The Koch snowflake (a fractal figure) has finally been realized as recursive origami.
Part three in our series of newly diagrammed letterfolds by the origami master.
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How many solutions can you find to this fun origami puzzle?
The first in a series of polygonal letterfolds newly diagrammed from sketches by the origami master.
One last beautiful brooch from this series, with links to all the diagrams.
Choose two different papers or the same paper, alternating front and back ... patterns, solids ... all will produce beautiful results.
The origami version of a classic wooden puzzle is easier to fold than solve.
Another lovely brooch along with an easy way to fold and cut an octagon from a square.
Two decorative designs that are satisfying to fold.
This is the first-ever published guide to fractal folding. If you find Ushio, give him John’s message.
Eight simple modules lock together firmly to form this pretty wreath.
Many variations of a basic module are used to create forms with from six to 80 sides.
A modular with a flowerlike twist, a color change and a secure lock.
A pretty brooch along with directions for cutting a regular pentagon.
Six-pointed stars folded from triangles.
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An octagonal bowl with a scalloped rim and ornate base.
Two heptagonal stars with a slightly concave profile.
Easy-to-fold units and an intuitive assembly make this a frustration-free design.
Two different folding sequences to arrive at almost the same box.
Deconstructing the Fortune Teller to make a decorative, functional pentagonal version.
If you like box pleating, crease patterns and cartoons, this model is for you.
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A decorative four-piece modular that’s simple to fold.
A sturdy modular box and the mathematics behind it.
Musings on art, kitsch, mathematics and the creative process. And lots of diagrams.
The second part of an article about Krystyna Burczyk’s creative process with more diagrams to download.
A two-piece icosahedron that’s a gift box and an ornament.
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Diagrams for an icosahedral design made with 30 quick-to-fold units from squares. The look is rather festive, and hence the name. You can fold the with thematic colors of the season to fit right in.
This is the only diagrammed origami model that simulates a true mathematical fractal. It makes a pyramid shape with many branches. No one has yet successfully folded a version without cutting the paper; the version in the picture (folded by the author) was made by carefully cutting the crease pattern into several pieces, folding these using the recursive folding instructions, and then gluing them back together. The challenge of folding recursive diagrams as well as the dexterity involved to not destroy the paper easily put this model in the supercomplex category.
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There is a family of geometric solids, one of which is illustrated in a famous engraving by Albrecht Dürer, that poses some interesting origami challenges.
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An Icosidodecahedron with sunken triangular faces based on a simple unit. Made from 12 pentagons, it is definitely meant for people who like challenges!
A one-piece star that gives the appearance of being made of multiple diamonds. If you like tessellations (or not), this should be fun to fold.
A simple, decorative modular — best made from heavy, smooth paper — that slides to changes shape.
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An ingenious combination of two origami forms.
You'll need 8 squares to fold one of 12 variations of this versatile, modular star.
A double-sided spiral diamond from one sheet of paper. Sy Chen based this design on his earlier two-tone diamond, which appears on the OrigamiUSA website. Links to both models are in the article.
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Valentine’s day is coming, and if you like origami hearts and you’re also into modulars, you can follow the diagrams and fold a Two of Hearts modular.
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A Fujimoto-inspired poinsettia with leaves looks great in red-green duo paper, but you could use green paper with a white back to fold a rare white poinsettia.
These four stars from one basic design were created to pop in an envelope and mail.
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The Asturo Star is a new modular by the Indonesian designer Usman Rosyidhi. It's an elegant model that's easy to fold and assemble.
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Diagrams for a flower folded from a hexagon. Like many polygonal designs, the flower can also be transposed to pentagons, heptagons, and octagons. Also includes how to fold a hexagon from a square.
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Diagrams for Fish Hook Module with details of how to build a cube and an octahedron. The modules are edge modules, and most polyhedra can be built, except those that have five or more edges meeting at a vertex.
After teaching Stella for Origami Connect, Evan Zodl agreed to write an article for The Fold to make this lovely model accessible to more people.
Christiane Bettens presents us with another variation of an antiprism box.
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Diagrams for a modular with color change. You can assemble 12 or 30 units. Kami or thicker duo paper is recommended. Scrapbook paper works well, making the result sturdier.
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Diagrams for a color-change modular, 12 or 30 units, though like most polyhedral designs, the latter is more attractive. The flower petals are of one color, and the flower centers and background are of another color.
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A fun crease pattern that can repeat infinitely to the center folds an octagon into a geometric flower design, where the front and back of the paper look the same.
Paolo Bascetta presents us with a creative, new Sierpinski 3D fractal created by stacking.
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Diagrams for a color-change modular made from 30 rectangles.
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Here are diagrams for Stella Lefty by Francisco Mancini, taught by Char Morrow at the 2018 OrigamiUSA Convention.
My origami journey so far, as I celebrate two milestones - 20 years of my online presence and 10 years publishing books. Also find photo instructions for folding Pentas, one of my latest designs.
Alessandro Beber presents us with a simple origami version of the Penrose triangle: "impossibility in its purest form."
Winnie Leung provides instructions for building a steam engine and offers to equip you with the necessary paper tickets.
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Diagrams for a beautiful fractal flower from a hexagon with color change. A very advance design for someone who has only been folding since 2013.
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Diagrams for a 30 unit modular with color-changed five petaled flowers. For four petaled flowers assemble 12 units.
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Diagrams for the Rose Quilt, by Usman Rosyidhi, from Indonesia.
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Here is Distorta2016 by Alessandro Beber.
For your enjoyment, here are photos from a small exhibition of Tomoko Fuse's art at the Tsunagu Gallery in Tokyo.
Here are some crease patterns for a number of Alessandro Beber's beautiful high intermediate creations.
Diagrams for a simple modular from 2:1 rectangles, released in open access to celebrate the World Origami Days 2016.
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This is a followup of my previous article, Pentakis Dodecahedron (Issue 35), featuring variation patterns. Mono paper such as copy paper or Tant is a must.
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Diagrams for a 30 unit modular dodecahedron with color change by Mukul Achawal of India.
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Diagrams for a simple modular from squares 4" or smaller. For larger constructions though, use paper of proportion \(5:3\sqrt{3}\), i.e., \(1:1.039\).
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An exploration of a propeller tessellation formed from standard square twists.
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Photo diagrams for a 30 unit modular with subtle curves by Aldos Marcell of Nicaragua. Assemblies with other number of units possible as well.
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Diagrams for a simple Sonobe type modular made from approximately 1:5 rectangles. This design is great for any leftover strips you may have amassed when sizing paper for other projects.
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Diagrams for a 12 or 30 unit modular with color change. The starting paper size ratio for an unit is 1:3.
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This article explores several variations in a square twist crease pattern that may be achieved simply by varying the mountain/valley assignment of the same underlying crease pattern.
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Diagrams for a 30-unit Sonobe type design with color change. Other assemblies such as 3, 6, 12 or larger number of units are possible as well.
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Diagrams for a 30 unit modular design.
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Diagrams for a spinable top by Ali Bahmani, folded from a pentagon.
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Diagrams for a simple 5 or 6 unit sturdy modular design.
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Diagrams for an octagonal star with color change, from a single uncut square. Also included is a variation of the star.
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This article tells the tale of the higher spheres of oranges and apples: How I got there, and how to make them.
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Building Block Units (BBU) are a new family of modular origami units, with over one hundred different interlocking module designs.
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Diagrams for a heart with wings designed by Nguyen Quang Do Lisa.
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The 3-unit Sonobe hexahedron (Toshie's Jewel) and the 12-unit Sonobe octahedral assembly are well known Sonobe constructions. But did you know that you can also construct the former with double the number of units, and the latter with half the number of units, i.e., both shapes from 6 units?
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Diagrams for a floral modular designed by Ekaterina Lukasheva.
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A discussion of an alternate Sonobe Unit assembly which produces a surprisingly different result than the conventional one. Diagrams included.
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Diagrams for a beautiful 12 or 30 unit Sonobe Variation.
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Diagrams for two money fold models, a box with lid and duck, by Milind Oka.
A progressive crease pattern for a box-pleated house with latticed windows by Clifford Jones.
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Diagrams for a beautiful 12 or 30 unit modular.
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The story of a process developed for folding rigid wood laminate, with crease patterns, images, and recipes.
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Diagrams for a geometric, two-sheet, 3D tree for the holiday season.
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Diagrams for the solid version of the Compound of 5 Tetrahedra aka the 47th Stellation of the Icosahedron, similar to the very popular frame version by Tom Hull/Francis Ow, known as Five Intersecting Tetrahedra or FIT. Some mathematics has been discussed as well.
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Diagrams for a 30-unit modular design by Ekaterina Lukasheva.
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A quick and easy method of folding a heptagon by Jacques Justin and some related discussions. Francesco Mancini found the method in a pile of letters and notes that he inherited from Roberto Morassi's origami archive.
Diagrams for various decorative cubes based on Froebel designs applied to blintzed windmill bases.
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Diagrams for a Sailboat on the sea by Joseph Fleming.
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Diagrams for a 6 unit cube with hearts on all faces and two specially colored diagonally opposite vertices. 24-unit assemblies are possible and left as challenge.
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Diagrams for a 30-unit modular design by Ekaterina Lukasheva of Russia.
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Diagrams for a simple, eight-piece modular ring.
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Tridecagon, also known as the triskaidecagon, is a 13-sided polygon. There are several origami methods already available for folding the tridecagon but the simplicity of my approach may be of interest to people. You may use the tridecagon to transpose origami designs based on other regular polygons.
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Diagrams for a 30 piece modular design by Natalia Romanenko of Moldova.
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The origins of origami in Japan are lost in the mists of history, but we have surprisingly good records of paper-folding from over a thousand years ago in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
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Diagrams for a 30-unit modular design by Ekaterina Lukasheva of Russia.
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A sunk-side elbow design is used to create a variety of models: Star Block models in particular. This method has the potential for much creative work!
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Diagrams for a Sakura Star by Ali Bahmani designed to be viewed from both sides.
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Toyoaki Kawai’s method of making a pentagon from a square is a widely used one. This article demonstrates how to extend his method to a decagon and shows examples of transpositions of well known designs to pentagons and decagons.
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Diagrams for a 30-piece modular design by Irina Reutskaya of Russia.
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Diagrams for a two piece modular star designed by Sy Chen that can rotate to change form.
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Diagrams for a 30-piece modular design by Daniel Reutsky of Russia.
This article introduces readers to Star Festival, Variation 1, a model made with 16 units.
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An article about folding images using large grids and hundreds of reverse folds.
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Diagrams for two simple connected mountains by Herdy Soepono.
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Diagrams for a 30-piece modular design by Valentina Minayeva of Ukraine.
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Diagrams and video for a 6 piece modular star by Maria Sinayskaya.
Paper hoarders will appreciate this nifty tool for cutting leftover pieces of paper into common size ratios like 4 by 3, Golden and Silver rectangles, or the ratio of the dollar bill.
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Diagrams for a simple pyramid model with variations, used for to help teach geometry.
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Diagrams for a 30 piece modular by Uniya Filonova of Russia.
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Diagrams for a 8 piece modular star by Maria Sinayskaya of South Africa.
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Arnold Tubis offers yet another dollar bill fold of George Washington, framed on both sides of the model using two dollar bills.
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Several variations on a hexagon-based, iso-area, geometric collapse method are shown. Some of these were taught at the 2013 OrigamiUSA Annual Convention in New York City.
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A folding method for closed masu boxes from a single square, generalized to masu-like structures with regular polygonal bases.
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Diagrams for a 30 piece modular design by Natalia Romanenko of Moldova.
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This article aimed at novice folders examines the design and folding process for geometric bowl and vase models characterized by a series of curved pleats.
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Diagrams for a simplified color-change diamond playing card symbol by Meenakshi Mukerji.
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A rotationally symmetric solid curved fold, folded from a regular hexagon.
Diagrams for a modular star "Hilli" by Klaus-Dieter Ennen, as well as video instructions by Sara Adams
Learn how to fold the first in a series of many variations on a single star. This one has eight points, but you can achieve any number from 3 to 12 using this method.
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Diagrams for the 2012 OrigamiUSA Holiday Gift.
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Diagrams for a 3D Double Star Puff Pyramid folded from a regular hexagon.
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Part two in a series examining the mathematics behind the golden ratio in some geometric boxes.
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An interview with two pioneers of modular woven polypolyhedra.
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A simple yet elegant Sonobe variation by Meenakshi Mukerji.
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Tubis and Sprung show that the same starting shapes used previously to create generalized masu boxes [Tubis and Pooley 2012] can be used to produce \(n\)-pointed 3D stars.
Diagrams for the model Six Intersecting Pentagrams, plus an article on its history.
Tomoko Fuse's newest book is exquisite and all about spirals!
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Learn to fold a family of modular units that can create a wide variety of deltahedra, polyhedra whose faces are equilateral triangles.
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Proof of Lewis Simon's construction for the trisection of the side of a square or the short side of a rectangle.
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Tubis and Pooley explore \(n\)-sided generalizations of the masu and one of its many decorative-lids. Detailed video instructions are provided at the Origami Player site.
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30 pieces of paper are folded to make a modular version of the Compound of Five Octahedra model.
Can you cut paper with origami instead of scissors? While trying to design a 24 unit Stellated Octahedron, I got stuck with all the math involved and decided to make it simple - cut the intersected units by folding.
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This wave model is fun to fold and has a lot of math in it!
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Diagrams for a heart variation based on a model by Edwin Corrie.
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A pleated cone sliced by multiple planes creates this geometric model reminiscent of a breaking wave.
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Diagrams for a classic puzzle, typically made of wood.
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Crease patterns and video for two modular tree units with variations.
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A rotationally symmetric geometric shape, folded from a hexagon, based on Jeannine Mosely's "Bud".
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A summary of Bern & Hayes' proof that flat-foldability in origami is computationally hard!
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Design and folding instructions for one of the 54 polypolyhedra using dollar bills.
Diagrams for an elegant seven piece color-change modular.
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A method for making four-compartment side–to–side or corner–to–corner divider inserts for prism-shape containers with square faces is generalized so as to produce n equal compartments of specified height for a container with an n–sided regular-polygon face.
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With many tessellations, the obvious way to design the crease pattern doesn't necessarily result in a foldable pattern. By adding extra creases to the pattern, you can sometimes find an alternate way to the finished form, as you'll see in this geometric pattern.
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Diagrams for Didier Piguel's Stardust, a star that can be transformed into an abstract yet expressive character.
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An expanded version of a 5OSME convention commentary that appears in the Winter 2011 issue of The Paper, pp 18-19. Many more interesting experiences and color photos that could not be included in The Paper version due to limited space.
Course information for an MIT graduate course in Geometric Folding Algorithms.
This article gives a nice overview of the types of tessellations there are, and how to create one yourself.
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Pureland Origami is used as the starting point for a discussion about realism and convention vs. simplicity and clarity in diagramming style
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The origami wind spinner is a traditional, if somewhat obscure model of repeated pleat folds. We ask ourselves, "What kind of shapes can paper form with these simple pleats?" and, "How much can we make a square piece of paper rotate with this pleating scheme?" The answers are surprising and fun!
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Learn how to fold Molly Kahn's 3-unit modular Hexahedron and marvel at the multitude of math manifested around this model!