Over the last couple of weeks it has been raining quite a lot in my little corner of the world. While many of you might not find that particularly unusual, you should probably know that I live in New Mexico (USA) and that we've been in a drought for the last few years so the rain is very welcome. This has done wonders for many of the flowers around here. All of the flowers in bloom will soon start attracting hummingbirds - along with the hummingbird feeders, of course.

This is one of the many wonderful designs by Peter Engel and can be found in his book Origami: from Angelfish to Zen on pages 96-98.

His instructions say to start after step 2 of the angelfish, but it seems to me that his instructions make more sense by starting with a bird base at step 2 and going from there. This is the procedure I followed to fold the hummingbird shown here.

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This shows a comparison of two of Toshikazu Kawasaki's rose designs. The images on the left half are a view from the side and the right side shows more of a top view.

The top pair are photos of the 'new' rose. This one was folded from diagrams in Kawasaki's book Origami Dream World: Flower and Animal Collection and is essentially the design that the diagrams by Winson Chan are based on.

The bottom two photos show the version of the rose as I typically fold them. This is based heavily on the version found in Origami for the Connoisseur with some changes I've made to accomidate the base and stem as well as som minor aesthetic changes. A variation of this version can also be found in Kawasaki's book Origami Dream World.

The new rose is certainly a lot more intricate, has a lot more petals, and is certainly more difficult to fold. The modified version that I usually fold still looks great, but it's not as natural looking, but definitely easier to fold, and because the underside can be opened, it's was fairly easy to come up with a good design for a base. It'll be a while before I come up with a base design for the new rose that I'll be satisfied with.

There is another book available that was written by Toshikazu Kawasaki, Roses, Origami, and Mathematics. This book and both of the Origami Dream World books are, as far as I know, currently only available in Japan.

Update: Roses, Origami, & Math has been translated and is now available in the United States. yay!

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This interesting fold comes from the oddball mind of Jeremy Shafer and was apparently inspired by the cover image on one of Peter Engle's books. Both of them based, of course, on the drawing by M.C. Escher, "Drawing Hands" - you can find the image at the M.C. Escher Official Website under the gallery page, "Back in Holland 1941-1954".

The diagrams and instructions for this model can be found on page 228 in Jeremy Shafer's book, Origami to Astonish and Amuse along with several other interesting and unusual models.

I used an 8.5 inch square of foil paper. He reccomends at least 10 inches, but this is what I had available at the time. I suppose the photo would have turned out better if I had used a different color of foil paper or if my walls weren't white.

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I posted this weeks model a little later than usual because I was attending a wedding.

In honor of the wedding, I decided to fold this model, also from Jeremy Shafer's book Origami to Astonish and Amuse. The pair of interlocking heart rings is folded from a single square without a single cut. The layers do start to add up around the hearts but with a little patience and a re-reading the instructions about 5 times, I finally managed to sort out what needed to be done around step 34 (and a half!) to finish up.

To Corry and Shauna, I wish you all the best with your lives together!

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I'm really late posting the origami model of the week because I've been extremely busy. I hate it when that happens. Anyway, this week, it's the first part of a train by Toshikazu Kawasaki. It is a modular design that makes use of some very simple modules to make a very intricate and sturdy model. The diagrams for this design can be found in Mr. Kawasaki's book Origami Dream World. This book is currently only available in Japan as far as I know. Depending on how much time I have over the next few weeks, I may continue to fold parts for this train. We'll see.

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This is a modular model that I came up with while I was still doing tech support for a living. As far as I know, this is a completely original design, but then again I haven't really looked into it much. It consists of 6 modules (in this case, two each of three different colors) folded with what is essentially four repeated instances of the bird base - on in each quadrant of the paper. The modules are then interlocked in a way that is suprisingly stable despite being fairly difficult.

I plan to add a set of diagrams and instructions for this model soon.

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This ominous looking block is what's known in mathematical circles as a Menger Sponge. This is another model that I actually folded during my many hours tied my a short leash to a tech support call center a few years ago. During an idle moment, I suspect I ran across this webpage or a similar page and I probably thought "Oh wow! I want one of those! And it'll probably be able to distract me for a long time, too!". Tech support wasn't exactly my dream job, you see. Anyway it took several weeks to complete because it is made from 1056 sonobe modules made from black Post-it note squares. I suspect that any variation of the basic sonobe module can be used in the construction. I counted about 9 sonobe variations in Origami Modular Polyhedra. Also there are a few sonobe variations and other project ideas that use sonobe modules in Unit Origami and Origami for the Connoisseur.

All things considered, it's held up pretty well for being nearly 4 years old.

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This week brings another fractal style model rendered in paper. In this case it's an octahedron with intersecting cubes. This comes from Tomoko Fuse's book Unit Origami. It is a multimodular model and can be fount on 96-100 with extra modules on pages 104-105, 229 (the book says to look on page 231 but that's a mirror image - either one will do, really.), and 233.

This model reminds me somewhat of a 3d cross between a serpenski gasket and a koch snowflake. Peter Engel writes a bit on fractals in his book Origami: From Angelfish to Zen so you will want to check that out as well.

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I took a week off from the fold of the week because of a particularly nasty computer crash. The crash itself wasn't so bad, but the fact that most of my files are no longer in existance kinda hurt. I have also shifted the boundries of the weeks since I was usually posting the images late anyway. I will now try to have a photo posted on Monday of each week.

This oddball looking creation is part of a much larger origami project that I'm working on. It consists of several stellated octahedrons each made from 12 sonobe module variants. They are connected using a method that is very similar to methods outlined in Tomoko Fuse's Unit Origami.

I will be posting more information on the project that this is part of when I have more of a plan.

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I have a neighbor who has a thing for unicorns so it's no big suprise that when she found out that I do origami, she wanted me to fold a unicorn. This was sometime last year. I explained at the time that I had not found a design for a unicorn that I particularly liked. I told her I'd work on it.

Well now she's moving. Fortunately I recently got John Montroll's book "Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami". I'm being told by my zoologist friends (of which I have none) that unicorns are indeed mythological creatures. I tried it out and decided that this model turns out better with thin paper. This time around I made it with yellow (or gold, if you prefer) foil paper and it seems to have turned out pretty good.

My neighbor was quite glad that I finally found a unicorn design that I liked.

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This is a design that I came up with over the weekend. The first few experiments ended up looking more like flower pots than anything that would work as a bud vase. Another experiment ended up being the basis for the base of the vase... or something like that. A few more attempts and now I've got a fairly good bud vase. It's a little top heavy but so are the roses and as long as it's well balanced, it'll be fine.

I plan to post instructions at some point soon - hopefully in the next couple of weeks but it's hard to say when I'll get a chance.

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This week's model arose from a discussion about cute fuzzy animals. At one point in the conversation, someone mentioned tribbles - basicly cute purring little fuzzballs from the Star Trek universe. This led to a discussion of what troublesome creatures tribbles actually are despite being cute and fuzzy and so on. All they do is eat and reproduce.

Klingons hate them. With a passion. That they're resource hogs and don't actually *do* anything is bad enough. That they're cute and fuzzy and cuddly just makes them all the more detestable to the warrier race. A plague to be eliminated and that they did, so the story goes.

Since I'm not sure tribbles *have* ships and the tribble itself would really resemble the origami boulder... I decided to build the Bird of Prey which might have been used by the Klingons when they wiped out the tribble homewold. This model is found in the book Star Trek - Paper Universe By Andrew Pang.

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This may, at first glance, look like another somewhat random jumble of modules but a closer look reveals some method to my madness. What you're looking at is another part of my large ongoing project - a part of which I showed a few weeks ago

The eventual goal is to construct a DNA molecule that is as technicly accurate as I can make it while using only paper (and a custom display stand - for support). The model for June 14-20 is one unit of the sugar-phosphate backbone. This week shows all four bases paired together. When complete,it will be made up of more than 4800 modues. I have no idea what I was thinking when I started in on this but it's definitly a challange.

The top image shows the T-A pair with T on the left and A on the right. The lower image shows the C-G pair with C on the left and G on the right.

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I was talking with someone on Friday and they asked if I ever sold any of the origami that I've folded. I answered that I do (which is why I have the DofTNet Store set up). She asked if I could make anything. Well I don't know about anything but there are certainly a large variety of designs out there and I can always play with the paper myself until something jumps out. She wanted a pink fox and I knew right away the design to use.

This fox was designed by Toshikazu Kawasaki - the same Kawasaki who has his name attached to several rose designs. You can find instructions for the Fox (as well as the rose and a handfull of Kawasaki's other designs) in Origami for the Connoisseur" by Kunihiko Kahahara and Toshie Takahama. This particular fox was folded using the instructions in "Origami Dream World" by Toshikazu Kawasaki himself which has many of the same designs but is written in Japanese.

If you see a model featured on this site and you would like me to fold one for you, check the DofTNet Store to see if it's there. If it isn't, please feel free to ask about it. I do take requests, after all.

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This week, I'm late posting because of lots of distractions over the weekend and lack of sleep.. whee. Anyhow, I have decided to post another one of the models I built while I was doing tech support. Found in the book 3-D Geometric Origami, this is a modular dimpled dodecahedron ball. It is made from 90 modules. It reccomends gluing if it's to be handled much but I've moved a couple of times since I made this and it seems to have survived fine without it.

I'll have to put a little more work into next week's fold.

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Someone told me the other day "Dude! You should make an origami Spock!"

I replied that I actually had when I was still tied to a telephone by a short leash. I haven't really done a lot of faces but this one looked simple enough to do and with all the time on my hands.. well.. I gave it a try.

After I was asked about it, I went and dug it out of the box for our stuff that they gave to us when they closed the call center, and it was still intact!

I found the design at Anita's Origami which also has a lot of other diagrams as well.

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I don't know what lead up to this discussion but over the weekend I found myself in the middle of a conversation where someone wanted to move to Florida - anywhere would to. My strange sense of humor revealed itself when I asked if inside an alligator would work. It was at this point that I decided to make an alligator for this week.

Someone else suggested the Florida Keys would be a better choice on account of a lack of alligators. I don't really know if there aren't any alligators in the Keys or not, but I can't argue that living there would be nice.

The decision to fold an alligator had already been made by that time so I set about finding one and I didn't have to look too far. This week's model comes from Peter Engel's book Origami: From Angelfish to Zen. Lately, the humidity here has been rathar high so creases don't always hold so well and I think it shows in this photo. A bit of quality time with a hair dryer might help with that.

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Fold of the Week: August 16 - 22, 2004

Daffodil - Toshikazu Kawasaki

After spending the weekend reorganizing the website as well as several other things that I've been working on, I found myself with no time left for a fold of the week. I got a few suggestions from people but nothing that was practical because it would take all week to make, or because I would have to experiment and research and so on.

Finally, I decided I'd try some other flowers. Roses are the main attraction here but variety is always good. After a bit of skimming through the various books, I ran across what looks to me like a daffodil or something. Since it's one of the designs from Origami Dream World - Flower and Animal Collection, I really don't know what it is. I can't read very much japanese, you see.

This is another design from Toshikazu Kawasaki. In this case, it's a modular design with 6 half-squares for the flower and folded strips for the stem and leaves. The vase, in this case, is not paper. I was in a hurry!

Update: I have confirmed that ���� (Japanese language support needed) does translate to daffodil.

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Fold of the Week: August 23 - 29, 2004

Iris - Toshikazu Kawasaki

After last week, I decided to see what other interesting flowers I could fold, and since many of the flowers in Toshikazu Kawasaki's book Origami Dream World - Flower and Animal Collection are so interesting, I picked another model from there for this week.

This week, I selected the Iris designed by Toshikazu Kawasaki. This, like the daffodil, is a modular flower. I used three half squares 6 x 3 inches and three squares 3 x 3 inches for the blossom itself and a handfull of three inch wide green strips for the stem and leaves.

The vase was one of the same design that I originally used for the roses. The diagrams for the vase can be found on origami.com.

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Fold of the Week: August 30 - September 5, 2004

Cherry Blossom Ball - Toshikazu Kawasaki

This week brings yet another design from Toshikazu Kawasaki. Another modular flower design taken a step further by combining several cherry blossoms into a decorative ball. This design is found in his book Origami Dream World along with an explaination of the geometry involved which I would love to read at some point except that I have only a vague understanding of the Japanese language.

This model is made from 30 sheets of 3x5 inch paper. Each module makes two petals - one each for two adjacent blossoms. This creates 12 blossoms in a very sturdy ball. The model took about two hours to complete.

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Fold of the Week: September 6 - 12, 2004

Truncated Octahedron - Tomoko Fuse

The fold for this week was inspired by an interesting conversation I had with the chief scientist at a software company that I went to for a job interview last week. On top of his book shelf was a structure made of file folder bits that were taped together. I said that it would be kinda fun to try to do that in origami. He explained what it was and we talked about the geometry and other mathematics behind it. It was a cluster of 15 truncated octahedrons which, he explained, are the most spherical polyhedrons that can be packed with no gaps in a three dimensional space.

While I would love to create a set of 15 of these and stick them all together, I simply don't have the time to do it in the span of a few days with all the other stuff I do, so this week, you get from me a single truncated octahedron. This is made from hexagons and squares and connecting modules from Tomoko Fuse's book Unit Origami. The 8 hexagons are each made from two squares of 6x6 inch paper (page 222,223). The 6 squares are each made from two squares of 4x4 inch paper (page 176). The connecting modules are also folded from 4x4 inch squares and are based on similar crease paterns.

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Fold of the Week: September 20 - 26, 2004
Guest Folder: Ron Yu

Rose - Toshikazu Kawasaki
Calyx, Stem, and Leaf - Ron Yu

This weeks fold of the week was folded by Ron Yu. He has come up for another alternative for the base and stem for this version of Kawasaki's rose. When folding the roses, he skips several of the optional steps but his base design can be attached regardless of which optional steps are skipped.

The base starts with a square that is about 1/3 the dimensions of the square used for the rose. The stem is similar to this one but attaches differently. Instructions for Ron's base can be found his site.

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Fold of the Week: September 27 - October 3, 2004

Rhinoceros - David Brill

Recently, I mentioned my interesting job interview in my Live Journal. I am pleased to report that I start next week! In the meantime, I'm brushing up on my Java, still working on my various other projects, and trying to correct my sleep cycle. This week, in celebration of the new job, I have decided to fold a rhinoceros. What an odd thing to fold in celebration of a new job, you say? It seems the company takes it's name from our friend here. Makes perfect sense now, doesn't it?

This design is taken from David Brill's book, Brilliant Origami and in this case was folded from an 8 inch square of fairly thin paper. After trying twice with thicker paper and running into problems with the neck, I had to seek out thinner paper.

I'll need to practice folding this and many of Brill's other designs. Our rhino friend's feet need a little work, it seems.

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Fold of the Week: October 4 - 10, 2004

Five Intersecting Tetrahedra - Tom Hull
60 Degree Unit - Francis Ow

This week brings us back to geometry. What you see here is a set of five tetrahedra that are all interlocked in a suprizingly stable way. This was something I folded after a discussion on the Origami Club LiveJournal community about a month ago. Several people were having problems folding this so I thought I'd give it a go. In the process, I got into a fight with my paper cutter which I lost so I took a break from this model for a while. I decided to try again and this time was much more mindful of where my fingers were when I cut paper and it all turned out fine.

The design, as noted in the LiveJorunal discussions, is from Tom Hull's home page. The instructions call for 30 1x3 rectangles (in this case, 6 each in 5 different colors). The modules themselves are quite simple as is putting together each tetrahedron. The challenge is getting the five tetrahedra to intersect correctly.

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Fold of the Week: October 11 - 17, 2004

Caffeine Molecule

This week brings us another project that I have wanted to do for a while. Some of you may recognize this as our favorite alkaloid: Caffeine, or a model of the caffeine molecule rendered in paper. I started a new job last week and adjusting to the new schedule has been a little easier with the help of a bit of the real thing in the morning. Hooray for C₈H₁₀N₄O₂!

This is inspired by Tomoko Fuse's work in her book Unit Origami using a sonobe module variant. I made a version of the caffeine molecule a few years ago but it was not terribly sturdy and has long since fallen apart. This new version is much more stable and if I were so inclined, I could pick it up and flop it around a bit without much worry of it falling apart because the connecting units lock into place as compared to the previous version where the connecting units were held in place by friction and luck.

The colors represent the various atoms as follows: Black is carbon; Yellow is hydrogen; Blue is nitrogen; Red is oxygen. More useful information on caffeine can be found at the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia.org.

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Fold of the Week: October 18 - 24, 2004

Ground Beetle - John Montroll

I've been awefully busy the last few days. I spent a good chunk of friday entering bug reports into a software bug tracking system. I spend a good chunk of my weekend catching up on sleep and folding this highly detailed bug in.. uh.. celebration, I guess. Through tricks of photo editing, the two bugs shown are two views of the same bug.

This is a ground beetle that can be found towards the end of Origami for the Connoisseur. This is another one of John Montroll's designs. From a single square of paper sprouts 6 legs, antenna, wings, and even a segmented body. Detailed enough to fool a cat into going into attack mode!

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Fold of the Week: October 25 - 31, 2004

Ico$ahedron - Lewis Simon and Bennett Arnstein

I got my first paycheck for my new job last week and to celebrate, I decided to do something fun with my money. After a bit of doodling, I decided that it had been a while since I made an icosahedron, so I went to the bank and got 30 nice shiny new $1 bills.

I used the triangle edge module from 3-D Geometric Origami which uses half squares (that is 1x2 paper) so I had to fold the ends in a bit since dollars aren't exactly 1x2. I also got a very nice patern by making sure that only the backs of the bills were showing.

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