Circular Hypar, a “common” design
This model dates back to when I was experimenting with curved creases. A very simple model is to make alternating creases in concentric circles, and cut out the center of the paper. To me, it’s such a simple thing, but I’ve heard a lot of people really like this one.
If you like this one, check out the sculptures of Erik Demaine!
Rotating Tetrahedrons, designed by Tomoko Fuse
This origami model is a fidget. You can rotate the tetrahedrons endlessly. Kids love it. They don’t last forever, but that’s okay, just make more! I actually have a bunch of these lying around, because I include it in my origami class.
If you’d like to try this one, I recommend this Happy Origami video. It’s also possible to make one with a single sheet of paper, but I wouldn’t recommend it. This particular version uses six sheets of paper, so I can get the rainbow colors in, but it’s a bit of a challenge, so I don’t recommend it on first attempt.
Dachshund, designed by Yara Yagi
I made these dachshunds as part of the local origami club, and I love them. I made two, and they immediately reminded me of the two dachshunds that my aunt owned, one light-haired the other dark-haired. Those dogs always seemed attached at the hip, and were rather codependent. So, I decided to attach these two at the hip. I don’t remember how I did it, something to do with pulling out excess paper hidden inside the models.
My mother has owned dachshunds all her life, so I gave these to her as a gift. Happy Mother’s Day this month!
(For those who didn’t know, “dachshund” is the spelling, but it’s pronounced like “doxin”. They may also be called doxies or just weiner dogs. I grew up with these dogs but it took me forever to learn how to spell their name.)
Here’s a collection of experiments, mistakes, and other odds and ends among my origami photos
Tarantula outtakes
These were my first two attempts to make a tarantula (final version here). I didn’t expect to get it right the first time, this is all part of the process.
Business Card Origami Orb, designed by Jeannine Mosely, with modification by me
This model has instructions online, and is one of the easiest curved-crease models to create. It just requires six business cards or some other card stock paper, and some means to draw circles. The instructions suggest using a compass or a template, but I just used a poker chip that I had on hand. Once you draw the circles, you should score them, which can be done by pressing hard on a ballpoint pen.
I try to post origami every month, but as of late, my rate of production has been less than that. That’s okay, I still have a huge backlog of photos. One thing I’ve never posted, are my very earliest photos, when I started doing modular origami in………. 2012. Well here’s the very first one:
Sonobe Cube, by Mitsunobu Sonobe
I started out by folding designs from Beginner’s Book of Modular Origami Polyhedra: The Platonic Solids by Rona Gurkewitz and Bennett Arnstein–it’s not the book in the photo, it’s more beginner-friendly than that. It’s a good starter book for modular origami, I recommend it.
I didn’t dedicate much effort to the photos at the time. The book is there because that’s what I had on the shelf. I put my hand in the photo to give it a sense of scale; also, as if to say “Zap! A cube!” I went on to zap more cubes from there on.
Octagonal boxes by Tomoko Fuse. From Origami Boxes, if I recall correctly
Today, I present a set of octagonal boxes, designed by Tomoko Fuse. Rather than providing a design with exact specifications, Tomoko Fuse tends to present several possible variations. This design has cosmetic variations, which create different patterns of color; and structural variations, allowing you to create wide and short boxes, or narrow and tall boxes. These boxes don’t have covers, but the idea is that you could make two boxes of slightly different width, and use the wider one as a cover for the narrower one. I created a set of four of slightly different dimensions, so they could be nested (image below the fold).