Adventures in Paper: Twisted Squares and Bloody Fingers

Since my university days I've had an interest for folding paper. It wasn't until I went to Korea that my interest turned into a full blown hobby, and these days it's become a bit of a passion. As lame as it might sound, I honestly draw much joy from folding and manipulating paper. Ever since I was a kid, I thought paper had endless potential with what a person could write or draw on it; a blank piece of paper was something waiting to happen. Origami has turned out to be just another form of potential in paper that I really find interesting.

Last year I posted a video of me showing off some of my collection at the time, and in the last month or so, I've been quenching my folding thirst. I figured I would try and make my attempts at this old art a regular segment of my blog. Why? Because as I've said, I find it really interesting, and hopefully I can spread that interest.

First of all, generally I don't make origami animals. I have ... but I'm more drawn to other areas of paper folding like modular origami, abstract and geometric shapes. Yes, it can be fun to make a paper dog, but making a paper dodecahedron is crazier, and therefor cooler in my books.

One branch of origami that is heavily built on geometric shapes that I've recently begun trying is Origami Tessellations. Basically it involves pre-folding a piece of paper for a long time and then spending an even longer (and more frustrating) time trying to fold the paper into submission so it creates a repeating pattern of shapes. For example, here's a sheet of paper with a bunch of pre-folds.

Take the central creased square of the paper and twist it 90 degrees and then set it flat again. Voila! A paper pinwheel thing!

Time to kick it up a notch. Four times the squares meant four times the trouble (I'm good at math). The biggest obstacle is that you can't twist one square at a time. It has to be all done simultaneously. And that was a pain in the ass. Several f-bombs later I got this:

Now that I had the hang of it, time to try 16 squares. Because that'll be more fun, right? I honestly didn't anticipate how long and difficult this would be. The final product took about two hours of creasing and folding to produce:

It's not as crisp as I would like, but I'm happy nonetheless. It's pleasing to look at and touch. I'm a tactile person, which is why I probably eat spaghetti with my hands. When you flip the paper over you can see this:

The weaved pattern was a nice little surprise. Like flipping over the Mona Lisa and finding a taco. So there you have it, my first attempts at an origami tessellation. It's a little distressing, but apparently this design is one of the easiest you can do. I want to try more advanced tessellation patterns, but I fear I will murder a stranger after 4 hours of creasing goes awry.

Aaaaanyway, my next planned installment of Adventures in Paper will be classic origami meets personal challenge. Watch out!