New modular “Woven Wreath”/”Sun Dial” and some links I like

For people who have sent requests for things I apologize as I spent the better part of the last three weeks away from home and if it is for computer based candy container diagrams my other computer is not functioning right now.  I will send stuff when I have the computer up and running.  

As usual if anyone has seen this modular please post information and links as applicable.  The unit was designed to create the same effect (although with a completely seperate unit) that another 3d wreath has.  The units are not remotely similar, and sadly my unit does not have the flexibility or strength that the other one has.  The modular can be done in 8 or 20 depending on the variation, of which there are many.  The instructions are for the 20 unit variation.  As for the oddly bolded sections that is something the blog is doing and I can’t fix-since wordpress is free I can’t complain.

 

 

 

1.  Get 20 square sheets.  I recommend between 4-6 inches square.  Fold in half diagonally.

2.  Fold as indicated and crease and then undo.

3.  Fold the bottom right edge to crease line

4.  Fold tips around edge and tuck them inside.

5.  Take top point and fold to bottom point and crease.

6.  Take the two flaps folded in the last step and fold inside the pocket.  You will have to reverse the direction of the crease on the front fold.

7.  Put the unit sideways and fold the tip so it is roughly parallel with the vertex of the obtuse angle.  Do it one and then rotate the unit and do it the other way.

8.  Take the top point and fold down to 1/3 from the bottom and then let fold the unit back on step sevens creases.

8.  Finished unit, make twenty total

9.  Tuck in as indicated.  Make sure that you are tucked in on both sides.

10.  Keep adding units until you have the original photo.

 

Some fun sites.

http://www.archicentral.com/origami-chapel-st-loup-switzerland-local-architecture-771/

http://www.designshell.com/architecture/origami-inspired-bamboo-house.html

http://fcms.its.utas.edu.au/scieng/arch/cpage.asp?lCpageID=267

http://www.architecture.com.au/awards_search?option=showaward&entryno=2008031648

http://www.internimagazine.it/Dynamic/Publication,intCategoryID,72,intIssueID,306,intLangID,2.html

Notes on Pleating Techniques and Applications

Lately, amongst other things, I’ve been playing with pleated structures.  This post is to help, me more than anything else, think about the differences, similarities, and pros/cons of different types of pleating techniques.

Paul Jackson is one of the earlier artists to work with pleating.  His pleated pieces are pleated (I believe) all in one direction than the other.  He then uses the additional paper pleats to pull them apart creating a curve.  The curve is not inherent in the pleating as in Goran Konjevod’s technique.  Paul Jackson’s website is http://www.origami-artist.com/ which has galleries and a lot of great pages to find out about him and his work.  Also different is that Jackson doesn’t constrain the edges.  The pulling apart of the pleats is the essence of the form and the direction they are pulled in decides the finished pieces form.  One of the most beautiful aspects (to me) of his work is his coloring of his pieces.  I highly recommend that you look at his coloring, because the depth that it adds to the forms is amazing.  The bowl in the center is probably my favorite as the center shows the most delicious shading.  The third piece wouldn’t surprise you if you stumbled upon it in a thicket.  His work is varied and doesn’t stop with pleated structures so going through his site you’ll see commercial work, paper engineering, crumpling and more. 

Goran is known for his fantasitical explorations of pleated structures.  His designs and curves come from the interacting of the pleat layers.  The way the layers interact are forcing curvature.  Different pleat orders create different curves.  His dense pleated structures are mathematical jems as well as artistic expressions.  There are an infinite number of pleating combinations and consequently an infinitely huge pleated playground.  Another difference between a lot of his works is the constraint of the edges, although this isn’t present in all it is present in most.

So in the prior post one of the main differences is the constraining of the edges.  The goal is not to have the whole form curve around itself. but imagine the curves are more akin to the modification of the pleats of Eric Gjerde’s Arabesque, especially for the silver piece.  ”Mother and Child” is most similar  to Jackson’s work in the method of curvature.  Constraining edges has drawbacks in nature the solid constrained edge wouldn’t be seen, but most problematic is the tension on the edges.  Short of elephant hide you are likely to rip paper with the tension.

His webite is http://www.organicorigami.com and is a great place to look at his wonderful explorations.  

Exception to the rule of forced curvature

The thing I first did once I played with a bowl he taught was to pull it apart from the bottom, which to be honest is what I pretty much do to everything.

It can be done for space, as above, or aesthetic as below.

One of the cons of pleated structures is lost volume.  Deconstructing allows you to reclaim a certain amount of space that is traditionally lost in pleated structures/containers.  Of course like many things you are trading one pro for a con.  When not deconstructing structures they tend to be very strong and dense.  When you deconstruct the inside you end up with only one layer of paper and it is noticably less dense than the rest of the structure.

Another modification that I started playing with (and I’m glad Goran is playing with) is edge expansion.  This is where all the pleats along an edge are pulled apart, you can also think of inner creases as an edge and expand them.

These two pieces combines some deconstruction and edge expansion.

One of the pros to this action is the very organic nature that it imparts to a piece, but like before when pulling apart edges it affects other nearby pleats and does weaken the overall structure.  If rigidity is desired this technique is not ideal.

Probably one of my favorite modifications is the addition to traditional pleating identifiable centers that are done with initial flattened box pleating that is then shaped as desired.  It gives you more opportunities to create combined pieced.  A limitation is the creasing of the pleats and thickness becomes an issue the more complex the internal structure.

Future explorations involve pleating structures that arn’t 90 degree based like.  In other words types of radial pleating.  Another variant is only pleating certain quadrants of a piece of paper like outer corners and not doing the centers:  Con:  Doesn’t follow traditional pleat lines and is a pain in the bum.

I hope this helps anyone who likes to play with pleated structures and if not oh well.  It is a fascinating part of paper art that can give structures that are organic and beautiful and I am happy that people like Paul Jackson and Goran Konjevod are doing/have done such nifty things.

Calluses and Curves

Been playing around with pleating.  Constraining pleats all in one direction than another by folding over.  This unlike my earlier silver work is really related to Paul Jackson’s pleating technique.  I hope to soon create a bunch of curved pieces and attach them to each other with fishing wire.  I hope to create an insanely organic sealife inspired piece.  I would work with one piece, but the problem is size the largest sheets of wyndstone become tiny when pleating and so you can work with a 4+ foot long piece of paper and end up with a finished piece that is less than a foot when curving.  This piece I called “Mother and Child.”

The piece that looks similar but is different in how pleats actually are spreading is different.  ”Seasick in Silver”

Granada, Tessellations, and Other Stuff

Wormhole….Radial 12ths.

What I played with during siesta time in Granada.

GRANADA, the ALHAMBRA, and LACK OF LUGGAGE/CAMERA FAILURE/SICKNESS

The trip to Spain gets a 2 while Granada gets a 10/10 and was the most amazing structure I have ever seen (it just eeks out the Eiffel Tower, although that is still another structure every human should see).  The trip itself gets a two as I didn’t have luggage for 60% of my trip and let me tell you that shopping for fat girl clothes in Granada is one of the lower rungs of hell, also camera failure and severe sickness/pain on the way home sucked.  Granada itself is a maze of tiny streets and cobblestone (in the old part of the city).  Downtown different streets had different lighted designs or chandeliers and was an explosion of activity at night, when darkness fell.  I used industrial strength sun block which was like grease paint.  Gelato shops were on every corner it seemed, and I highly  recommend pistachio or lemon.  The dried ham in the region is intensely flavorful, but is very hard to chew.  I didn’t eat out much, one meal a day, as I had breakfast at the hotel I stayed at, and skipped lunch or had fruit.  Hotel Mate Leo is a great place to stay.  I was on the fifth floor and highly enjoyed my stay.  The receptionists were all very helpful and several called and tried to help me with my luggage travails.  In fact I didn’t ask them, they volunteered.  For the price and location (dead center) I loved the place and will go back again.  I realize that July is not considered a great season to visit, but I found the heat bearable since it was a dry heat.  The piece de resistance is the Alhambra a complex that is made up of the old fortress, Nasrid Palace, and the Generalife.  The fortress is amazing and the oldest of the three, boggling the mind that it is still standing after so many years.  The Generalife had gardens that bring tears to the eyes and don’t miss the water escalator, which is stairs with cold water running down troughs on either side .  The most amazing and most visited structure is Nasrid palace.  I won’t bother to describe it in detail as I am still viklempt just thinking about it, but I will say it is patterns everywhere and every time you think they have reached the apex of human design, you go into another room that leaves you breathless and speachless.  It was humbling and worth every walk up the hill (you can take a bus, but I recommend the hill.)  It was in every aspect beautiful and compelling and I hope you have a chance to visit.

Another Year Another Fold

I just got back from New York.  I arrived Thursday and came back today.  I stayed with Adrienne in Brooklyn in a converted garage.  Like last year I didn’t take classes, because I taught 5 classes and figured there wouldn’t be time.  I missed seeing “Into the Fold” but did get to meet a lot of interesting folks.  Interesting talk with Ray Schamp.  Added a new face to Yaffa, Goran.  Made a “purse.”  Slept little, enjoyed my time thoroughly.  Saw more of NY than usual.  One thing that sometimes gets lost with convention goers is that we are in New York which is a fabulous city and the 4 square blocks around FIT are not where the flavor is.  Harassed a bunch of people smarter than me about curvature and promptly “fired” them for not having the answer to my “sortoff” questions, although they both suggested I harass Erik Demaine which I will be doing as soon as I can craft an email that doesn’t make me feel slow.  My questions arn’t really concise or clear, simply put I don’t understand enough about curved rotation to understand what is going on.  

The people in my box design course did amazing and I was happy that everyone who attended my Labyrnth class understood the technique.  Ben Parker’s work has definately progressed and Joel is now working on busts along with the faces.  The form of the chest was amazing.  Seth has great work and I loved Sipho’s way of displaying models.  Goran has started pulling apart and approaching very organic nifty forms.  Ana Sofia helped me make two large models for the oversized folding challenge (Two thumbs up for Sok) and disappeared before I could say my goodbyes.  Joseph’s perfect piggy “Cleofis” has a lovely spot on my shelf (gracias oh Master JoWu;P.)  Michael was the most adorable child ever.  Brian Chan is still making amazing models and Alexander Soukas had lovely tessellations.  Daniel Kwan is probably the most precise folder ever and has little crease elves helping him.  Philip and Christiane were my first picture in NY and it was of their feet!  

We took a terrific three hour boat tour on Tuesday, thanks Eric (for everything).  A big thanks to Adrienne for her couch and her roommates tolerance of a squatter.

Adrienne and me 

Ben Parker looking somber on boat

My temporary bedroom and the plexiglass bridge

The happy Wu

Goran, Bernie, Joel

Christianne, PCB, Tomohiro

Ape challenge, Sipho, Ben

Oversized folding challenge (Photo also known as “Shri’s Bum”) Ray Schamp

My exhibit (the blue thing is the curvy thing I wanted to ask questions about)

There were a bunch of things I sadly didn’t get photos of as I was rushing to do this before heading off to teach, so for the pictures I missed sorry and for everyone I had great conversations with thanks.

More photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/christine42/

The photos are tagged “ousa 2009″

See you next year (maybe)

Thanks,

Christine

Instructable: Easter Egg Box

Made an instructable for one of the containers

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easter-Egg-or-Candy-container-computer-aided-orig/

Computer Aided Origami-Candy Boxes

So I reverse engineered a box for a friend that has the origins listed as a Japanese Anemone box that Christiane recognized as similar to a Fujimoto box.  They are all variations on a theme.  So I decided to play with curvature on these boxes and the results are below along with nondirectional crease patterns.  What was so interesting is that a slight change with where the curvature is makes a large difference in the end product.  So everything is creative commons on this site as always.  Hope you enjoy.  If you would like the viacad or adobe illustrator files email me and I can send them so you can tweak the design yourself.  Remember playing with a design is half the fun.

 

 

This particular design is reminiscent of the collapsible lids.  I also employed these nibs in a box I did awhile back.

Origami Dollar Bill 3d Mini Dress Instructions

1.  First fold the dollar bill lengthwise with a mountain fold using the top and bottom of the one as a guide.

 

2.  Fold over between one to two mm to the outside.  This is to taste.

3.  Mountain fold in half.

4.  First orient the dollar bill like below.  Take the crease and fold up to the inner part of the O.

5.  Mountain fold so you are folding across the semicircle.

6.  Fold the semicircle up to about the tip of the pyramid.

7.On an angle fold back the bottom edge of the bustier.  The top part of the skirt angles because of a spreas squash.  I recommend looking ahead to the next few steps first.

8.  View from the back.  Do the same symmetrically to the other side.

9.  Back View-flip over.

10.  Front view.

11.  Fold down so there is about as much white as color.

12.  Fold back up so the white is the bustier edge detail

13.  Mountain fold edges on either side to shape bustier

14.  Pull the center flap down

15.  Flatten symmetrically as shown.

16.  Shape edge of lower skirt on both sides symmetrically

17.  Fold the bottom up to taste.  In the back fold over the edges that are sticking out and tuck under the pleat at the waist.  Pull apart the creases at the bottom to give 3 dimensionality to the bottom.  It will not necessarily lie flat.

18.  Now I push the pleat apart where the bust should be to make the bustier 3d.  You are expanding the pleat only at the tip of the breast and then flattening the new creases.  You can see the side view.

19.  The last step is to push down the centerbar so that the bustier is more 3d and you only see the white band.  Then you are done.  Shape till happy.

Book Review: Paper Illusions: The Art of Isabelle De Borchgrave

So to be blunt this is a very expensive book, 75 dollars to be precise, although you can now get it on amazon for $44.  Even with a discount it is a heavy hitter for price.  The fact is it is quite fascinating.  As someone who is fascinated with both costume design (I started out as a theater major, worked in the costume department of a theater and have been a dresser for shows) and tessellations/corrugations this book scratches both itches.  

Isabelle is a Belgian artist whose work is immaculately detailed.  It is not strictly origami, but is a glorious fusion of paper, paint, thread, and the human imagination.  Her work is detailed recreations of historical garments; she makes “silk” hankerchiefs out of paper, she paints the paper until it, as an alchemist’s dream, becomes sumptuous cloth.  The wigs are folded freehand it appears, and her pleated Silk Fortuny ‘Delphos’ dress with veil and gold leaf necklace is a masterpiece (plate 49).  To most folders her bracelet (plate 46) will be very familiar.  My personal favorite is plate 29 which is a tunic decorated with hand painted flowers, from and allegorical figure from the painting Primavera by Botticelli.  It is art as clothing as paper, my head spins with its fabulosity…  I recommend checking out this artist’s work.  It is a surreal collection of beauty and astounding attention to detail.  The pics below are from the traveling exhibit that has been shown all across Europe.

Older Origami Tessellation Tests and Modifications of a Curved Corrugation

 

As I never leave anything well enough alone I’ve been playing with a prior test.  ”Degrees of Freedom” is testing the rotational capacity of a curved corrugation.  I’m trying to think of an easy way to create an automata to create the nifty curves that can arise when playing with this.  Below the blue piece is an assortment of stuff that peaked my interest, but never got beyond that.  Tests are everywhere, finished pieces rare.

 

The one I most want to play with is the yellow design.  It was interesting how it collapsed.  The orange piece I liked, it stems from a series of layers I explored in the hexagonal world, but sadly ignored in the square based world.  The main reason I never continued was the number of iterations I would have to do.  The rectangle tess is interesting, because it is very simple.  It is a modification of a basic hex twist.