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.

And some examples:

12 units

12 units, type 2

16 units

More examples here and here.

After Emil’s repeated requests here’s one of the most difficult origami models I made: the fiddler crab by Hans Birkeland - posted here with his permission - is made from one single square paper and looks amazing.

I usually make the origami model before I make a video of it, to avoid hang ups and mistakes, in this case the first one I made came out better, even if I made a couple of mistakes. The claws were the most difficult part as it was hard to make it out from the diagrams - you’ll notice I didn’t fold them correctly. Don’t even think about making the fiddler crab simply by looking at the video, be sure to check out the diagrams. If you can’t make it don’t worry, get some experience with some simple and intermediate origami.

An interesting fact I found out about fiddler crab is that if it looses it’s big claw it will develop the opposite claw.

The video was over 100MB and over half an hour, so I uploaded to Google Video, the quality leaves much to be desired, but I do it with what I have.

Diagrams on Hans’s website and another picture with the video after the break.

Here’s a picture of the bottom, the crab legs look unnaturally natural.

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.

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.

This Froebel star by Froebel Friedrich (1782-1852) is made from 4 strips of paper - it is also known as German star, Swedish star, Polish star, Danish star, Pennsylvanian star and advent star, Moravian Star. While tucking the strips it’s helps to cut the ends so that they would fit more easily. I used an A4 format paper and made 1cm wide strips, but I still had to cut off the ends in the end, so I guess you could made wider strips with the same format. On the website where I discovered it there are some interesting ideas like how to make a basket out of these.

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.

The Yin-yang paper box is made of 2 circular pieces. It cannot be called origami since it requires cutting, but I thought it looked really nice and would fit in the paper craft category. The credit goes to the Philip Chapman-Bell who came up with this nice design. I made the crease patter myself instead of printing it out and used thicker paper than normal printing paper. The circle I made had a 10cm radius.

Crease pattern on the Fitful Flog’s website and video after the break.