What specifically caught my ear was a discussion of American Patriotism as a national religion by Keryn ( http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2381042991154176179)
and a discussion of the disguised religion of Intelligent Design/Creationism by Russell (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1011757755784255698)

The content of these two videos is controversial and will no doubt disturb some of my blog followers. That, of course, is the hallmark of education which stimulates new learning and the development of fresh insights by challenging unexamined assumptions or poorly thought out ideas. If you cannot agree with the point of view presented by these two podcasters the material may help you to defend your position in the light of what may be a new perspective. If you like intellectual challenges then I would recommend these two podcasts.

The pink quilt is dedicated to Keryn Glasser and the orange and brown quilt is dedicated to Russell Glasser in appreciation of the thought provoking ideas which they present.

THE CARUSO CUBE

2009-08-05T15:25:00.001-07:00

A few posts back I dedicated an origami quilt to Paul Bachman, a presenter on Serius XM Pops radio. The other presenter is Vincent Caruso. Just so the two boys don't fight, I have dedicated this kusudama to Vincent.

Since the kusudama flower ball shape is cubic I have dubbed it the Caruso Cube. When I make a kusudama version of the Bachman Quilt I guess it will become the Bachman Ball. Alliteration is such fun, isn't it?

Like a number of things I have been designing lately, the Caruso Cube uses the same connection idea that I have been using for models using a carrier box method. In this case the flower itself is the "carrier". It is a little weaker than the full method but works just fine for light balls, especially when the intersecting angles are relatively sharp.

The leaves are formed by increasing the size of the basic connector piece so that there is enough paper to form leaflets at the ends. These form a pleasing triple leaf arrangement at the intersection points of the flowers.

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The flowers are a variant of the classic twist fold.

The stamens begin life as a variant of the classic frog base.

The blue flower is my first model I made in this series. The stamens in this model are relatively short, something which required that the paper for this piece be cut to a size which was not a natural factor of the other pieces used in the model.

In the next models I decided to make the stamens a little larger in order to keep the paper sizes relative to each other.

The Curuso Cube was made from 6 flower modules: 2 metallic cream, 2 metallic blue and 2 metallic navy. The stamens were made from similar colors with the addition of a paler blue.

The hanging method is different from the one used in traditional models. I used a small metal ring, the kind used in lampshade construction, as a way to attach hanging cords without straining the glueless connection points of the ball. First three threads were tied onto it. The threads were tensioned by tying another piece of thread around the cords about three or four times until it formed a ring. I then pushed this yarn ring down until it pulled the three cords to a point in the center of the metal ring. The completed cord and ring construction was inserted into the model just before the last couple of flowers were connected together.

The resulting model hangs well without undue strain on its connecting creases.

THE QUILT BOX: 2 & 3

2009-08-05T13:21:00.001-07:00

Here are some "upgrades" on the Quilt Box.

THE BLUE BOX ironed out a couple of problems experienced in the original box which was the subject of the last posting. It also confirmed that this method of paper connection could result in a big highly decorative box of considerable stability.

I used a different method of module connection on this one. Although it removes the need for "patches" and "feet" to cover the holes at the intersections the disadvantage is that the corner pieces are somewhat bulky. This is particularly problematic around the top of the box. It does not have a lid because it would not sit well on top of this bulk.

Nevertheless, it is a good sturdy decorative open box.

As you can see in the last photograph of this model, I left the base fairly plain.

THE RED BOX uses the original method of module connection. The "legs" are identical but the "patches" now have their corners turned under. It seems to fit the rest of the pattern better.

The inserts are the same twisted cross design with the exception of the center panel in the front. The reason for this difference is that it permits the top lip to be tucked underneath the top section. This makes for a more secure connection than the method used on the original box.

The other lid flaps are simply tucked in, as before. If all the front and side panels were substituted with the insert used in the central front panel then all these five flaps could be tucked firmly underneath rather than just inserted loosely into the adjoining rim section. This would make it a very secure connection. The small air gap at the top front corners would disappear. The air gaps on the top back corners cannot easily be removed with a flush lid of this nature.

The inside of the box is much neater and less bulky than the blue box shown and discussed above.

NOTE: Having reviewed this posting I realize that the photo of the box parts awaiting 3D assembly is deceptive. It was taken early in the design process. After assembly I removed the cream connector pieces between the half squares which fold over the rim into the box and then redesigned how these sections hold together. Look at the last photo for further clarification.

Overall, I am reasonably happy with this version. It is time to make one from something other than cheap copy paper.

As I think I may have mentioned in previous posts, I use copy paper during the designing process because I destroy and throw out a lot of paper along the way to the final version. It would be wasteful to use expensive paper during this experimental stage.

During the design of this particular model there were a number of pieces of paper which became extremely battered from multiple creasings, re-creasinngs and total redesigning. This is usual.

It took some time to design the inserted module which I eventually used in the center front panel. Some versions worked but did not look "clean" or interesting. Others looked fine but did not work well, or even at all :-) As usual, I came up with some designs which did not fix the particular problem I was trying to solve but which are interesting in their own right and will probably be used in future models.

THE QUILT BOX

2009-08-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

I have been exploring the use of connected carrier modules over the last several weeks. I have progressed from kusdamas through quilts (more later) and onwards. Here is today's experiment: a box made from connected carrier module "quilt squares".

I filled the carrier window pockets with four interleaved triangles. This gives the effect of four diamonds inside each window. I covered the connecting holes at the base with "feet". I added a strengthening and cosmetic insert to the back hinge (the lid). Finally, I added a knob on the top.

Although it looks complicated, most of the elements of this box are easy to fold and to assemble. The most difficult element are the legs, not because they are difficult to fold but because they are tricky to attach to the base.

I used different colors to emphasize the elements although I think the box would work better with fewer colors. A more sophisticated model might use gold paper for the knob and the feet.

The box is a little heavier than most because of the multiple layers of paper. On the other hand it is very sturdy.

I may change the closure technique in the next model to make it more secure. In this model the lid is tucked in between the wall sections and remains closed through friction. I would be more robust if it were folded over something on the walls of the box. I will experiment some more.

In this model there are small air holes around the edges of the lid. Perhaps I could modify the "legs" and add them around the edges of the lid. Finding a way to connect them firmly and still allow the lid to open will pose a challenge.

All the modules are from squares, with the exception of the legs which are made from half squares.

This was a "proof of concept" box along the way to making larger boxes with multiple quilt squares on each side. I have already discovered how to connect flat modules together firmly in large sheets and connect kusudamas together in a variety of angles. The main challenge in cubic 3D box construction was how to strengthen and hide the corner holes. After several failed attempts I finally came up with something that works, is relatively simple and looks decorative. Unfortunately this works on the corners of the base but not on the corners of the lid.

The technique should permit me to make rectangular box shapes as well as cubic ones like this sample. This is useful because rectangular shaped modular boxes are rare in the origami literature.

THE PAUL BACHMAN QUILT

2009-07-24T14:02:00.001-07:00

I made this paper quilt while listening the FM Serious Music program. I have named it after the host who happened to be presenting the program when I finished it: Paul Bachman. Perhaps his colleague, Vincent Caruso will have one named after him next time.

What appropriate names these guys have. Caruso was a famous singer. There were several Bachs. Johann Sebastian Bach had two wives and 22 children. CPE Bach was one of that multitude. PDQ Bach, on the other hand, is advertised by his promoter Peter Shicklee as being the "last and also the least of Bach's sons". In spite of his exceptional pieces for four handed organists and his extraordinary compositions for rarely heard instuments, such as the left-handed sewer flue and the American Police Horn, his works are rarely heard on the FM classical music programs. A pity.

This is not any indication of favoritism on my part: they are both excellent presenters. I have had the pleasure of being entertained by the two of them while I traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles last weekend for my annual "pilgramage" the Origami Teach-in at the Japanese Gardens in the grounds of the Long Beach campus of the University of California.

It was a very long drive since I went the scenic route: along the 101 Interstate and some back roads between it and the I5 as it came into Los Angeles over the mountains. The I5 is a much quicker road but it is rather boring for most of the way. The San Joaquin Vally, being an ancient sea bed, is quite flat. I swapped speed for beauty, and enjoyed a great deal of classical music along the way as an added bonus, thanks to Paul and Vincent. Thanks guys.

There are similarities between this paper quilt and the previous quilt and between them the flower ball kusudamas I have been creating lately. They all have "carrier" units which hold decorative units as well as provide a firm link with the connecting pieces.

The back of the quilt is interesting in its own right.

This kind of paper connection can be used to paint a picture or write a message with "paper pixels". This kind of project takes a lot of pieces and demands quite an investment of time. I have a project of this nature in mind for next November's Pacific Coast Origami Convention (PCOC). With some enlisted help from folding groups in LA, SF and San Jose, I hope to finish it before this event.

As luck will have it, PCOC is in my home city this year. It is close enough to drive there and back each day. I may need sedatives, though. The parking in SF is almost non-existent which is a problem for someone like me who cannot walk great distances. Then there is the peak period traffic density between the city of SF and the city of Danville, in the East Bay. Still, that is probably the better option than trying to take the BART there and back with a suitcase of display items accompanying me.

RED, CREAM & FAWN QUILT

2009-07-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a quilt this last week. Like many of my designs, it grew out of another project. Something about the way I was connecting a kusudama set off an idea which I modified and followed.

While the model could theoretically be continued until it was huge, I stopped at a 4 x 4 quilt. By this time I was getting quite bored with the repetition involved. Now I know why I don't specialize in modulars and huge kusudamas with umpteen tiny parts.

I would rate this as an intermediate level project. The quilt is easy to fold but the flower buttons are a little tricky to slot into place. Not fiendish, just annoying. The model is very firm and will take quite a bit of handling. It will NOT fall apart.

Storing it posed a problem. What I needed for my projects were several large pizza-shaped boxes. Unfortunately you cannot buy nice blank ones anywhere unless you buy about a thousand of them at a time, pay for all the ones you don't want and for the postage as well (which is usually about as much as they charge for the boxes themselves.

I solved the problem by taking myself down to the local pizza palour, explaining the situation and asking, nicely, if I could please have 5 large pizza take out boxes with absolutely no pizzas in them. The woman helpfully found 5 such boxes, charged me a dollar and told me, on my way out, that I was not the only person who had come in looking for take out boxes for storing items. So there is an idea for others to try out.

The model is made up of several different sections. The apparently continuous background is a trick of the eye caused by some careful designing. It is achieved by inserting or connecting several red pieces to the cream and fawn pieces. One of the pieces is simply a small square which is inserted into a host piece. One piece slots inside another which hides the connections underneath. The red "button flower" was invented to hide the gaps left by the intersection pieces between the units.

I have included a "cutting diagram" which shows the number of pieces needed for a module, and their relative sizes. The one shown was made from pieces which were 6", 4.5", 4" and 2.25" (for Americans who cannot cope with decimals this translates as 6", 4-1/2", 4" and 2-1/4" respectively).

The next diagram shows the crease patterns for these pieces. Naturally, the inserted "floor" of the top unit has no creases. I have added it there to remind you that it exists. :-)

The partially completed model gives you some idea how it is constructed.

The last photo shows all the items needed to make two modules. As in my completed sample, I have exchanged the colors of the nested squares on the second module. This picture provides a little more information about how the pieces are assembled.

The large square is folded first. The four side connectors are attached next. A triangle point is inserted into a side which is then folded under. This secures the connector to the square.

The connection is strengthened when the sides of the corner squares are turned under, and again, when the smaller square, with its added red floor, is slotted into these "picture corners". The connectors are shown upside down (revealing the pre-folding pattern) as well as the right way up for insertion into the carrying square. One piece is shown connected. Another is shown ready to insert.

Finally, cover the holes at the intersection points by carefully persuading the reluctant points of the flower button to slide under the edges of the corners of the surrounding squares. Cuss if it helps. I simply use a kitchen skewer and the discarded handle piece of those plastic milk bottles.

You can sometimes find the latter implement in the bottoms of the milk refrigerator in supermarkets. If the store takes its cleaning seriously you may have to ask the store manager or the milk department to save you some. At least some of the bottles arrive at the supermarket outlet with this molded piece still attached to the handle. The store generally pokes them out because the customer cannot otherwise pick up the bottle by the handle.

TWIST BOXES UPGRADED

2009-06-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

I have been refolding my newest boxes with good quality paper.

I discovered a white and silver light weight card paper which folds fairly easily and does not feather or crack along the creases. It is a design from a K and Company product called simply "Foil". It is bound together with heavier scrap book type paper in a collection called "Wedding Paper Pad" by Marcella. The other papers, while gorgeous, are not suitable for folding. Although I searched for this paper on the Web I was not able to find it. Damn!

The cube-shaped twist box folded very nicely in this paper. The triangle on the handle is nicely centered because there is enough friction in the paper to keep it snug.

The paper worked well for the oblique walled box as well.

The next paper I tried was a lightly embossed iridescent paper which has a darker toned reverse side with no sheen. The sheet is slightly floppy and has a plastic feel to it so I was unsure whether it would hold a crease or have sufficient body to hold its shape. It came through on both counts. It helped to score if very firmly. The paper is marketed by the Paper Company in its Iridescent range and comes in American Letter size and 12" x 12". There are several different colors. You can buy it here: http://www.papercompany.com/metallicsEmbossed.htm

THE TALL TWIST BOX

2009-06-27T22:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the second consequence of the Tomoko Twist Tournament.

The twist is obvious this time; it is on the walls, both inside and out.

This model could really do with some good diagrams, step fold photos or a video. Perhaps I will get around to it soon. Perhaps not. There are so many other things to do - like more folding.

There are two crease patterns. The first one is sufficient for many types of paper, the second one adds extra creases which made the side walls cave in slightly instead of bowing outwards. With some types of paper this is a problem.

Once you have made the creases you will probably have some trouble getting the model together. It has to be eased up as it wants to fly open until it has been folded for a few hours and the creases "set".

The key to the whole thing is to work from the Y shaped mountain folds on opposite sides and the diagonals on the other two sides. To begin with, fold the forks of the Y only. This will produce a piece which stands up above the top of the walls. This will become the roof and handle. The stem of the Y is only folded down and across the top of the box after the four side flaps have been folded under around the box and secured. So fold them first. I use hair pins to keep the folded over side tabs from unfolding until I compete the model.

Explaining how to make the "handle" at the top is a little hard to explain in words, but I will try.

It is achieved by sliding the top triangle shaped pieces together with the pointed flaps going under the opposite piece. Then the triangles are folded down on either side. The valley crease at its base is lifted in order to do this and then pushed down again to form the handle.

The result is a lid which is not as firm as it would be if a flap from one side were folded over and into a pocket on the other side. For most purposes it is quite firm enough. The pieces want to fly upwards far more than they want to push out. If you look carefully at the photo you will see that the center of the tucked under triangle on the handle is not quite flush with the flap it is tucked under. I don't think it spoils the look of the handle too much.

I am sure that sounds like esoteric mud! Trying to explain a 3D process in words is very difficult. Be assured that I will diagram this, and a truck-load of other models on this site, just as soon as I can find time between design flights. One day I might finish the origami book I started over a year ago. If I could just stop having folding ideas that I cannot leave alone .......

UPCOMING TRIP TO MEXICO

I am in the process of planning another trip to Mexico in August, September, October. I expect to spend most of my time in various places in Jalisco State, including Guadalajara. I would be happy to visit any folder or folding group within reasonable distance of this area. If you want to issue an invitation please leave a message here and I will reply off site.

And for my Spanish-speaking friends, permítame practicar mi español.

Estoy planeando un viaje a Mexico después de que el año escolar comienza de nuevo. Espero estar en varios lugares en Jalisco, incluida Guadalajara. Yo sería feliz de visitar cualquier grupo papiroflexia o persona en este ámbito. Por favor, deje un mensaje aquí y yo la respuesta fuera de sitio.

ANOTHER TRIANGLE WALL TWIST BOX

2009-06-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

Once started on a mission to create something I frequently end up creating several different things as a consequence of the mental stimulation. Sometimes the connection is clear, sometimes it is subtle and other times there is no apparent connection whatever. Those cases usually arise as a folding accident or because I take time out from the challenge which is occupying me.

The Tomoko Twist Challange produced one creation which has an obvious connection to the challenge which spawned it and one which is more subtle.

We will start with the oblique triangle sided box shown here. It has obvious design similarities to the box of the last posting but the mode of construction is actually quite different.

The twist is on the floor of the box. The walls are held together by tucking the side tabs in between the wall sections. The top is covered by tucking the top tabs under the adjacent flap in a clockwise direction. The petals sandwich the flap between it and the tab underneath.

The crease pattern has some lines in muted tones. These are additional creases which may be added for thin paper or if you want the walls to be extra sturdy. They are generally not needed.

The Tomoko Twist Transformation Trials: 2

2009-06-27T20:23:00.001-07:00

Here is a third lid for the American Letter sized Triangle Sided Twist Box. It has a small insert which matches the color of the base. The insert is made from a square sheet of paper with a width which is equal to two of the nine sections of the lid.

This lid and base confirmed that the best sizing for 20lb copy paper is American Legal size minus 1/8 inch for the base and standard American Legal size for the top. These two fit perfectly: not too tight, not too loose.

Here are the crease patterns for both parts.

The Tomoko Twist Transformation Trials.

2009-06-26T14:03:00.001-07:00

Some of my LA folding friends have been redesigning one of Tomoko Fuse's modular twisted boxes for single sheets of paper.

The blue and purple box is a copy of the original Fuse box (minus the lid). It is made from two squares of paper.

Jim Cowling from the LA folding community redesigned this box for a single dollar bill: that is, a sheet of paper with dimensions which are 4-1/4" x 11" or multiples thereof. John Andrisan designed a dollar bill sized lid for this box.

Here are examples folded by the designers in ordinary copy paper and standard origami kami.

Here is how these boxes differ from the original Fuse design. The Fuse box (sounds electrical doesn't it?) is on the right (the grey one), the Cowling-Andrisan box is on the left (the green one). The folded sheets show how the pattern looks when folded with one dollar-sized piece of paper versus how the pattern looks when folded with two square pieces of paper (the Fuse original).

I have uploaded a copy of the Cowling-Andrisan one-sheet pattern. There are no indications of which direction the creases are to be folded (whether valley or mountain) but the photos should help sort this out. Failing that, fiddle until it looks about right. It works for me. :-)

The model looks good when folded with dollar bills, as intended. The one in green is the LA version folded by the designers.

The one in grey is my rendition of the Dollar Bill version made from a photocopied facsimile. I modified the floor slightly from the LA original. I just can't leave good designs alone :-)

Not to be outdone, I went about designing a version for an American Legal sized sheet. Here is what I came up with.

The base has a pleat in it which adds some interest. There are two versions of the lid. (Actually I came up with about a dozen of them, but these two appealed to me the most.)

The decoration on the tops of the lids is achieved by folding the roof of the lid inside out so that the bulky stuff is on top.

If the paper is thin enough there is no need to shorten the paper for the bottom. The lid on the pink box is slightly sloppy. The bottom was made with paper with a quarter inch removed on the long axis. I think it would have been better with only 1/8" removed. The cream lid fits on the brown box a little too snuggly; one side of the brown box bows slightly.

This is a relatively quick box to fold, but it is not for beginners. The main challenges are dividing the sheets into nine parts on the long axis, folding them accurately into squares on the short axis (with a little bit left over). The next challenge is to tuck one end into the other before folding up the floor (or the top of the lid).

I solved the division process by pinch creasing the long sheet at the half way point on both ends. Then I took out my Division Helper (see one of the first entries in my blog) and lined the mid-point of the paper up to the 4-1/2 line and a side to the zero line. Holding the paper down firmly on the far side I folded the zero edge to the 4 line and repeated that on the other side. The rest of the creases can be derived from these two.

Folding accurate squares is tricky. First I pinch folded a triangle on both bottom corners, spanning two sections. Than I lined up the ends of the pinch creases and folded a line across the page. I used the accordion method to fold the paper into more or less "accurate" large squares (two by two), then I halved these. The side with the excess paper is the bottom of the folding page. The rim of the box or lid is folded from the top line of squares.

Tucking one end into another requires patience. A colorful vocabulary sometimes helps as well. I fold the floor section up against the walls and then fold the model flat on one of the original division creases. I start by sliding the floor sections together (hold with a hair pin or clip). Then I squared up the model before sliding the pleated sections together. Finally, I line up the top sections and roll over the rim. It helps to start folding the floor partially down before completing this step because it gets in the way of the rim. An alternative is to use a strong clip to hold the cross-over piece at the rim, continue with the floor folding and return to fold over the rim at the end.

The rest is relatively easy. I said, relatively.

PASSION FLOWER: 1

2009-06-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

My next entry in the origami flowers section is the development of a flower which I shall call the Passion Flower because of the emphasis on radiating stamens. This grew out of the Fragrant Flower of earlier postings.

I began experimenting with the fawn and green example. It has eight petals with alternating colors. Some of the most beautiful of Passion Flowers have alternating petals.

The model was folded while I a finger of my left hand in a splint so it is a little sloppy. At the time I was more concerned with the question of whether the idea was going to work than I was with how well I was folding the model. It is presented "as is" and I hope no-one will be rude enough to use it as an example of my folding prowess.

Instead of a separate petal connector, each petal is slotted into the side of its neighbor. It changes the look of the flower quite dramatically.

Since the Passion Flower has ten petals I created the pink version.

After this I progressed to the bi-color example which is made from sheets of paper with a different color on each side. There is a very limited range of double color papers in folding weight. How I wish the card weight tone-plus-darker-tone range was available in a text weight paper.

The purple/orange combination seemed to be the best choice at the time but the flower has turned out rather darker than I would have liked.

It is not difficult to fold but it helps to have a good supply of cushioned hair pins to hold the pieces together while folding.

Here is the crease pattern for this flower. This is a Model 1.2 version Crease Pattern so it includes a couple of additional creases that were not part of the pre-creasing process of the purple-orange model shown here. (They were added in a less precise manner late in the folding process.)

These additional creases in the inner petals (the ones that are not mirrored on the other side of the diagonal) help to more sharply define and separate the inner petals from their sheaths. They also help to pull the stamen parts together more firmly. The result is a crisper looking flower.

This flower worked well until I tried to connect it to another one. The first examples fell apart too easily, looked ugly, were excessively complicated or pushed the petals apart in a way which spoiled the overall effect. I finally found a sturdy and good looking connection. It requires a "male" and "female" petal - one on one flower and the other on its adjoining flower.

The connection has one drawback: it cannot be accomplished between the petals of finished flowers. Each connecting petal (every alternate one of the ten) has to be connected to a neighbor before being put together with the rest of the petals in its flower head.

Rather than undoing the completed flowers and refolding them I have decided to make new flowers. This time I will alternate the purple-orange double petals with single petals of a contrasting color. I am waiting for a roll of lilac/white craft paper to coordinate with the slighlty garish color-scheme of my precut paper. By the way, I am using 5-1/2" squares for this model. The flowers end up 4" wide and should make a reasonably sized kusudama when 12 of them are connected. The unattached alternate petals should poke out to fill in the small gap between these 12 petal flowers.

In the next posting I will upload CPs for the male and female connecting petals together with pictures of the kusudama as it is put together.

As usual, I am folding/designing more than one model at a time.

Much to my disgust, I STILL haven't completed the last section of the display quality Tier Box I started waaaaayyy back in these postings.

FRAGRANT FLOWER: 5

2009-06-23T19:54:00.001-07:00

I have begun to put Type 2 flowers together to form a kusudama. I have three together so far. The leaf connectors, when pulled out sideways, nicely fill in the gaps between the flowers. (See the center of this photo).

I am starting to wonder, however, how I am going to get the last flowers into position. The connectors, you see, are at the bottom of the petals. This will pose some challenges.

The fall back position may be to leave out the top most flower and use the opening as an entry/exit for string and power cords. I intend to poke LED lights through the central hole in each flower, as I did in the earlier photos of this model (in orange and yellow on that occasion.)

FRAGRANT FLOWER: 4

2009-06-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

I continue to experiment with the Fragrant Flower.

Type 3 and 4 of the Petal Connector/Stamen is difficult to fold in its final stages. Here is an alternative version. It is easier to fold, but in the final analysis I like the look of the more difficult version better.

Here (in orange) is what the stamen petal connector looks like when it is made up. The top section of the central part (ignore the fold over stamens) is sunken. The more petals there are in the flower the more this section closes up.

Compare this to the earlier model (in pink).

The connected flower is shown with seven petals.

Here is the crease pattern.

FRAGRANT FLOWER: 3

2009-06-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

I am still working on a Fragrant Flower kusudama. In the meantime, here is what happened when I put ten Type One petals together. It looks a little like some of the passion vine flowers I have seen. Or maybe a water lily.

I does not look like it will work in a pentagon kusadama arrangement. I suspect that forcing two petals to become one side will distort the flower unacceptably.

THE FRAGRANT FLOWER: 2

2009-06-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am still experimenting with the No-Glue Fragrant Flower.

I decided to try a different approach to the stamens so that the leaf connector would not interfere with the slotting of the stamen into the petal. This meant shortening the stamen. This was rather a headache. Here is the CP for my first attempt.

The shortened stamen still interfered with the leaf connector but this proved easy to fix. I simply folded the tip of the diamond shaped cup inside. This left a triangular cup for the petal to sit in. Part of the sides fitted neatly under the edges of the stamen, locking it in place. It helps to use a hair pin to keep the back wall against the back wall of the petal during the construction stage.

My solution to the stamen problem resulted in a piece which poked out further than one of the contour folds on the petal so these folds were deleted.

All the pieces looked good and seemed to work well. It was not until I connected the final piece that I discovered that there was a problem. Here is what I got.

Well, it worked and it looks good, but it's not very practical for use as a kusudama unit because it is too floppy and the petals are too far apart. Nor will it work with a LED in its center. In fact, the center was just too floppy for just about anything. It might work well when used as a decoration around a tall pentagonal cylinder. I may try this idea out sometime in the future. It could turn out to be an elegant vase or just a daffodil facsimile.

So I reorganized my fingers and started again. The final solution to the stamen problem didn't change much in the way of creases, most of which are simply redirected. Folding the last part is, however, a bit of a challenge.

The last piece has to be persuaded to sit over the top of its counterpart in order to form the little cup on top. It is difficult because of the fact that the sections which have been folded over to close off the gap at the back pull this section in the opposite direction until the unit is closed. And the unit cannot be closed entirely until this piece has been eased over the top of them. It requires a little patience. Tweezers help.

Perhaps I will find a more sophisticated way of folding this part after I have struggled with a few more of them.

The result, when it is finally achieved, looks good and functions well.

THE FRAGRANT FLOWER

2009-06-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

This post continues the No-glue version of a flower used in traditional Japanese kusudama.

This series began in response to the Fragrant Blossom kusudamas created by the inimitable and talanted Puupuu. Here is a link to the folding instructions for this blue and white version of her Fragrant Blossom flower ball.

http://atelierpuupuu.blogspot.com/2008/06/anniversary.html

The No-Glue Fragrant Blossom has been modified and given connectors which look like leaves and sepals. I have renamed it the Fragrant Flower.

Crease Patterns are provided below.

The center hole is now filled with a light emitting diode (LED) which, being cool, does not burn the paper.

The diamond shaped piece (seen on the outside of the flower) connects to a petal in another flower (extra flower connector). It is wrapped around the petal (see the third photo). Actually, the petal sits inside it.

Continuous connection of these will result in a dodecahedron flower ball (ten flowered kusudama).

The electrical leads are slotted through each flower center. They are then bunched together and slotted through the hole in the center of the top flower. Use a plastic conduit to make it look neater.

If you prefer, you can push the lead-containing conduit through the gaps between the flowers so that the central column of every flower can contain a LED.

The leads become the power source for the lights as well as the "string" to hang up the model. Twist them neatly together after they come out of the conduit. You may like to add a LED inside the flower ball so that the light will shine through the gaps. If you use translucent paper (vellum, glassine or common waxed cooking paper) the light will shine through the petals themselves. The problem with these media is that they are more fragile, more brittle and may crease more easily than standard paper.

An alternative idea is to treat (soak or brush on) normal copy paper with oil or wipe on poly. This will make the model more translucent. I have not tried this idea out yet, so beware that you might ruin your model. Try it out on a flower first. Be aware that once the stuff dries you will lose some flexibility. This may make it difficult to connect this flower to other flowers. Wipe on poly makes the paper a little more brittle. This could be a problem. Oils may need to be renewed.

The pink petal connectors (intra flower connectors) are slotted through the gap between the violet petals and folded around the internal "stamen" (through but over the top of the green extra connector flaps inside the petal) and tucked in the nearest side. Repeat on the other side of the petal with another pink intra connector.

Close the flower petal by tucking the protruding "stamens" into the stamen pocket on the other side. The first one tucks into the medial pocket facing it (the one it is touching), the second tucks into the lateral pocket of the stamen facing it (on the other side of the one it is touching).

Yes, I know this is confusing when written rather than diagrammed. I intend to diagram this some time (which will probably result in my baldness from all the hair tearing out) but it won't be quick. So this, dear readers, is the interim instruction sheet.

I used to teach Australian Year 12 English at both Vocational and Tertiary Orientation levels (US Junior College AA and BA levels). One of the tasks I used to give them was to provide written instructions for a drawing task in such a way that other members of the class could draw the model just from the instructions. The results on the blackboard were usually hilarious, especially if the person was trying to follow instructions for drawing a set of steps. So I will forgive every one of you who fails to follow my instructions for this flower. I am sure that any of my past students who are reading this will be most amused to see their ex-teacher tying herself in verbal knots trying to explain how to construct a complex 3D model. Hi boys!

When I have completed the full dodecahedron model I will post photos here.

I am also working on a ten petal model where there is less space between the petals. The problem with the connection is that there is no straight forward way to connect ten-sided units together. The solution, I think, will be to treat two petals as a unit and connect them to their partners as if they were a single side. I hope this will work. I guess we will find out shortly.

Here are the crease patterns.

CLEMENTE GIUSTO'S RECTANGULAR BOX 2

2009-05-22T22:50:00.000-07:00

Here are step by step photo instructions for Giusto's Rectangular Box. Hopefully they are self-explanatory.

CLEMENTE GIUSTO'S RECTANGULAR BOX

2009-05-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Clemente Giusto is a talented origami designer who has only recently been discovered hiding in an Italian town. Now his work is being shown and taught around the world. In the US, Yami Yamauchi has been promoting Giusto's sophisticated Rectangular Box.

Not only has Yami re-diagramed this work but he has made a die for scoring multiple sheets. With the crease pattern already on the paper even novice folders can learn to fold this model quickly and easily. You can see Yami demonstrating his method in Los Angeles.here.http://havepaperwilltravel.blogspot.com/2009/01/wcog-january-meeting.html

Thanks to John Andrisan, also from Los Angeles, I obtained a copy of the diagrams of this model which were drawn up by Paola Scaburri. This week I found time to try them out. The result was as charming as I expected.

I had one complaint. The internal triangular flaps did not support each other. Whichever of the flaps has been folded over first will fall into the box rather than sit on the underside of the roof.

I came up with a relatively simple solution to this problem. I added a crease half way down the triangular flap of one side and then inverted half the triangle to make a pocket. The point of the triangular flap from the other side can now sit inside this inversion and support its weight, which in turn, is supported by it.

For reasons which i hope will be apparent later, I also turned over the top left hand corner of the paper.

Some of the details on the Scaburri diagrams seem to be incorrect or less than optimum. It seems that the lateral valley folds that become the internal roof triangles should be mountain folds. There appears to be no good reason why they should be folded in the other direction first.

I have drawn up a crease pattern diagram incorporating these features and have added some photos for clarification. With the help of the video of Yami's folding method this should be sufficient for most folders to figure it all out.

The following photos are taken from several differently color models. I hope no-one is confused by this.

The creases which are shown in the top left hand corner of the CP pattern (see previous image) are not shown on this pre-creased sheet. I folded the corner over later in the procedure.

The walls are pulled up, the diagonals are reinforced and the corners are pinched together.

The tip of the large triangular flap is inserted into the triangular pocket on the other side. This becomes the lower roof of the box.

Next, the lateral sides are folded towards the center across the top of the box. They should want to do this naturally.

At this point you should have a rectangular box shape on the bottom and a couple of "wings" on the top with points which arise from pleats on the under sides.

The aqua blue model has the side flaps pulled back so that you can see how the layer with the pocket triangle looks. The side walls will naturally cover this.

The blue jeans model shows what the box looks like when the top layers are allowed to fall into place. The circle draws attention to the top left point which can be folded in half at this juncture.

Fold up the flaps.

(Only one of the models shown has the top left corner point folded in half. When I put the others together I folded the flap over later in the procedure. You can choose to leave the creasing until it is necessary or you can pre-crease earlier. Note that the original model did NOT turn this point under.)

Fold the flaps over and tuck them under as shown. Fold in the order shown. In the demonstration photos the box has been turned part way around so that you can see the procedure more clearly.

Like the model with the hair pin holder, the next flap is left untucked in the original model. In my variation I turn over the corner (remember what I kept hinting at?) and tuck it under its contiguous strip. If you haven't creased this point before now, this is the time to do it.

Now for the last flap.

You've finished. Enjoy your box.

MY FIRST KUSUDAMA: 2

2009-05-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

The kusudama has been hung in my origami nook. I managed to get a photo of it which was not against a background on labeled boxes containing samples and instructions for my various creations. Here it is.

Perhaps all that effort was worth it. It does look rather good. And it's only made from cheap copy paper!

MY FIRST KUSUDAMA

2009-05-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

The collection of loose paper flowers has eventually been battered into a ball. There were several glitches along the way.

First it went together like this.

This left triangular holes to fill which posed somewhat of a challenge.

After some considerable experimentation I came up with this filler. The elements are derived from the ones used for the square sections but a quarter of the paper has been "folded out" of the model. This caused some bulkiness.

Unfortunately it proved impossible to add these elements to the constructed ball. The minute the triangle became stretched and stressed the white flower popped out. This may have been the result of the thickness of the paper (copy paper). I reluctantly resorted to gluing the flower flaps into the pockets of the triangle.

This did not entirely fix the problem. This time I could not easily connect the surrounding flowers to the triangle. The angle made this difficult. Then when I succeeded in doing so they popped out when the ball was handled.

I experimented with different ways of connecting the two elements and came up with one which did not put as much pressure on the connection points. It was extremely difficult to achieve it "in the round".

There seemed no alternative but to pull the ball apart (after all that work) and reconstruct it, starting with the triangular sections and temporarily leaving out (or leaving unconnected) those square flowers which were only connected to other square flowers. This would remove some of the tension created by the model stretching into a curved shape. The square flowers were relatively easy to connect together via their "leaves" and I hypothesized that I could add them in at the end.

That worked. It involved propping the final stages up on overturned bowls and wide tall fruit juice bottles. The square connecting flowers were added in the final stages without too much drama. First I added all the leaf connectors to the surrounding flowers. Then I connected a flower to one of each of these points, except for the two polar points. After I had fully connected the four flowers around the circumference I supported the model and added the bottom flower. After removing the supports I upended the model and added the last flower.

Just to be on the safe side, I resorted to adding a little glue to part of the triangle/square flower connections. Not only did I feel guilty for transgressing the traditional commandments of the art form, but the process was a minor nightmare. I had to hold the glued spots with clips until dry. This was both awkward and time consuming.

Finally I had what I wanted. Now I need to find a place to hang it up. That assumes that I can figure out where and how to connect the hanging thread to the flower ball.

TOWARDS A GLUELESS FRAGRANCE KUSUDAMA

2009-05-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you are familiar with the traditional Fragrant Blossom Kusudama, one of the most beautiful of the Japanese Flower Balls. Here is a photo of one made by Mio Tsugawa. You will find it on her blog, together with instructions for making it.
http://puupuu.ojaru.jp/zu/densyo/densyo1.html

It has long bothered me that this model, and others like it, use glue. Glue is just not a word generally associated with origami!

So I decided to design a model which did not use glue. Here is the copy paper version.

It has three different parts: two from a square and one (the central core) from a hexagon with the same diameter as the square sheets.

The peach colored material is a square which is folded almost identically to the traditional Fragrance model. The difference is that the peaks on either side are not folded down before the sides are folded over and brought together. When the sides are brought together these peaks are tucked into the pockets on the sides of the sections. One peak is folded into the medial (inside) pocket of its opposite partner. The other peak is then folded into the lateral (outside) pocket of its partner. The central section is now one, instead of three, sections but the petal stays together without glue. (You cannot see this in the photos because it is covered by material from the next piece).

The salmon colored material is made from another square which also begins its folded life by becoming a triangle. The central half is folded over and tucked into itself, in a similar fashion to what happened with the central sections of the petal. One of the side flaps is then posted through the slit in the front of a peach colored petal and wrapped around to the side of the stamen. Its tip is then pushed into the pocket at the top, which it now shares with the flap from the adjoining peach colored petal stamen. The other side flap of the salmon piece is inserted in similar fashion into the neighboring (next) petal. This leaves a triangular salmon colored section between the petals which, from the top of the flower, looks like another stamen.

Continue to add petals and connectors until the flower is complete. The resulting flower works best with six petals. Five seems a little loose.

The hexagonal cream center of the flower is formed from a hexagonal sheet. Once the central hexagon has been formed the rest of the sheet is carefully arranged into a tightly creased column and inserted into the center of the completed flower. The ridges of the hexagon column are held by corresponding ridges formed by the flower petals and their salmon colored connectors. A diagram would help, but it is more work than I feel like doing right now. Later, maybe.

I would rate this as a high intermediate model. It is not difficult to fold but it is tricky to put together. It requires helping instruments (I used a kitchen skewer) to push the flaps into the pockets. It is hard to keep the single thickness petal edges from being damaged by the tucking process happening in their vicinity. It needs patience to neatly arrange the folds of the stem of the central hexagon core.

Diagramming this model will not be easy and I suspect that I will restrict myself to teaching it in a class.

My next task is to create glueless connectors for the bases of the flowers so that the model can be transformed into a "proper origami" kusudama. This is complicated by the fact that my version of the flowers have six, rather than five petals. Six sided objects do not make a regular polyhedra without the addition of differently sided objects. I may have to find a way to modify the flower into a five petal version.

FLORAL DIVERSIONS

2009-05-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

I find it hard to keep focused on one thing, especially if its development or production takes some time.

I still have not completed a display model of the Bounce and Tier Box. I have one section still to complete. Perhaps next week. Perhaps not.

I find myself easily distracted by other interesting design challenges or ideas which just have to be tried out before I forget them (damn my aging memory) or I get distracted from them, too (damn my ADD).

This week I found myself designing flowers with the intention of making a kusudama.

Never mind the fact that the Quad Lily is still waiting to be put together in this way and I have already designed the connector for it. But no! I find myself designing other things instead. It is slightly annoying. If my mind would just stop having fresh ideas I might get to complete those it has already produced. (Insert sighing sound here.)

So, back to this week's flowers.

I discovered that I could turn a double square twist into a variety of interesting flowers.

The original flower has a four-petal star-like center. It's the mauve one.

The next version has a central curled twist. It's the lilac one.

The third version has four raised points in the center. It's the peach colored one. It's also the one used for the collection.

The fourth version arranges the petals differently and looks something like a four-petaled rose. It's the shiny red one made from Stardream paper.

I found a way to provide them with connectors which double as leaves. All that remains to be done before they can be properly connected into a polyhedron is to design a triangular connector with bigger leaves. Undaunted by this unfinished task I have folded a box full of color coordinated copy paper flowers in readiness. Today's job is to begin folding the straight connectors.

SIMPLE CADDY BASKET

2009-05-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

I am back after the next bout of illness. It is literally a pain being well past the middle aged bracket.

Here are photos of a caddy basket which is related to the Easter Baskets of the last posting. Most of them have the decorative end foldings on the inside of the box rather than the outside. The handles are modified for this contigency.

The blue and yellow basket is now owned by the person who also owns the hand holding it. It was made to match her choice of basket variation and in her choice of colors.

EASTER BASKETS - 2

2009-04-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

Here are the crease patterns for the rectangular paper version of the Easter Basket.

The side wall V-creases have been omitted. You can add them if you wish. They help to shape the basket better when the handle is added but the model will function perfectly well without them.

The handle part is made from a piece of copy sized paper which has been cut in half width-wise (not length-wise). A half sheet of American Letter paper is thus 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches which is a little over a half square (which would be 8-1/2 x 5-1/4). When you make the diamond patterns on the handle be aware that the central diamonds are not at 45 degree angles like the diamonds at the ends. This is because the squarish sections on either side of the central crease are actually not squares.

In a day or so I will post patterns and pictures for a caddy version of the basket made from the traditional square with an edge-on handle made from a half square.

EASTER BASKETS

2009-04-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some Easter Baskets.

They are made from two pieces of paper: a full sheet for the box and a half sheet for the handle. Three sheets of paper will thus make two baskets.

The creases in the handle may be folded in slightly different ways to create different looks. There are two different end plugs: one is diamond shape and the other fits the shape of the box when the apex is folded down to form a blunt edge instead of a point. See the darker pink basket for an example. Both are very sturdy but the second is exceptionally sturdy.

There are two slightly different designs, one for both the traditional square (see the copy paper pink version) and for rectangular copy paper (see the copy paper blue version and the pink petalic paper versions). The box made with the square has decorative pleats at both ends which act of runners on the base of the box. Use this one to hold heavy things. The handle on this one is longer than the handle of the rectangular version and is folded slightly differently. See the copy paper pink version for an example.

I will upload crease patterns for the rectangular copy paper in my next post.

SLOTTED BOX TOWER - 2

2009-04-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

Here are the Crease Patterns for the Slotted Box Tower.

Start with a 9" square for the lid.

Make the wall shields about 8-1/2" to 8-3/4" wide by 12- 1/2" to 12-3/4" long, depending on the thickness of the paper you are using.

Make the slotted boxes 8" x 16".

SLOTTED BOX TOWER

2009-03-31T13:57:00.001-07:00

While working on display models of the Bounce and Tier Box I developed another idea.

The new model is a modular set of boxes which slot into a backer frame at three levels. The frame is then wrapped around the boxes, secured at the front, and topped with a lid.

Crease patterns will follow.

I expect to post photos of the completed Bounce and Tier Box Series and their associated crease patterns shortly.

There is also a couple of simple Wallet and/or Envelopes in the works.

THE FIVE MINUTE SQUASH-IT BOX

2009-02-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

While sitting in a doctor's office waiting for an xray I discovered another method of making a collapsible box that can be transported in a pocket, purse or handbag. This one uses an American Letter sized sheet of paper and takes only five minutes to fold - provided this is not the first time you are making it.

It took me a morning to work the problems out of the design and an afternoon to design a lid to fit it. The lid is a little more complicated and takes correspondingly longer to fold it. Come back next week for a better estimate.

Instead of the usual Crease Pattern, I have uploaded some basic folding instructions for the base. Due to drawing complexity, these provide a slightly different folding sequence than the one I actually use. You will, however, end up with the same result. Once you have folded one you will probably find your own set of short cuts and accuracy enhancers.

I will work on a folding sequence for the lid tomorrow and will probably post a crease pattern for it over the weekend.

UPDATE ON THE BOUNCE AND TIER BOX SET

I am still working on the Bounce and Tier Box. It is quite a large project because it has so many sections. I am making one set from coordinated 50lb text copy paper and another set from much heavier 80lb text Stardream Metallic paper. The Stardream is harder to fold but the superior results are worthwhile.

BOUNCE BOX and TIER BOX

2009-01-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

The past few days have been spent developing a modular hexagonal box which bounces and a related modular hexagonal box which stacks but does not bounce.

The two box types can be combined, in various combinations, to form a tier box which bounces. The combination model can even be connected near the base to form strings of boxes or hexagonal "circles" of tiered boxes.

The photo shows one way of connecting the sections. It is a photo of the rough proto-type models so don't look for perfection. Expect to see crumple, because it is certainly there! Designing a model generally results in a lot of messy models before the final version is reached. Unless you are Robert Lang, of course.

There are six sheets of paper used for each of the several sections.

Almost all of the starting sheets are half squares, that is, rectangles with a 2:1 ratio. The patterns can be printed onto paper via an ordinary computer printer. The limitation here is that the largest piece can be no taller than the length between the minimum printer margins at the top and bottom of a page. This translates to a box with a diameter of about 4½ inches.

The sections stack inside or around each other. Lids become bases to accommodate stems. Stems end in boxes which accommodate other boxes and/or lids.

There are two lid styles. One is an overlay style, the other fits flush with a base box but overlays an inlay box. One of the two lid styles is being used as the base for an extension tier in the photographed example while the other is on top of the model.

The box wobbles from the base. The wobble part is obscured in the photograph which was taken from the top to show the lid decoration.

It will be several days before all the problems of its construction are resolved at which point I will make it with a variety of colored papers which will better demonstrate the modular and the sectional construction. Then I will post the Crease Patterns for each model of each section.

There are several sections which are not shown in the photo. One inlay box style is still in design infancy. Two other inlay styles were stackers which were not photographed because there insufficient lids to accommodate them. Photos of these will be posted in blog postings to come.

This is a fun box which, nevertheless, has practical applications.

THE ROUND N ROUND BOX

2009-01-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

After inventing the New Year Box I began exploring the twisted look some more. I came up with the Round N Round Box. I had some trouble with the floor and am still working on it.

I turned the box inside out, and that looked good too. The problem with that model was that what started out as a six-sided box turned into a seven sided one. But the floor worked!

I remade the Round N Round Right-way-out box with seven sides. It went together better. Now it is time to make it out one more time, with a less crumpled look, before graduating to the good paper.

Many of the items which end up on this Blog are made from ordinary copy paper rather than nice paper. The reason for this state of affairs is that this blog is about my adventures in origami design, not in the folding of extant models. Designing generally results in a lot of wasted paper so it makes economic sense to use the cheap stuff to make all the mistakes with.

I was puzzled by the seven sided nature of my Round N Round Inside-out box. At first, I could not see what I had done to turn a 6-sided box into a 7-sided one. I decided it was time to do a little exploring into the realms of angles and their origami approximations. Out came the compass and the graph paper. This was followed by a visit to some web-generated geometry sites where I indulged in lots of semi-educated trial and error investigation until, finally, I "got" it.

I have added a chart to assist those of you who want to make n-walled origami boxes. It details the folding approximations which can be used to create the correct angles from a flat sheet of paper. The chart assumes that your paper has a horizontal crease, which separates the walls from the floor, and a vertical crease, which divides one wall from its contiguous wall. Your job is to create an angle between these walls which will allow the box to have n equal sides in 3 dimensional space. Your aim is to do this without using a compass to measure the correct angle and without covering your paper with a lot of complicated creases which become more inaccurate as they multiply.

While the methods listed in my chart are almost entirely approximations, they are good enough to produce a neat looking n-sided box.

NEW YEAR BOX

2009-01-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a New Year's present for intrepid folders to try.

This box began gestating on the last day of 2008.

A visitor to my house noticed a box I have had on display for several years and asked if I could show her how to make it. The original was a modification of original modular pattern designed by Tomoko Fuse. It was a creative recyling of American Letter-sized advertising flyers which had been printed on one side only. I put the printed sides together and made up the box and its lid from double thickness paper. The photo of the originals can be found on my photo site at http://photos.womm.org/origami in the recycling section.

I took the box apart, re-discovered how I have made it and then taught my visitor how to make a similar one from a single layer of colored copy paper.

After she left I found myself considering how the original box and its lid might be modified and improved. The original box has a slanted design on the lid which was echoed in the base section. Due to techicnical problems which I did not know how to solve back then, the slants were not at the same angle on the body as they were on the lid and they did not meet neatly when the lid was fitted on the base.

I decided to redesign the box so that the slants on the box connect with the slants on the lid and both slanted at the same angle. This was not a simple problem because I was working with American Letter sized copy paper. In case you have not notificed, standard copy paper is not square, or even an integar multiple of square.

New Year's Day was spent folding and refolding prototypes until, finally, I came up with something which satisfied me. Here it is. I hope it satisfies you, too.

Enjoy! Espero que todos tienen un maravilloso año nuevo or simply have a great new year.

P.S. The reason for the color differences in the photos of this box is that some of them have been taken under ordinary lighting and some under sunlight spectrum lighting. The greener of the two was taken in the sunlight spectrum and more faithfully depicts the real color of the paper. Personally, I like the aqua color better.

ANOTHER TYPE OF PAPER CONNECTION

2008-12-22T14:52:00.001-08:00

Here is a sample of another type of paper connection. It is similar to, but different from, a recent model in this blog.

I intend to post a crease pattern for the units some time soon. Unfortunately, the Silly Season is eating into my blog preparation. I promise only that you will get them when I post them.

The unit connections are sturdy, reasonably quick and decorative. The main failing is that instructions for the unit connections will not be easy to diagram. I am not looking forward to that task.

In cases like these, access to a 3-D version of the units and a 3-D example of connected units would probably be much easier to follow than traditional diagrams.

"Step folds" are another good way of showing how the method is done. As some of you already know, I arrive at conventions with "teaching boxes" containing sets of step folds which can be turned over and around by the student folder. According to the feedback I receive, these are quite useful.

It is possible that a good video clip would explain the method as well. Unfortunately these are time consuming and hard to develop. There is no shortage of excellent examples of horrific how-to-fold videos on the net. They suffer from a variety of problems including distracting backgrounds, bad choice of table top or cloth, poor illumination, poor framing of object, object partially or totally out of range of the camera, object too small or too large, angle of view unhelpful or confusing, annoying sound or music, inadequate, inappropriate or unnecessary verbal instructions and colors which are garish or insufficiently contrastive for the medium.

Exceptions, such as instructional videos made by Michael La Fosse, are a joy to watch. I am under no illusion that countering the usual problems takes quite a lot of time and effort and probably the presence of good video equipment, expensive lighting and a suitable uncluttered space. I would have a hard time matching such expertise but one day I might try.

FAUX QUILT

2008-12-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

I have been experimenting with the weaving grid and have come up with a kind of faux origami quilt.

I began by making the subsections and then connected them into long strips. Then I began weaving and twisting.

It was not long before I became hopelessly tangled and twisted. The solution was to remove all the dangling bits which were not necessary for the next step. This is making it easier.

In general, twisting the pieces together is not easy. The paper (cheap 20lb copy paper)is too bulky and not strong enough to cope with a lot of folding and upfolding. Some of it is getting a little thin. Very little of it is ending up with the same crisp folds with which I began the project. Some units are definitely a little crumpled around the edges.

I have been utilizing mini "dog clips" to clamp selected folds together while I arrange the folds prior to twisting. The clips work well but my arthritic hands find them difficult to squeeze and un-squeeze.

I think the piece would benefit from thinner prettier and sturdier paper. At the moment it suffers from the constraints of cost as well as the usual pitfalls of developing a new model and method of folding.

This is definitely not a fast method of paper connection. The benefit is that the intrepid (and arguably insane) folder can end up with a multi-colored flat piece of decorative origami of theoretically endless dimensions. As with any kind of quilting or pieced work, patterns and "pixel art" can be worked into the decorative sheet: all it takes is a little planning.

ORIGAMI WEAVING: PARTS 6A & 7A

2008-12-18T09:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some diagrams which have grid lines superimposed on them. They should make better sense than those posted yesterday.

Yesterday's upload was rudely interrupted by a major coughing attack and breathing impairment. (I still have some residual 'flu symptoms which are causing me distress). Consequently my cognitive editing module failed to note that the diagrams had been screen captured without the important grid guidelines.

ORIGAMI WEAVING: PART 7

2008-12-18T01:10:00.000-08:00

Here are diagrams for the thin woven strips in the origami weaving piece. As yet, there are no diagrams to show how they look when folded. You will have to make do with the photographs of the back of the work. These give you some indication of how they are slotted into each other and into the centers of the grid pieces but do not show the details of the locking diamonds which are buried in the slots.

In each case the piece ends in a diamond shape. Generally the diamond is one the back. Sometimes it is on the front. Sometimes the diagonal is connected along a seam in the horizontal direction and sometimes in the vertical direction. It depends on where the respective end is going to be connected.

Over the next few days I will try to construct some diagrams to clarify this.

You will have noticed that there are different designs for both the grid pieces and the strip weavings for different thickness of material. If you are working with thin paper, then use the design for thin paper. If you are using thicker or sturdier paper then use the design for thick paper.

The locking square twists are difficult to fold cleanly or neatly with thick paper, especially if you add extra thickness at the sides and ends. The downside is that your woven strips will strain the single thickness side of the slot in which they are locked.

The shorter version not only saves on end thickness, it saves paper as well. It will look the same from the front but is a little less interesting from the back. The downside is that it is a little more difficult to connect the pieces together because the pieces are slightly less stable in the process. It's not a big problem, however.

Try out both designs and choose the one which best fits your paper. My preference is to use thin strong paper (Salago, for example) and the thin paper version. In practice, I find the thick paper version more useful.

ORIGAMI WEAVING: PART 6

2008-12-17T23:55:00.001-08:00

Here are instructions for making the grid section of the origami weaving showpiece.

There are a variety of ways of connecting the pieces to make patterns. Here I show patterns for two four-color patterns which work well.

The general connecting principles can be applied to other weavings and quilt-like creations. There is a "short grid" version of the original "weaving" which I am in the process of trying out in various paper weights and types of material.
Examples will appear in future postings.

The initial folding for these units is not especially difficult. It takes practice, however, to get the to get the "knots" undone and the pieces refolded together quickly and smoothly. Try the folds out with scrap paper until you get the hang of it. If you fold a lot of square twists you may be confident enough to skip the practice period. In that case, congratulations!

I believe that the Princeton Public Library group of origami enthusiasts is considering embarking on this model or another of the flat sheet connecting methods outlined on this site recently. Hopefully they will supply photos of masterful achievement as proof.

ORIGAMI WEAVING: PART 5

2008-12-13T20:54:00.001-08:00

The weaving piece is complete. It's been an interesting experiment.

I rotated the central diamonds for some added interest.

The back of the piece is interesting in itself.

The prototype model is very tight and getting the last few strips together was tricky. There were a few minor tears. Sections of the wider strips buckled.

The result is a piece which is not entirely "square".

I covered the piece with a damp paper towel and ironed it. (See the last photo for the result of this procedure.) This helped, but did not entirely fix the problem. A side effect is that the shape of the underlying locking diamonds showed through on the front in several places. If you look carefully at the photo at full resolution you may be able to spot this.

The next version would benefit from a few modifications which might fix this. The narrow strips, which are made from standard letter-sized copy paper, would benefit from being a fraction narrower and longer to allow for the thickness of the folded paper in the wider strips. This would provide a little more ease of adjustment.

I still do not like the colors and am considering painting the whole piece with a bronze Pearl-Ex wash in an attempt to tie the colors together and give it a sheen which will lift the flatness of the copy paper.

I got a shipment of differently colored (and rare) legal sized copy paper today. This means that my next copy paper version will use colors I like better. I am also considering printing leaf, bark or crumpled patterns on the sheets before I fold them in order to provide the illusion that I am using expensive hand-made paper with "inclusions" or "texture". Although they provide visual interest, these extras often make the paper difficult to fold accurately.

Another possibility is using printed kraft paper gift wrap. This type of wrap is stronger than the usual gift wrap and generally does not suffer from color cracking on the crease marks.

ORIGAMI WEAVING: PART 4

2008-12-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

The paper weaving has progressed still further - and so has the learning.

Yesterday there were two versions of the main frame strips: a short version and a long version. The difference in lengths is necessary to stagger the pieces so that they weave properly.

Today there are three versions of the narrow interior strips: two long and one short. The second long version tucks into the back of the first version in order to extend it. The triangular points on the back of the work show where this happens. The locking fold is different on these ends.

The short strip not only has a different lock on each end but one of them is on the other side. This enables the piece to be looped over the edge of the work and slotted in on the back side. You can see two of these strips in the photo of the back of the work: at the top and the bottom of the piece respectively.

Slotting the locks into and under the longitudonal slits in the large strips puts quite a strain on the edges of those strips. Several of the single thickness edges tore slightly.

One edge was badly damaged to the point where it began to affect the locking ability of two of the thin strips. I resorted to strengthening it with invisible tape.

Now the interesting question is: Does the work remain origami if it uses adhesive tape in its construction? I maintain that it does if, as in this case, the tape is not part of the design but is used to strengthen a damaged part, not to connect the pieces together. Of course, since the tape is invisible, I can probably deny that it is there to anyone who cannot detect it by sight. Can you see it?

ORIGAMI WEAVING: PART 3

2008-12-09T00:57:00.000-08:00

The weaving continues.

There have been several challenges.

The first concerned where to store the increasingly large piece. This was solved by pegging it to my kitchen wall spice rack.

The second has been the difficulties arising from trying to ease the locking diamonds into the horizontal slits on the back of the work. There have been a couple of paper tears, fortunately hidden under the strips. I need a better method of gently separating the slits than a chopstick. I tried toothpicks, but these tend to poke holes in the paper. My pliers are too big. I think I will try tweezers tomorrow.

A design improvement might be to add paper at the sides of the strips so that I can have a double hem on the back slot. There is a lot of tension on that central slot on the back of the work.

My concern over adding extra paper is that the result will increase the thickness of the paper strips too much. I will try out the idea using thinner paper on the next model and see how it works out.

I am starting to consider how I might edge the model when it is completed. It looks a little bit untidy around the edges for my liking. I haven't solved this one yet.

The result so far.

BTW, these are the real colors. They are looking better as my influenza improves :-)

ORIGAMI WEAVING: PART 2

2008-12-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

The origami weaving model has progressed since the last posting.

Now I have the first intermediate strands locked into place. They look good.

I am not entirely sure about the method of connecting the second set of intermediate strands. I have one in place. (See the back view). I may have to redesign the lock if it remains able to slide down its connecting channel a little.

I have discovered that the model is easier to assemble if I leave the lock squares on the main strands unfolded until they are assembled with cross piece. The blue strip poking out the top is longer than its neighbour purely because the visible pre-creased squares have not yet folded up.

The smaller end sections are lock folded in place so that I don't lose the pieces. They unfold relatively easily with a little gentle care. Forcing them can mangle, crumple or tear the paper.

ORIGAMI WEAVING

2008-12-06T23:58:00.000-08:00

While fighting the latest influenza epidemic I have been experimenting with origami "weaving". The problem of how to do this has helped to pass the time when I have been unable to sleep because of the effects of this very nasty virus.

The idea was to develop a method where I could add units to the length and breadth of the model while keeping it firm and stable. I needed to be able to lock two strips together at their ends and then lock this joint at right angles under the middle of a third strip.

My early attempts all proved unsuitable for one reason of another, mostly because the result was not sufficiently firm or stable. I finally settled on a modified square twist which is three sheets thick.

The photograph shows how this is coming along. I am developing a grid with the twist square locks at the intersections. I've used several different colors of paper so that the transitions between one piece and another are more obvious. Take a look at the orange and mauve strips. There is a different color projecting from either side of the middle of these strips.

Because this is a prototype folding I have been using cheap 20lb bond/50lb text copy paper in legal and ledger sizes. The color offerings are rather limited and I do not like them. The 'flu is making me feel sick enough without having to stare at a photograph of the model in its original colors of blue, green, pale yellow and goldenrod. I admit to the cyber crime of color changing the results to that which you see here.

I have plans for filling in the gaps with thinner woven strips. I think the result will be quite interesting. I plan on connecting these intermediate strips together using the discarded methods that I developed during the early phases of this project. Because the frame work is relatively rigid these methods should be suitable this time.

Although folding the strips is relatively easy putting them together is a little tricky. I am improving as I practice. The initial folding methods have been improved and modified. I have stopped tearing paper or getting hopelessly muddled with ridges which aren't where I thought I wanted them. I can now get the pieces together without tears in under a minute - well, mostly. At this stage, however, I would rate this piece as "advanced".

OCTAHEDRON BOX

2008-12-01T10:07:00.001-08:00

I find the mathematical naming system for polyhedra to be somewhat cumbersome, especially when the full and precisely accurate term is used. According to the text book definition this box is officially a form of sunken rhombicuboctahedron. A slightly less complicated version identifies it as a cantellated cube or cantellated octahedron. I prefer to refer to the model simply by its general class name: an octahedron.

It has eight faces around its sagital plane and eight faces around its coronal plane.

But now we are getting complicated again. The neurological terms are just as confusing to the average Jill or Joe as the formal mathematical terms.

The original version of the box divides the rim of the lid in half so that the model appears to be in two equal halves when closed.

A fan prefers to make the box without turning the rim over. (See the red box which she folded.) It makes for a less bulky lid which is useful when the box is made from thicker paper.

For text weight paper use two squares, one about half an inch smaller than the square which will be used for the lid. I use one 8-1/2 inch square and one 8 inch square. It works rather well in Stardream paper which is 81 lb text weight.

The model works in other weights as well. The white and gold box was made from light weight pearlized text paper on the bottom (about 60lb text) and even thinner velum for the top. I generally try to avoid using velum as it is somewhat brittle and has a nasty tendency to crack, especially in areas where it is stressed or the crease is folded and unfolded regularly.

Izumi, the woman who made the red full rimmed version, is Japanese. She married a Mexican friend of mine and now speaks fluent Mexican Spanish.

She teaches the Japanese language to Mexican locals. In her teaching area she displays a vase of paper flowers which I folded from traditional patterns when I stayed in that house a couple of years ago.

The irony is that, although Japanese, Izumi could not show her students how to fold these models because she was almost entirely ignorant of her native art. She begged me to teach her while I was there this time.

Believe me, it felt very strange teaching a native born Japanese how to fold origami models.

She turned out to be a very good student. When I woke the morning after I taught her to fold the octahedron box I was amazed to discover the table littered with increasingly sophisticated models. Unfortunately most of my photos of her models were blurry or they would have been displayed proudly on this blog.

Fortunately her face was in focus, and here she is displaying two of her newly learned and folded models.

Way to go, Izumi! Buen trabajo!

Here is the crease pattern. The green shaded areas are hidden when the model is finished.

Annual L.A. Japanese Gardens Event

2008-12-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

In the summer months of the U.S. year there is an annual origami teaching event on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles. To be precise, it is held in the Japanese Gardens in the grounds of the California State University at Long Beach. Origami enthusiasts from the region set up tables in the gardens and teach young and old how to make a selection of models. There is a small entrance fee to cover costs and there is an equally small "donation" paid to the teachers. I have traveled to L.A. to join the enthusiastic teachers for the past couple of years. It has been a tiring but satisfying experience.

The event is well-photographed by one of the group's enthusiastic origami photographers. This can present risks to some contributors. This year I was playfully photographed in possession of SCISSORS. I have not seen the results of this snapping and presume that it will be used as blackmail material at a later stage.

There were other less damning photographs taken. The one on this page shows me before my hair went gray. (In other words, the dye grew out again.) The student is one of the other contributors. Before the hoards arrive there is sometimes time to try out someone else's creations. I just wish there were more time to do this.

FOUR WAY PAPER CONNECTION

2008-11-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

I have been studying Spanish in Mexico for a while so this blog has been neglected. Origami, however, was not neglected. In fact, I developed several new models in between wrestling with those wretched Spanish verbs. They will appear on this site as I put the finishing touches on them.

Today's offering is a just completed set of instructions for connecting four pieces of paper firmly and decoratively at the corners while remaining in a flat plane. That is, they are the elements of a quilt or of a large sheet of decorative paper which can then be shaped into a 3D box, vase, bowl or whatever.

Here are screen shots of the PDF file. Enjoy! I'd love to hear from anyone who tries them out.

POCKET BOX CREASE PATTERNS

2008-09-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here are the crease patterns for the Pocket Box with Floor and Lid.

The model uses two sheets of American Letter sized copy paper. One sheet is cut in half and half of this sheet has one quarter inch removed from its height.

The box body is made from the full sheet. The floor insert and the lid take a half sheet each. The floor sheet is a little shorter so that it will not buckle when it is inserted into the body of the box.

The pattern works best with 70 to 80 lb text paper. Thinner paper will work but the lid is harder to lock. Thick paper will work but may tear or feather around the diamond. It is also more difficult to pack flat.

Most of the model will work with sheets of A4 (Silver Rectangle) dimensions. The middle sections, however, are narrower. This means that the floor section needs to be modified because the tuck-under triangles overlap in the center. I am working on an alternative pattern for this. Meanwhile, use sheets which are as wide, or wider than the American Letter ratio.

If you need a floor for the A4 model then cut a piece of thin card so that it is slightly smaller than the floor of your model. Place this piece between the wall layer and the floor layer when you pack up the box. For models which use thick paper or thin card this type of loose floor is preferred anyway.

Emergence from Down Under

2008-08-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here. As previously mentioned, I have been extremely busy assisting an Australian friend deal with a professional lynching team. Unfortunately the abuse continues, but there has been as long enough lull to have an "orgami break".

I have developed quite a number of new models and continue to work on old ones. The modular vase is up to the Mark 10 version now, and I am still not entirely happy with it. I have had to solve quite a few problems along the way. There will be more about this in future posts

Here are some preview photos of things I have been working on.

There is a large series of vases. Here are examples.

The blue one has a weak bottom. The pink and grey one has a lid which is flimsy compared to the base. The tall yellow pot, made from legal sized paper, works very well.

The final tall vase version. The lid is a little crumpled in the photo because it is the prototype.

There is another modular vase under development. It bears some resemblance to the tesselated blue vase above but the shape is different and the bottom does not fall out :-) It joins pieces of paper both horizontally and vertically: 12 Silver Rectangles in total. More later.

Here is a squash bowl. Pack it flat and assemble it when needed.

Here is the final version of the Pocket Box with firmly fitting lid. Pack it flat, put it in your pocket and take it out and assemble it when needed.

This box and lid are made from the new Orange Coated card weight paper. The lid is pitched like a roof. This is another relatively easy box to fold.

I experimented with flowers again. I call this one a Quad Lily because it has four petals and looks approximately like a lily. It does not resemble any flower that I know actually grows somewhere, but it looks nice. The lilies will eventually be connected to form a kusadama and/or a 3D quilt. The current connector template is made from a piece of recycled printed paper and is not fit to be photographed. You will just have to wait patiently until I get around to working on this model again.

I am still fascinated with hexagons so there are various hex bowls with lids.

Series One. The base is a year old. The lids are new. Note the upside down yellow lid which also doubles as another bowl.

Series Two

I am still experimenting with ways to connect pieces of paper to form large models.

These designs connect four pieces of paper firmly and decoratively. They are relatively easy to fold and should make quite a difference to what can now be achieved with origami quilts.

The Pocket Box

2008-07-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

The Pack-It Box has become the Pocket Box. It now has a more sophisticated floor and a lid which packs around the box. Photos will be provided shortly.

I taught the box this month to some intrepid students at the annual Origami Festival at the Japanese Gardens in Long Beach. Here is a photo of my youngest successful students: Lachlan Duncan (aged 9) and his brother Kieran (aged 7). Lachlan was so intrigued by the way that the box and its lid packed and unpacked that he demonstrated the technique to all who came by the table. Kieran struggled mightily with this high intermediate model but soldiered on to the end - and succeeded! My contragulations to both these boys.

The Pack-it Box

2008-05-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Folding one's own work is usually instructive and can lead to useful modifications and sometimes new works.

After folding some Double Triangle Boxes for some friends I discovered that a folding modification allowed it to be shipped flat and reconstructed within seconds at the other end. The process also improved the accuracy of folding the triangle points.

A further modification was the insertion of an optional "floor". This strengthens the model, allows it to lie very flat and makes the box erection process a lot more obvious to the receiver.

This is a relatively easy and sturdy little box which can be folded from almost any sized rectangle. The ones shown here are folded from American Letter sized sheets of dual sided kozo. The pack-it version fits in a small standard sized envelope.

Double Triangle Box

2008-04-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here is the third box which resulted from the exploration which led to the Diamond Boxes. This one has a triangle on both the insides and the outsides of the end walls. Once again the box can be made from any rectangular sheet of paper folded either lengthwise or widthwise. {Is that a word?}

Here is the CP.

I have made a set of step folds but they are a little rough and I have not photographed them yet. Formal diagrams are some time away. (As usual).