Winter Wonderland Tessellation by solvingorigamitessellations.com  This is an interesting original tessellation that relies on collapsing hexagons. That is how the micro rhombus stars are formed.  From there I added both triangle and rhombus twists.  This is a semi 3-D fold. It's mostly flat, but the connection between the repetitions have a 3-D curve joining them.  I decided to use green paper just to change things up. It's regular printer paper in a 32 pleat triangle grid.  by solvingorigamitessellations.com I realized as I was in the midst of mapping it out on my triangle gridded paper that it could be a fully flat fold if  I had just mirrored the shapes as each iteration progressed outward.  But at that point, I'd already committed to the original idea. So I went with it.  I'm partial to fully flattened tessellations.  But there are many incredible origami tessellations that do not fold flat.  In some cases, like with Joel Cooper's 3-D masks, they are some

Spirals of Doom by solvingorigamitessellations.com  This origami tessellation is a pretty basic one. While I adore the more complex patterns that I can find or interpret from others, if I hit upon a simple tessellation idea that I haven't encountered before, I will feel compelled to fold it. Such is the case with my Spirals of Doom tessellation.  In fact, it's such an unassuming tessellation that I forgot about it for a while. Then I found it a bit later in my google photos and here we are.  Spirals of Doom by solvingorigamitessellations.com Why did I call it Spirals of Doom? Just take a look at the world today. And I live in a barely blue state that is slowly drowning in a sea of red ones. But please, don't pray for me. I'm an atheist.  The basic premise is open back hexagons and rhombuses. The hexagons have natural triangles off of them and then the rhombuses tuck into their tips. I'm sure I drew a diagram before I folded this tessellation, but I don't kno

  designed by solvingorigamitessellations.com This one is a little unusual in the way that the twists relate to each other.  The first time I tried this tessellation I used tant paper and it worked, but it was impossible to get a nice pic because the paper color was too dark. It's not the kind of tessellation that looks all that interesting without back light.  So, I did it again. This time with thinner, lighter colored paper. It certainly photographs much better.  Paper choice is so important for folding. It can make or break your attempt. The color of the paper is pretty important too. What's the fun in executing a cool tessellation if you can't get a good photo of it. What looks best is determined by the type of tessellation and how the various shapes interact and overlap.  I wasn't sure the thin paper would work for this design, but i managed to fold it pretty well.  designed by solvingorigamitessellations.com It's rhombus twists around an open back hexagon.

designed by solvingorigamitessellations.com  I've been continuing to work on my twisting tessellation creativity. This is one that I particularly like. It's simple, yet complex. A great many tessellations are.  It begins with open back hexagons and then I go on to add a triad of interconnected triangles. It was an unexpected discovery.  Creating twist based tessellations are still a weak spot for me, but I occasionally hit upon something unexpected like this.  design by solvingorigamitessellations.com It's not too hard to fold. I'd say it's intermediate level . Upper intermediate though, because the triple sets of triangles are a little difficult to situate.  I used regular printer paper because I've learned that tant paper is not well suited to twist based designs. Tant is great for collapses and flagstones, but most twists seem to respond better to a thinner paper.  Crease pattern follows.  created by solvingorigamitessellations.com Filed under: Origami Tess

solved by solvingorigamitessellations.com  This is a tessellation by Ben Parker titled Snowflakes that I reverse engineered and folded about 4 years ago. I wanted to give it another try to see if I could work it a little better. And also to be able to create a crease pattern as I hadn't done so the first time around.  When I first solved this tessellation I was still learning how to extrapolate the architecture behind already completed tessellations of other artists. I don't remember how easy or hard of a time I had back then, but  I do remember that figuring out how to fold it taught me a lot.  Funny thing about this tessellation, I had actually originally intended to refold a similar, but slightly different design by him called Hidden Treasure .  solved by solvingorigamitessellations.com For whatever reason, I must've gotten distracted and wound up doing snowflakes instead. Go figure.  Once you understand either, the other is already solved.  Ironically, I don't h

created by solvingorigamitessellations.com  This one just came to me as I was fiddling with open back hexagons. I wondered what I could do with small natural parallelograms around it. So I just added triangle twists in order to repeat and it came out pretty cool.  The original inspiration for this tessellation wound up being the back of the design to me. I really liked what happened on the other side as a result.  This is an intermediate level tessellation . It's not too hard if you're used to working with smaller shapes. It is important though, to not try to complete all the twists as you go. It will work best if you partially fold everything and then little by little ease them into place in unison.  created by solvingorigamitessellations.com I would say that it definitely has to be folded from the back side mostly and you just wind up with the front by default.  I used ordinary printer paper folded into a 32 pleat triangle grid.  This time of year is great for origami tess

solvingorigamitessellations.com  This is a twist based origami tessellation . I kinda just came up with this one because I wanted to do something with alternating rhombus and triangle twists that was a little different than ones I and others had already done.  It may have been done before, but it was new to me as I was creating it. So, I'll call it an original tessellation because that is how it came to me.  solvingorigamitessellations.com It features open back hexagons with triangle twists off of them. Then there is a layer of larger natural hexagons with alternating rhombus and triangle twists. It's at that point that the two layers of the pattern can be repeated.  This is an intermediate level tessellation .  Not too terribly difficult to fold if you have the crease pattern. No doubt, slightly trickier if you take it upon yourself to reverse engineer it. Though, even then, it's not that hard.  I folded it using ordinary printer paper trimmed to a hexagon and creased

created by solvingorigamitessellations.com  This new tessellation is kind of the inverse of another tessellation I created not that long ago called 'Interstellar Transmissions' . That one was small hex and triangle stars surrounded by trapezoids. This new one is small hex and trapezoid stars connected by triangles. The geometry tends to work like that. Equal and opposite and so forth.  created by solvingorigamitessellations.com The trapezoids connect to the hexagons not along the grid lines, but rather by bisecting them. I call this an offset hex. I don't think that's an official term, but it does describe how the connections between the shapes work.  When I got to the edges, instead of simply following the pattern, I used the shapes that fit best to result in nicely finished ends.  This is a difficult tessellation . Lots of small shapes all tucked into one another.  I used 10 inch by 10 inch tant paper trimmed to a hexagon. A 32 pleat triangle grid. All folds. No cuts

created by solvingorigamitessellations.com This tessellation reminds me of ones I've solved by Arseniy K because of the way the shapes interact and layer upon each other. This particular tessellation, however, it is an original origami tessellation that was created by me.  Despite being the creator, I found this hard to execute. Everything is on top of each other. It's a difficult task to get it to actually work as envisioned.  It turned out pretty good considering I was kind of learning to fold it as I went. A second attempt would, no doubt, turn out better.  created by solvingorigamitessellations.com These kinds of intense tessellations rarely photograph as beautifully as the simpler ones. The light simply doesn't shine through because of the thick paper required and the multitude of layers. It's a great shame because these are some of the most extraordinary tessellations of all.  They require patience, perseverance and a deep understanding of all the nuances of va

created by solvingorigamitessellations.com This is another twist based tessellation that I came up with while actively trying to work on my twist tessellation creation skills.  It's not too complicated, but it's a fairly nifty pattern.  Basically, it's rhombuses and natural triangles around open back hexagons. That then creates 1.5 triangles on the other side. This is the side where the magic of the pattern happens and you get that money shot that makes for a great picture.   created by solvingorigamitessellations.com This is an original tessellation that I recently designed and folded. It's a pretty easy tessellation to fold.  But I think the end result is very cool.  I'm not sure how easy or hard it is to reverse engineer . But you don't have to, if you don't want to. My diagram is available at the end of this post.  created by solvingorigamitessellations.com Filed under: October 2024 Origami Tessellations

created by solvingorigamitessellations.com  I've been attempting to expand my creativity in regards to my original origami tessellations . While I find it pretty easy to design new flagstone and collapse based tessellations, I do not so easily conceive of fully twist based ideas.  Many of my ideas incorporate multiple techniques including twists. But exclusively twist based tessellations do not come as easily. So I have been experimenting with that. Trying to expand my repertoire.  I've solved many twist based tessellations designed by other artists. This provides a good foundation.  created by solvingorigamitessellations.com So, recently, I've created a few new models that are all twists. They're a little simpler than my usual modus operandi. Anyway the Wind Blows is an easy tessellation , but I figure if I hone that skill, I can soon expand to more complicated ideas with them as well.  Some of it, I think, is just the nature of how a person thinks and perceives things

created by solvingorigamitessellations.com  Here's an interesting flagstone tessellation that I recently created. The concept isn't very complicated, but the pattern is pretty cool.  It begins with trapezoids twisting around a small closed hex twist on the reverse side. Then I add more trapezoids connected to the tops of the central ones. But those trapezoids face the opposite direction.  That allows the second set of trapezoids to then repeat the central pattern.  In the remaining gaps you can fit double wide triangles.  Small triangle twists on the back side rotate around the front double triangles in a star like pattern.  design by solvingorigamitessellations.com It's an elegantly simple structure.  For a flagstone tessellation it's not too hard to fold. It's not easy either, but it's probably only an intermediate level of difficulty.  My crease pattern follows.  created by solvingorigamitessellations.com Filed under: September 2024 Tessellations