origaminut.com

After Dman’s request here’s the origami football (or soccer ball) by Mark Leonard. It’s made from 20 white pieces and 12 black pieces. Unfortunately it’s not very sturdy because of the pentagons having 2 flaps and 3 pockets for every module, this lets some gaps in the model. Other than that it’s great and looks like a traditional football.

I made the white hexagons from A6 format paper (that is an A4 cut in half twice). The black pentagons were a bit more difficult, 10.5cm in height (half an A4 in length) and 6.8cm in width, this is to make sure the hexagons’ and pentagons’ sides match.

In my model I used a thicker paper for the pentagons, this might be why it’s not very sturdy. Either way don’t try to kick it. The assembly has to be made in a specific way because of the pentagons, sometimes you’ll have to rotate a module to make others fit in, there are no extra flaps.

Diagrams here and video after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Magic rings are also called Umulius Rectangulum, whatever that is. It seems like the paper “rings” are impossibly intersecting, but actually it’s made from 6 pieces, the intersections are hidden between them. The modules are made from half of an A4 paper. I used a thicker paper than normal printing paper to make it, very sturdy. At first when both ends of a module are connected, or when 2 modules are connected, it wont necessarily hold together, but once it’s assembled the intersecting modules keep it falling apart. Made by Thoki Yenn.

The paper has to be folded in 5 lengthwise, since I didn’t know how to do it I used a ruler to divide it before I folded.

Diagrams here and video after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

A shuriken like modular star by Robert Neale. It’s also called octagon star or Pinwheel-Ring-Pinwheel. It’s easy to make and once all the modules are assembled they slide in place. It can be either a ring or a pointy throwing star (that’s why the Pinwheel-Ring-Pinwheel name), unfortunately it doesn’t change shape on the fly. Made with 8 square papers, I used 10cm square papers, but for its function it might be better to use smaller squares. Enjoy and play safely.

Diagrams here and video after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

An origami car that looks like the VW bug. It’s a wonderful, non-polluting, transporting device, but I guess it lacks a bit on safety points. I only had one color paper, but using 2 color paper would make the wheels, the front lights and the rear number plate white. It’s amazing how detailed it actually is for it’s size. By Charles Esseltine.

Diagrams here and the video after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Another origami by Jeremy Shafer, known as venus flytrap or space monster. It’s a complicated action model, when pulled from the “leafs” or tentacles, whichever you prefer, it opens its mouth.

Diagrams from Jeremy’s website and video after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following David’s request here’s the hexaflexagon action model, made by Paul Jackson. It has to be cut out because it’s made from triangles. I used an A4 paper, divided it in 7 strips of 4cm and made the base of the triangles also 4cm, equilateral triangles might work better. You can also print out the diagrams. I had to glue it together, since it’s moving it tends to come apart.

Video after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

A puzzle origami invented by Piet Hein and diagrammed by Sebastian M. Kirsch. It’s a fun toy to kill time, I spent about 10 minutes assembling it the first time and it didn’t get any easier the second. It’s composed of 7 different pieces made out of strips that look like those in Tetris. You can also make 6 pieces which would make it easier to assemble, here’s a Soma cube with 6 modules made with Sonobe modules. If you really like this model and the strip origami is too hard you can make it out of Sonobe units which are very easy, but I doubt it will be as sturdy.

The diagrams show how to fold the basic unit, once past that you have to figure out how to fold the rest. I advise you to make the 4th piece last since it’s the most difficult one, it’s very unstable until fully assembled.

A video and pictures of the units after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

The sprinkler origami is not a very spectacular modular compared to some others on this site, but it definitely suits the beginners. Made by Paula Versnick. The modules only need 8 creases and the assembly is really straight forward. You can do as many modules as you want and assemble them differently, the video shows how to fold a module, how to connect it to another one and some examples. The modules can also be sinked, it’s a really good model for practicing that move.

Diagrams here and the video and some more pictures after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

I took up Castword’s challenge and made an origami spring. At first I failed miserably, but the second try was already much better (on the picture). The origami spring takes a lot of time because it has to be completely creased before folding. When it comes to folding this model in one of the hardest, thanks again for Castword by pointing out a video of the creasing. I found it easier to fold each small flap separately rather than turn each level so that it would fall in place. A magnificent origami by Jeff Beynon.

Diagrams here and some more pictures and a video of somebody folding it after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following a request here’s a squishy blob, sure to drive your teachers nuts. It’s an action model since it acts like a trampoline when you poke it on the top square. A complicated, but not so difficult origami by Jeremy Shafer, according to whom its primary function is finger exercising. Diagrams straight from the authors website and the video and an additional picture after the break.

Also from now on I’m going to upload my videos to Metacafe, having to speed up my videos to keep them under 10 minutes (youtube limit) not only annoys me, but all those who watch them. So if you wish to stay informed about the new videos you can either subscribe to the RSS of this blog or at Metacafe.

Read the rest of this entry »