Hyperbolic Parabola

Huh? A hyper what pair of what? The beauty of Origami is how well it lends itself to geometry. The irony of this is that I have all the mathematical skill of a drunk monkey. I will however attempt models that have been folded for mathematical reasons, if they are visually appealing when they are finished. Like this model.

In Kunihiko Kasahara's book Origami for the Conniseur she has many geometric models to fold. On page eighty I could have folded a semiregular decahedron with some reentrant corners, but why would I want to? If I am going to fold a complicated model and waste half my day, I want to be able to have it sit on a shelf and have my kids say "Wow, dad you folded a piano!" not "What is it?"

That being said, I found site that gives you the instructions on how to fold a Hyperbolic Parabola. Which, if you do the math, they tell me actually has a greater surface area than the sheet of paper that you folded it with. Cool huh?

Sorry, my geek was showing for a minute there. Fold stuff, have fun, send pictures.

I love round folds.

Richard Sweeny posted this pic on Flickr. Man is it beautiful. Round folds in paper are so elegant. I made an attempt at a round folded model from Kunihiko Kasahara's Extreme Origami. I am an origami retard, folding paper for years and I still haven't come up with a model of my own. I just like to sit and fold paper. Once again, art therapy in the day room.
I would once again like to state that this model of Richard's is friggin' brilliant.

Reality Avoidance Technique #317

I had been dying to try this fold for ages. Today I finally got off my butt and gave it a shot. Man is it cool. Developed by Thoki Yen and published in Kunihiko Kasahara's book Extreme Origami; I folded this from a sheet of Canson charcoal paper. A twenty inch circle produced an eleven inch long model when the folds were spaced about a centimeter apart. This first one was a little rough, but with practice, I should get a coffee table worthy piece. There are two nice things about these models:

1. The shape and look can change depending on how you twist the model and lock the folds.

2. They are made of paper so when you are sick of them, you just toss them in the fireplace. (80 gsm paper makes a great firestarter)