It's about time I added a new origami tessellation. This one was as frustrating as it was satisfying. My paper was not cooperating, but I persevered. I've explored similar designs. This one took it a step further. It uses the smallest rhombuses natural to the grid to connect an array of stars that are formed from offset hexagons and the resulting triangles. When you fold an offset small hex twist small triangles naturally form. This creates the stars. A typical hex twist follows the normal grid lines of a triangle grid. These hex twists fold bisecting the grid lines. However, unlike traditional open-back hexes, they are the smallest hex available on the grid. The hex shape itself does follow the grid. It's only the twist that is offset. I actually have a crease pattern from my planning stage which I haven't yet photographed. That would probably explain it better than words can. I'll hopefully upload it soon. There are also larger triangles on the rever...

This is a slightly more complex variation on a previous tessellation that I did a while back. There are rhombuses, triangles and hexagons all working together. In my version the triangles and rhombuses are mountain folds, while the hexagons are valley folds. When I first began folding the crease pattern, I was just kind of winging it. I wasn't entirely certain where I was going with it. So I wound up with random mountain and valley folds. I later unfolded and refolded following the consistent pattern shown. I thought about folding it differently, where the genders of the folds in individual modules went in alternating directions in some kind of pattern. That would probably be really interesting, but the paper didn't feel strong enough and I didn't feel patient enough. Normally, when I think of triangle twists my mind automatically goes to the classic offset triangles that do not follow the standard lines of an origami triangle grid. But there are many pos...

I found the crease pattern for this tessellation using google. I'm a sucker for rhombus twist based flagstones.I would call this one a rhombus spread tessellation. It reminds me of Eric Gjerde's famous spread hex tess re-imagined to use rhombuses. It begins with your standard small hex based rhombus flower at the center. It then proceeds to repeat the rhombuses in a linear pattern off of the center starting points. I really like it. It was a pretty standard flagstone fold. Patience is definitely required.  If you use a hexagon as your starting shape the edges are difficult. As with other flagstones the fold does not naturally fit that shape. It's a pattern that fits very nicely in a smaller 32 pleat grid. The end result is pretty impressive. Kudos to whomever first conceived of it.

I spent a lot of time at work trying to suss out the pattern for this design. I'm not sure too whom it belongs. Maybe Origami Yonca. Maybe Marjan Smeijsters. I got  close a few times. But too many distractions and interruptions hindered the process. When I was able to really focus, I discovered it was very similar to a design I had already done. It used the same process that I had used to create my ringing bells tessellation . At last the technique came back to me. It's a relatively knew way of folding for me. Rather than twists. It's more of a compression. The overall composition has a lot in common with flagstones, but rather than using rear side triangle twists to reconcile the front, it relies on the geometry of the grid to compactify and nestle the shapes close to each other. Given a little quiet time, I was able to work it all out. It's an unforgiving technique. You need pretty sturdy paper. So even though I was able to map the crease pattern, it took m...

This one came to me after seeing and working on some other people's  similar, but different tessellations. There's this technique of folding toward and under or over a grid shape. It may have a name. If it does, I don't know it. It creates different possibilities from  classic twist folds. That's the method I used here. Small triangles and small rectangles overlap each other to form hexagonal rings. If you have a fairly sturdy paper, it's not too difficult to fold. It takes some time though. It's slow going. A lot of little detail work. The second photo shows the rear of the tessellation. This should give some further insight into the structure should you choose to attempt it. I don't have a crease pattern. I drew it for the first time on the sheet I folded for the result. It's not a complicated structure. It didn't require testing and planning. I started with a small triangle at the center. Then rectangles off of those points. Repeat...

I got the crease pattern for this one from Daniel Kwan's flickr. It looked really complicated and difficult to fold, but it was actually pretty easy. The ones I think will be easy are always hard and the one I think will be a struggle are usually a breeze. That's no one's fault, but my own, I suppose. His is iso area. The design does not extend to the edges. But I'm a sucker for going all the way out to the edge. It yields a really pretty result. Both the front and the back are quite nice. It took no time to fold. It's a very straight forward concept. It artfully demonstrates the beauty in simplicity. . It's perfect for a beginner just getting started on the concept of tessellations. His original crease pattern is shown below.