Almighty Bean

January is almost over; shame on me for not updating the world about the happenings here sooner.  The last time I talked was *peeks at blog date* … What?! September?  That’s the problem with having microblogging sites like Plurk and Twitter.  You talk a lot there, so there seems to be no need to blog anymore.  Seeing my other friends’ blogs woke me up.  So here I am again My apologies again..Here we go.

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I’m gonna say it: I have found THE hobby.  I’ve done almost everything: cross-stitching, drawing, cooking, the list goes on and on.  I tried becoming awesome at drawing anime-style, but I could never make them look right.  My cousin is great at that though.  How do I know I’m really into it?  I have 3 books about it already, and I see myself starting a book collection about it.  I have [almost] all of the tools for it, and I find myself spending hours on the net looking at other people’s works.  Maybe you’d like to buy me a bone folder?  And I’ve blogged about it.  A LOT.  You guessed it: origami.  If it were just a phase, my blog would have something else in it by now.  But here I am, updating y’all about it.

It all started with me following Sara Adams’ instructional videos in Youtube (and looking at her work in Happy Folding.com)  Then I started looking at links from her site.  Then I bought the book Fabulous Origami Boxes by Tomoko Fuse.  Then I bought a book that she recommended: Eric Gjerde’s Origami Tessellations: Awe-Inspiring Geometric Designs.  My December and January was filled with nights of exploring this book.  I finally finished all beginner and intermediate projects!  I made sure I didn’t jump into the advanced models too soon… Because triangle grid making in preparation for making tessellations take a lot of time and patience, and if I use it for an advanced project and realize that I can’t do it, I might end up tossing it.  Right now I do feel like I am ready to take on the advanced projects.  All I need is the right size of paper.  I know that at my level my 8×8 inch papers aren’t gonna be enough.  I think I’ll be comfortable with 24 x 24 in paper for these projects (Donations anybody?)

If you’ve been following my work in Plurk, you have probably seen the things I am about to show you now.  But if not, here they are.  If you wanna see my projects and my initial detailed commentary about them, you can add me as a contact on Flickr, my official, picture database for my photos.

Five and Four

This was the first project on the book.  It uses a square grid and 90 degree pleat intersections (I just wanna note that I can’t and won’t give instructions here on my blog because, hey, I want you to buy the book!)  I love the symmetry that this piece has.  This is my only successful 64×64 square grid project on 8×8 in transparent paper.

Spread Hexagons

You may recognize this project from my first attempt.  Before I got my transparent paper, I used to make tessellations on paper that weren’t backlight friendly.  When I saw the many works in flickr using light to accentuate their tessellations, I began to use light as well.  This photo was taken during the time when I used a transparent folder to hold the paper and then place it against the light on the ceiling.  With one hand I would hold the folder, with the other I would hold my heavy DSLR.  Yes, a noob I was.

Tiled Hexagons

Here I am, still using the same method.  By the time I made tiled hexagons, I was already used to making triangle twists.  This was a particularly easy project to fold.  Not counting making the 32 triangle grid, I finished this one in less than an hour.

3.6.3.6

During Christmas, my sister surprised me by giving me a shadowbox.  I was so touched, because she gave me something that actually had something to do with a craft that I am very passionate about.  She didn’t give me a generic t-shirt or something like that.  She actually listened to my constant blabbering about my weird hobby and bought something that helped me A LOT.  So I said goodbye to that beaten up tranparent folder and said hello to my new shadow box.  A shadow box is essentially a clear frame that consists of two glass bound by wood that can be adjusted to fit a flat model or a 3d model.  Right now it sits on my windowsill.  Every morning I look at it and see the natural light coming from the sun shining on my tessellation.  An instant smile is planted on my face.  Thank you again sissy!

Pinwheel

As I sift through the book I discover the so many more designs, like this one: Pinwheel.  Eric Gjerde says that this is one of his favorite works, and I couldn’t agree more.  It almost feels like the pinwheels are moving.

Open-Back Hexagon Twist

This is currently my Ipod’s Wallpaper.  Don’t you just love it?  I am really satisfied with the brown paper I used, the light that shines through it, and the pleats that radiate from it.  It’s easier than it looks, which makes it even more amazing.  I can see myself making a larger extended version of this in the near future.

Basket Weave

Most tessellations are usually beautiful from both sides.  The basket weave isn’t one of them.  The front side which shows the pattern that looks like the paper is actually made of many strips that are weaved into each other is actually hiding a lot of activity that goes on in the back.  It’s kind of mysterious when you think about it.

Square Weave

This is a design that I regret backlighting.  It looks ok, but you don’t really see the foldings weaving in and out of each other.  It is still a nice design to look at when backlit, but it doesn’t really explain the title well from this view.  One day I’ll repeat this pattern and use paper that isn’t transparent.

Chateau-Chinon

The design looked so simple but the preparation was grueling and the collapsing took a lot of effort. It is like trying to make a little baby go to sleep and placing it down without making it cry (I’ve been doing a lot of babysitting lately haha).. I found myself holding my breath a lot while reinforcing the creases. The result was amazing though.

Rhombus Weave

I made this in preparation for the advanced projects that utilize that rhombus twist.  It kind of reminds me of the ocean.  What do you see?

Star Twist

I have to admit that I did this project early on during the times when I haven’t completed the beginner level projects.  And I failed on my first try.  I just hated doing 60 degree pleat intesections! This is my second attempt.  I did it after doing many other projects.  It still could use a lot of practice, I see a lot of imperfections on it.  But right now, as it is on my shadowbox, it still makes me happy.  The sun hides all of the imperfections that I see.

Roman Church Floor Tiling

I made a bad choice by going with this color.  A lot of my friends associated it with germs! ^_^  Too bad, I enjoyed figuring out how to make those triangle twists on double pleats.

Daisy Chains

This was the last project I did, and it is also a 2nd attempt.  My first attempt was done on pink transparent paper with a 64x triangle grid.  Result: a failure.  I just couldn’t do the 120 deg inverted pleat intersections at that time especially on such a small workspace.  With this design, I used my very first 48 grid, on thick bond paper this time.  I love that antique-ish glow that emanates from it.

Double Triangle Sawtooth

This particular project took me 4 days to finish. I thought I would be able to work on it fairly quick because I knew how to do hexagon twists and triangle twists from former projects. I just didn’t realize that 120 degree inverted pleat intersections were hard to maneuver, especially in a 32 grid. After 2 days (when I say 2 days it just means the 4-5 hour period at night when I’m done with chores), I decided to draw on my tattered paper. I just needed to see the CP on it just so I knew that I was going the right way. When I finally figured it out, I folded on another sheet of paper, and used my first slightly torn paper as reference. Even then, it was still difficult.

Once I figured out how to do the center hexagon and the surrounding double triangle twists, I was again stumped on how to tessellate. According to the book, it said to move along the radiating set of pleats and fold the double triangle twist. But when I do this, I have a hard time making the corresponding hexagon. In the end, what I did was, to make one double triangle twist, then unfold, then work on the 120 deg inverted pleat intersection that will make up the sides of the hexagon. Maybe you guys can tell me an easier way to do this. To think that I only worked on a 32 grid… what if I made a 48-64?

And so, here it is… I am just glad I finished it. I’m pretty sure the pattern would look better if the surrounding sawtooth units were full instead of half. But I’m not gonna work on that anytime soon.

Stacked Triangles, front, backlit

I was initially planning to take a picture of this project without backlight because I wanted to show the embossed characteristic of the stacked triangles.  That was the reason why I used normal bond paper, so that the paper won’t be shiny when I took a picture of it.  To my delight, backlighting this project proved to be much more satisfying.

Stacked Triangles, back, backlit

Here is the same project viewed from the back.  I think you know why I found it so important to show you both sides.  They looked different from each other, and both sides were worthy of being shown.

Bird base

The title of this design doesn’t refer to the flying animal that we all know.  It actually has something to do with a popular base fold that origamists are familiar with.  It is a very interesting design to learn, and is pretty simple compared to the many other projects that Christiane Bettens is known for.

Propellerheads

I will end this compilation with this design.  There are a lot of tessellations out there that are actually three dimensional.  This is one of them.  I didn’t do wetfolding on it as advised by the book; maybe in the future I’ll do an extended version of it.

See what happens when you don’t blog for a long time?  All the projects pile up.  I am very proud of all of them, so I couldn’t leave any of them out.  I’ll be sure to share the advanced projects to all of you when I have made them.  I wish I can get my hands on some elephant hide paper.  I’ve heard a lot of good things about it.  Glassine would also be nice to have.

I hope you all enjoy my projects.  When we meet, I’d be happy to share my book with you and teach you a few tricks that I learned.

Thank you so much to Mr. Eric Gjerde for this very valuable book.  One day, I hope to have it signed by you.  Thank you as well to my new friends in flickr.  I am so glad I became active there.  I didn’t know that all of my fellow origamists are just there.  ^_^

So you guys wanna give origami a try?