Latest Posts

Deltoidal Trihexagonal Tiling + Stars, reverse, backlit

Well, this is really more like a deltoidal trihexagonal tiling + a Quasiregular Rhombic Tiling, but that’s even too geeky for me…

So, it’s a hexagon made out of kites, with stars at each corner- and a connecting diamond between, linking the stars+hexagon combo.

While folding, it looks suspiciously like maple leaves- I broke out into “O Canada” spontaneously.

I am particularly pleased with the funky hexagon/teardrop shape, which twists it’s way into the center of the large deltoidal hexagon- it’s a new collapse for me, and a new arrangement which might be useful for other projects.

I came up with this design a little while ago, and have just not had the time to implement it until this weekend. Someone was kind enough to steal my digital camera at work, so photos have been on hold until today.

I’m thinking of doing a larger format fold of this same pattern- it will look quite pleasing on a larger scale, but it requires at least 64 or 96 pleats to really get the whole thing folded out.

I should also point out that I have not done all of the triangular squash twist folds which this pattern is screaming at me to do- there are a lot of them, and no doubt I will try it; but I don’t mind doing a “pure” fold once in a while. many of the overlapping occluding layers will no doubt be more properly arranged once I twist out all the various pleats.

I think of the rotational points as gears, oddly enough, and that’s how I formulate where things twist, in what direction, and whether it will work or not- it’s a relatively handy concept, at least for me. I’m working on an illustration of that but I need to solve some of the higher-order issues before I’m ready to share it. (Sharing wrong information, which I seem to do often, is not a good thing, really.)

I hope you like this little work sketch fold- I’m widely open to suggestions on improvements or changes, if you have some to share.

-Eric

——–

(blatantly cut-n-pasted from my flickr description text.)

origami-inspired lamp

I know, I know- you’re saying, “I thought this site was about origami…” Well, it is, but I find geometric material manipulation and lighting extremely fascinating, and since I love watching the play of various lights against the pieces I have scattered all over my house, I like to think of new ideas. (BIG thanks to Melisande, by the way, for the tip on the IKEA “TYFT” lamp- a steal at $10! perfect for a display rotation.)

This neat lamp came via mocoloco.com, in their lighting category- there’s dozens of lamps here that are just phenomenal. But as always the origami-inspired ones get my closest attention…

Fold

from mocoloco.com:

Lampshades inspired by origami.

Not your usual fold. Designer Rachel Young writes from New Zealand, “the Fold Lampshade is inspired by origami, the art of folding paper. It began with a fold which I had created and has evolved into the lampshades’ current form.”. She individually hand folds and assembles the shades which are made from plastic. The shade is the first object in a growing collection that investigates both what origami techniques can offer, and the challenges when applied to functional objects. This design must have been a challenge.

origamiphotos.blogspot.com – another origami blog

my trained search puppy retrieved another origami blog- located at http://origamiphotos.blogspot.com/. Looks to be freshly minted, but has some great photos of folding. Appears to be in Spain? or at least is in Spanish, and links to the Asociación Española de Papiroflexia, so Spain would be my guess. But as we all know, good paperfolding transcends language barriers!

my favorite photo on here so far? These two: