Kyle's Origami Page

A note on image quality: These are a little scruffy. I may revisit them later. As I was too lazy to take "real" pictures and scan them (which I may yet do in the future), I shot them on my camcorder and then used a Connectix QuickClip to slurp off still pictures. And yes, I forget to take the date off the camcorder screen till it was too late & I didn't feel like redoing it. Any more questions? Email me!

• Dodecahedron Flower Ball: A nice model, however, it uses equilateral triangles for the starting paper shape, so you will need to cut some paper down. From Gurkewitz and Arnstein, 3-D Geometric Origami: Modular Polyherda, p. 39.

• Spike Ball: An OK model.. tends to come apart a little bit; requires extra care in assembling it so it doesn't "pop" apart, or at least that was my experience in making a couple of them. From Gurkewitz and Arnstein, 3-D Geometric Origami: Modular Polyherda, p. 43.

• Hyperbolic Parabola: I really enjoyed folding this. The model shown is folded from 15 cm paper; as you have to put 16 "concentric" sqares on the paper before folding, you probably don't want to go much smaller. The folding is easier than you would expect, you just have to be careful & fold as accurately as you can. From Paul Jackson, The Complete Origami Course, pp. 138-141.

• Heptagonal Box Lid: I found it awkward to fit this model together, and it was really not as nice as I am used to Fuse boxes being. In fact my first few attempts were total disasters. This one was done with 15 cm paper; another folded with 7.5 cm paper is shown here. From Tomoko Fuse, Joyful Origami Boxes, pp. 78-79.

• Open-frame Isocahedron: This is one of the best modular models I've folded; I recommend it highly. The units are easy to fold, the assembly is not TOO difficult (of course it gets tricky when you are locking everything together at the end, but that can't be helped), and the whole business is rock solid when completed. From Tomoko Fuse, Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformations, pp. 62-63. (This is the 30-unit assembly.)

• Cube with pyramid additions: OK, well, with the isocahedron just mentioned, this is also one of the best, maybe the best I've done in terms of the impression it makes on people picking it up from my desk. And it is SO solid, without any adhesive whatever, my kids could probably use it to play soccer. The "fractal"-like patterning is quite attractive; well worth the effort to fold. Hint if you plan to fold this: it's easier to fold the small triangular pyramids and insert them in the sides of the larger square pyramid before inserting the square pyramids into the cube. Also Fuse offers the advice to start with 25 cm paper for the cube units to avoid having yhe small pyramids units be too small. I got quite good results with starting from 15 cm paper; if you're used to working with smaller paper, the folding of the small triangular pyramids from 3.75 cm paper is not bad. From Tomoko Fuse, Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformations, pp. 96-101.

• Cubic model: This is a 12-unit assembly of what Fuse calls the "muff" unit because it allegedly looks like a muff used by a lady to keep her hands warm. For my money, I don't see the resemblance, but hey, it's still a nice model. I don't really know what to call it; it resembles a rhombicuboctahedron, as far as the square faces go, but it does not have the same equilateral triangles. At any rate, the folding is not difficult. The assembly of the muff units (green paper in this picture) is quite sturdy; the insertion of the "extra" square units (pink patterns) is somewhat less so. However, with careful folding, it is still a very stable and attractive model. The picture shown was folded from 15 cm paper which I think may have been somewhat big. From Tomoko Fuse, Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformations, pp. 168-173.

• Solid isocahedron with added decorative elements: At 140 pieces of paper, this is by far the most complicated modular I've done. The "propeller" units used to make the body of the isocahedron are a rather involved fold. However after you have done a few it comes quite naturally. You need to practice a bit (or at least I did), beacuse sloppy units will result in locks that are noticably loose. The additional elements are easy to fold, but require small paper and, frankly, a lot of perseverance to complete. I found that in many cases the "long" y-elements would not lock in snugly and had a tendency to slip a little. Perhaps another try at this model would result in greater accuracy, but I'm not planning to try any time soon. From Tomoko Fuse, Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformations, pp. 110-123.