the image above is folded paper. i lie not. i would very much like to fold like an expert origami tessellator. bear in mind that i am a math midget, i still cannot fold a simple origami crane without someone leading me by the hand, i continue to be fascinated by m.c. escher, and i love stuff i can’t figure out [i do, however, have major crafting chops]. so naturally i need to learn how to make tessellated origami. it should take, what? fifteen, twenty minutes?
let’s say the word together: obsession. i am so busy at the moment this is just the thing for me to see so i can procrastinate. learning this folding technique should take months, years, perhaps decades! that’s an immense amount of procrastination. clearly not a practical route at this juncture.
there is no harm in enjoying this stuff…it’s phenomenally beautiful. and not in a oooooh, shiny! kind of way. this is pure, simple, and completely obsessive. i dare say they may even be OCD??? no matter. follow these links and get your awe on. get your AWE on!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/polyscene/
http://www.origamitessellations.com/
oooooh, awwwwwe and errrrrrrrrrrrr. in my dreams!!
for still more information, see the comment below. thanks, ray and erik!!
Hi,
I have a gentle introduction to the type of stuff polyscene does here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/miura-ori/sets/72157594402097621/
Also, there are 2 books on origami tessellations coming out soon.
If you try anything out for yourself, don’t be scared by the impressive stuff, just post what you’ve done on flickr — we’re a friendly group.
Indeed, as the author of one of those books, there’s hope for people who want to develop a new art form. It is OCD friendly, I suppose, although I don’t have it and yet I find myself addicted anyway
My book is a relatively easy starting point – it’s still a bit of work, I can’t lie about that… there’s lots of folding involved. But anyone doing crafts that involve repetition and accuracy (knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, basketweaving, the list goes on) understands that how repeating these simple steps becomes much easier with a little practice. Using those techniques to make beautiful things is really the fun bit we all love to do.
Robert Lang’s book is going to be a much more in-depth tome covering all sorts of geometrical folding, including tessellations and curved folds, and will no doubt be another monumental work like his previous “Origami Design Secrets”. ODS really opened the door to an explosion of figurative complex origami designs, and I’m excited to see what his tessellation/geometrics book does for our chosen art form! I can’t wait to see all the beautiful new things that are going to start popping up all over the place.
And to reinforce what Ray said (Hi Ray!) – most of us all got our start folding little things, and by sharing those things with each other on Flickr. This has led to enormous growth of our collective artistic abilities, and many new discoveries of folding techniques and styles. However everyone who starts out needs to learn the basics, and we go out of our way to encourage and support those new people. (We were all there too, at one point in time!) By encouraging newcomers with positive reinforcement, we start to see all sorts of beautiful and unique work coming from them… everyone has a different take on things, and the diversity of work continues to amaze me.
So much thanks for giving origami tessellations two thumbs up! And don’t forget that we’re always happy to have new people join us and start folding
-Eric Gjerde