A weird name yes, but it’s because it’s a modular unit from which you can assemble anything you want. Courtesy of Charles Esseltine. I gave some examples of what you can assemble with the TSU, but there’s more. I made a total of 16 modules, you can assemble in any way you like from 3 modules to infinity. I’d recommend 4 or 5 units for starters. You can find some examples from Anniefolds website.
Diagrams here and video with some pictures after the break.
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.
A fairly easy modular by Dennis Walker. Enneagonal since it has 9 angles, but it’s actually a nonagon which stands for 9 sides. I used thicker paper and let a hole in the middle of the box, but I guess it doesn’t have to be water proof. You can also make a lid for it, everything is documented here, search for “enneagonal box”. Video after the break.
A ball-like modular origami by Mio Tsugawa. It’s made form 30 pieces, I recommend using normal paper since thicker would make it impossible to assemble and thinner wouldn’t hold together. There are many variations of this models based on the length of the module paper, I used a 2:1 ratio, but you can go from square to whatever you want, some variations can be seen on the authors website.
On this model I used 20 yellow modules and 10 green to make a “stripe” on it, the modules I used were 9 by 4.5cm.
Diagrams on the authors website and video after the break.
Posted in: Diagrams, Intermediate, Modular, Origami, Video
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.
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.
An action model made from 8 Tung Ken Lam’s jitterbug modules. It’s easy and takes no time to make, you can also make 20 modules for a Icosidodecahedron. It can be collapsed in a diamond, but doesn’t look very nice due to the angles of the joints that prevent a nice full collapsing. I used 10cm square paper for the modules.
Diagrams here and the video after the break.
A modular origami which lets you make a cube, an octahedron, an icosahedron and so on, made by Stephan T. Lavavej. The module used is a variant of the sonobe module, it’s really easy to make, but the icosahedron is a bit tricky to assemble. I used 10cm square paper and it’s quite sturdy.
Diagrams here and the video and a few images after the break.
This amazing modular origami is brought to us by Jorge Lucero. It’s an intermediate model if you have good spatial view, but it can get very tricky with the last square. Just when I thought I had finished it I had to open some of the connections which weren’t made right, on the video you can see that the 5th square wasn’t tucked in right.
With this model you have to cut the paper exactly to 5:11 ratio for the modules. I cut 5cm by 11cm rectangles and got 9 out of an A4 paper, you need a total of 24, that’s why there are only 3 colors on my model. I used a thicker paper than normal printing paper, but that’s not necessarily better, I’m doing one in my classes with normal paper and it’s easier to fold.
When assembling the modules don’t tuck one of them all the way in, the other module won’t be able to lock to the first, instead push little by little on each one (see the video).
Posted in: Diagrams, Intermediate, Modular, Origami, Strip origami, Video
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.
