Posted by
on Aug 18th, 2013 and filed under Angry Sun God! (Aztec Twist, tessellated, backlit)
Image by EricGjerde
One of the most complicated things I have ever folded. I promised myself several months ago I would sit down and fold this (after completing the first step, which I diagrammed as a Simple Aztec Twist). Folding instructions for the first step are available online at my website (www.origamitessellations.com).
I used orange kami for this, mostly because it was the right size and it was available when I started folding. If I ever fold another one of these, I will use something with more translucence and definitely more structural strength. Every tip of the paper in this fold is frayed due to the many, many times it was folded and unfolded.
I hope you enjoy this model, as I certainly was pleased with how it turned out. I hope to capture some better photos once I build a lightbox, but for now I think this will work.
This origami model also shows the directions I’ve been taking lately, moving towards more layered and complex tessellation work- I think I’ve got the basics down pretty well, and now I’m doing things that combine models together. This is really just a combination of two relatively simple tessellations:
and this one:
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These have been combined together to make a much more interesting model. I look forward to taking this grafting technique further, and creating more complex and hopefully interesting models!
this one:
and this one:
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Wow! I really like your backlit tesselations, especially this one. And I think the colour is perfect!
this one represents a pretty significant step up in complexity, at least for me.
I think the total folding time probably exceeds 20 hours or more.
You should really be happy with how this fold turned out!It is a beautifull one.I wonder how it will look in blue….?
Great colours.
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Wow ! I must say this is an extremely interesting shot !
The colour saturation is astounding and the mandala like geometric patterns draws the viewer in and captivates. The main focal point extends nicely, except for one distractor.
May I ask what the object is at the far left middle ? Whatever, this object is – it tends to disrupt the focus of the shot.
Honestly, I think this is a very good shot, however, I think (in my humble opinion, at least) that this would be a Great Shot – if you could somehow eliminate the distracting object (a crop might make this shot too tight – its dimensions are perfect as is.)
Anyhow, this is only a friendly suggestion.
Still very good and an impressive work of art ! Tag1
Gorgeous!
Tag2
cool 🙂 I like the warm color
yawp, you are very correct- that tiresome object at the left is my thumb, holding the paper up against a light.
my preference (as you rightly suggest) is to have it with nothing else in the photo, but I couldn’t crop my hand out entirely without losing details I didn’t want to lose.
I am in the process of building a lightbox that should give me better, more even lighting, as well as making it easier to get a good shot.
I enjoy sharing the things that I make, and I certainly own up to the fact my photographic skills are sub-par. And that’s OK 🙂
your comments are always quite welcome!
perfect work.
Impressive!
wow – i can’t even imagine how you fold these things.
(have you ever tried using a scanner with a transparency adapter? i have a feeling that the lamps in those things aren’t bright enough to backlight origami paper, but maybe i’ll fold something simple and try it out on my scanner.)
yeah, I have a photo scanner at work, and a huge flatbed ricoh scanner. I haven’t really found either to do a better job.
I think what I need to do is build a box with a pane of glass at one end, and then a removable Rolux panel behind it- so I can point a floodlight (sunlight, flashlight, whatever) at the end and have it perfectly backlit.
but that takes time and energy, and I’m lazy! 🙂
Folding this takes time and energy!
Wow, folding time exceeds 20 hours!?!
The Aztec Twist looks incredible….
I’m intrigued about the kami paper you used…it must be very thin for you to be able to have 21 layers of it at one spot!
Tina, I mostly fold this stuff on my commute to/from work, during long phone conversations at work, etc.
it was about 20 hours over a period of a week, I’d say, so it’s not like I sat down and did a marathon folding session! 🙂
kami is japanese for paper, and I guess most people just refer to the normal el-cheapo origami paper as "kami" (to differentiate between handmade fancy paper, like washi, etc).
it’s pretty thin and stiff, but this was just a 12" piece out of a $4 pack of the stuff from the hobby store.
people like Chosetec use the fancy stuff, like unryu paper. Although now that I look at it, it seems pretty cheap. maybe I should spring for some of that!
the larger the paper, the harder it is for me to fold. 12" really pushes the limits of my ability to fold things in the air and have them come together well. this particular piece was really my first practice shot, and I’ll need to do a new version on better paper for any sort of display setup.
thick stacks of paper are indeed problematic! nothing like trying to fold Robert Lang’s Moose, though… the first time I tried that, my paper was too thick, and when I folded the model in half it just split in half!
I love the colours…like it’s being held against a sunset.
the best backlighting I get is holding paper up against my dining room window, when the sun is setting! it works much better than light bulbs.
complex stuff there, buddy.
wow, just wow.
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that’s amazing!!
and there are instructions for how to make it in my upcoming book!
It was lots of fun to fold it again 🙂
Amazing job, Eric. I´m still folding your first book models, and enjoying a lot, doing and un-doing things, practising for more complex models …. When will the new book be available?
well, we’re starting to talk about what should go into a second book now- but there’s a lot to be discussed and decided on before anything concrete happens.
I’ll definitely be posting information about it everywhere I can, whenever it happens to come along 🙂
-Eric
I love this design 🙂 I didn’t have your book yet when I made mine so I used a weird ad hoc method involving being too lazy to precrease but miraculously it worked haha. Thank you so much for all your free resources on line, they are very generous. I am happy that I now finally also have your book! Your work is so beautiful!
It worked out very well for you – congratulations! I hope you enjoy the book!
I am enjoying the book already 🙂 I had experience with twists but didn’t understand before what could be achieved with different pleat intersections. Folding your daisy chains was very educational, difficult, and fun (I think this lesson in pleat intersections even helped me understand Joel Cooper’s masks better)! I tried doing the surrounding daisies hexagon 1st and alternately petals 1st and found that both strategies are difficult 🙂 I like petals 1st except that my attention wanders and I keep trying to fold petals pointing the wrong way before correcting myself. Seems like a silly mistake but my brain gets lost in the pleats and the triangle counts. Also after much hesitation this was my first elephant hide tess and…. I get it now! It really is lovely paper and the thickness is not unmanageable.
I like the back view of daisy chains 🙂
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orangewetland/8561223414/