I've had this idea for a while, but wasn't really sure quite how to execute it. The empty spaces really didn't want to cooperate. But some weaker paper proved to be answer. It's unusual for me in that it's not a flat design. The triangles have dimension. It is possible to flatten them into irregular triangles on the back, but I chose to keep them active on the z axis. I remember when I was first learning origami, I was into a John Montroll book about stars. He had a design for a star just like the one repeated here. Many of his books really inspired me and taught me a lot. So This particular design has some sentimental value. It's interesting to think about how various styles of origami converge and relate to create new designs and possibilities.

Everything feels like chaos right now. It's a scary time to be alive. We all deal with that in our own ways. One of the ways I deal is with origami. When immersed in folding everything else about the world and myself falls away. There is only the paper and my desire to coax it into the shapes that make it art. I've done a few tessellations that are what I refer to as faux flagstones. They have patterns similar to flagstones, but they are folded along the natural structure of a triangle grid and don't require any special manipulations on the reverse side. I'm sure this techniques has been explored before now, but it's relatively new to me. This tessellation is a teardrop shaped example of that. I believe I saw a photo on google of Ben Parker creating the same design. So I just sought to reproduce it. These types of designs are fairly easy to fold and great for those looking to better understand tessellations as a whole. A short while back, I did one using...

I'm fairly certain absolutely no one cares about origami tessellations right now. Nevertheless, distractions are useful coping techniques. This is another Ben Parker design that I decided to attempt. It was a pretty straight-forward pattern. Nothing terribly tricky in the structure itself. It wasn't easy to fold though. It wasn't super difficult, but it was pretty finicky. This style of flagstoning really interests me. The way all the shapes nestle together into almost impossible configurations. I just love it. It's also striking how beautifully flagstones show up in backlight. Another thing that's always amazed me about origami tessellations is how the reverse side can be as stunning and sometimes more stunning than the front side. The second photo is a backlight of the rear. I like to figure these things out on my own if I can. Most folders do. Still, I kept a crease pattern sketch for those that might want it. It's down below.

This is a mock flagstone of rhombuses. It's not a true flagstone. It's simply small hex twists on the back and natural rhombus folds on the front. I love the challenge of real flagstone tessellations. They are beautiful and diabolical. Still, there is something wonderful about the simplicity and ease of folding this type of design. It yields an impressive result with far less effort. All these years of folding so many tessellations, I'm still amazed by what one can do with a single sheet of paper.

This one is small offset hex twists with teardrop shapes off of them and blunt pyramids on the back. The pyramids on the back overlap some, but not enough to make it easy to nestle them together. So when I went to flatten it, I just did the best I could to get everything to play nicely together. It didn't work out perfectly, but the front has a nice finish in my opinion. I like how the backside pyramids result in funky shapes on the front. The benefit of using small hex twists that are folded similarly to open back hex twists is that you can create tessellations that fit nicely on a smaller grid that are not possible using a classic small hex twist. 

This is a pretty run of the mill tessellation. I may or may not have folded it in the past and forgotten. I have no doubt others have already folded it. It has a nice appearance though. Open back hex at the center with the pyramids around it. I'm thinking this would be much cooler using small hexagons folded offset. You'd get more repetitions for a cooler pattern. It's a pretty easy fold. Do the center hex and then create the arms on the other side. Use a a small hex to link the next repetition. The pyramids form as you move outward, but it helps to know they're there. You can use them to work the other side more easily. It's simple, to be sure, but it's elegant.

This is a variation on rhombus stars. There are a lot of rhombus flower/star tessellations out there. This one may or may not be slightly new. It backlights really nicely though. Small hexagon twists have rhombuses directly off of them. Repeat as needed. The small hexes are folded offset, like open back hexes. To link the iterations to the center it was just a matter of pushing some paper backward. The outer ring just needed some offsets to create the veins between them.

I found an image of this flagstone on google. It felt familiar, yet different. I wasn't really keen to do another flagstone, but it was fun to figure out the pattern. I didn't do a great job folding it as I was kinda figuring it out as I went. It's a little uneven. It still came out pretty nice though. I don't have a proper crease pattern for it because I mostly just worked it out on the paper that I used to fold it. It's not terribly complex. Central open back hex. Triangle twists and rhombuses off of that. Small hex twists on the other side between the repetitions.