Hellraiser Flower 4: Zombies Ate My Flower

Hello Strangers

It has been pointed out that I have been a bit crap about updating lately but I am trying again now so....

Anyway I have been reading an origami book called Project Origami by Thomas Hull.  It is the geekiest book ever and it applies complex mathematics and origami through a series of projects.  It has been very interesting for me but I cannot say there is much that is even remotely interesting or comprehensible to others in it.  I did however learn that each time you divide a square in origami it becomes more accurate.  That is if you fold a sheet in half and then into quarters and then into eighths the eighths will be more accurate than the half you divided the page by to begin with.  

Anyway with this principal in mind I revisited an old design and found that with the same size piece of paper I could fit 4 of my hellraiser flowers onto a single sheet.  I have also worked out to interlock these flowers into a cube similar to the old design but will take a bit of time actually making these.

Platonic Solids

So after looking into Paul's folds and proving that he was indeed using origami to fold a 60' angle(see attached picture). I began making shapes.

These shapes are known as platonic solids.  The water bomb is the cube and the other three shapes are all based on the equilateral triangles that Paul showed me.  I liked the idea of leaving one face open so you can see the interior as well as the exterior.  All of these models were made from one piece of paper which I also like in a weird flat surface to solid regular shape kind of way.   

There is of course the Dodecahedron missing from this group but I haven't even figured out how to make a pentagon yet let alone a 12 sided figure with pentagons.  Always something to work on though. 

Apollo inverse

I just wanted to do one more lander picture, sorry.  I detailed new landing pads and all sorts of stuff but really I just wanted to do a grainy moon landing special effect

I met Paul

I  had a genuinely surprising moment the other day when this guy sat next to me on the tube and said " So... I'm not the only one." and was folding a 20 pointed star.  

He left a completed one on the seat when we left and gave me a piece of the puzzle to look at myself.  I am still grappling with the equilateral triangle that it all involves.  I have since found a way to make a tetrahedron( 4 equilateral triangles forming a regular geometric 3d object)out of 3 pieces of paper and a geodesic shape currently a rock or lump but it may grow into a icosahedron (a 20 sided object or D20 if you play role playing games).

Apollo 11

So.... having figured out the legs and dome then I had to divide my sheet into 7 parts (see attached diagram) and then do 4 legs, one for each corner. And there was Apollo 11 or at least what I had wanted to achieve.

The development of Apollo

So it took far too much fidgeting but I came up with a plan.  It was funny working on just one leg of the lander as I could see what I was working towards but it was just strange for anyone else to see I'm sure.

The final solution was to replace the tucked away  method for hiding the excess paper in the original fold with a petal fold exterior to the dome shape.

Then I tucked away most of the petal fold to the interior of the dome.  

I then folded the petal sides to the middle to create a long thin leg for my craft.

To finish I pinched the leg out in the middle and added a landing foot.

The birth of Apollo 11

Two strange things have converged in recent months:  the anniversary of the moon landings and a new fold (to me).  

The photos I have here are the shapes I came across fidgeting one day.  The indented equilateral triangle is a very strange fold as it makes an easy shift from a flat surface through two 45' bevels to 3 perpendicular sides each at 45' to each other.  This quite simple set of folds is an appealing shape in itself. 

 When you combine 4 of these around a square you end up with an octagonal based dome.  I loved the simple architectural properties of this shape and almost instantly likened it to the top of the Apollo 11 Moon-lander.  It has unfortunately taken me 4 months to figure out how to make the rest of the craft....

more stairs

So in looking at the way in which a staircase is made in real life I have attempted to articulate it in graphic form.  

The real problem is that paper is a much more complex and actually not hard geometry but something much more subtle.  

The real tactility of the origami object is really its strength.  Sorry, I am  just finding it strange to have finally have got to the stage where 3d imaging is possible with my level of modelling an it really just makes me look more at the real origami object.

Structure 2

So I have been fiddling with the four corners combined and ended up with something fun but a bit rediculous.

It does however have some strange structural properties, the larger one that is.  

Structure

Having extolled the virtues of simplicity of form I turn around and complicate an idea.  This happened in two ways:

The first being modelling.  I have been working with a 3D modelling programme called Sketchup for a sculptural project. I had a go looking at how the simple folds in the previous architecture posts could be modelled.

And combined....  

And I have now made all of these as actual objects.  The final image here is the beginning of a much more complex piece...