This one has a bunch of shapes in it, all working together to form the whole.  When creating a tessellation, I usually just start with one shape that interests me at the moment.  From there, I choose whether it'll be a six axis or a three axis rotational repeat. In other words, will I try to repeat it around some form of triangle or some form of hexagon.  Once I have a starting point, I mess around with additional shapes which may help me to further create repetitions.  The last step is just to figure how to fill in any gaps that are created.  In the case ..read more

 This is tessellation is interesting because I actually messed up the pattern that I had created. It still looks really cool, but it is asymmetrical.  My original diagram called for all the repetitions to match each other.  This is also another difficult to execute to design. Regardless of whether you follow the pattern precisely or you accidentally. deviate from it as I did, it's pretty intense to fold.  My tant paper actually tore a little bit in one spot from all the stress.  The center is easy enough to get situated, but after that all bets are off.  ..read more

 This tessellation was pretty ambitious undertaking. When I plotted it out on some grid paper, I knew that it would be kind of crazy, but I loved the design too much to not try.  At the center point is an open back hexagon. From there I add three trapezoids and three triangle collapses.  Then I add another layer of trapezoids.  This in turn, creates the opportunity to add a whole bunch more small triangle collapses. Ten total per third edge.  It is ridiculously difficult to get all those triangles to work together while also making them behave nicely with the rep ..read more

 Here's a fun little tessellation that utilizes just a few not too difficult techniques to create a moderately intricate pattern.  Rhombuses twist off from offset hexagons on their reverse.  Then on the outer edges of the rhombuses we add some open back hexagons.  At that point, the pattern can be easily repeated.  It's relatively simple compared to a lot of the tessellations that I've done in recent years.  It's a great exercise in some basic ideas that can lead to many other interesting configurations.  It also concisely demonstrates the close rel ..read more

 This is a tough one. Right triangles around an offset hex twist. When you go to repeat the pattern these very tiny rectangles are in the spaces between the points of the triangles. It's doable, but you probably need really thick paper in order to end up with a neat reverse side.  My tant paper worked for the front, but on the back I was only able to get some of the rectangles to land neatly.  In the diagram below they show up as micro rhombuses, but when you twist them they form very small rectangles.  Either kraft paper or elephant hide would be your best option for g ..read more

  If you're in the mood for a tessellation that looks complicated, but actually isn't, this one might interest you.  The pattern begins as open back hexagons with rhombuses collapsed along their edges.  From there, rather than a straight up repeat of the pattern, I added an additional rhombus before moving on to the next iteration.  Open back triangle twists fill in the gaps where six rhombuses converge. .  There are also small triangle twists on the back in the areas where two rhombuses connect along the edges of the hexagons.  In the center module, I alt ..read more

 This is a tessellation by gatheringfolds called 'cogs'. I didn't have any trouble solving the center, but my 16 pleat tester didn't fit the rest of the design.  I decided to just go ahead with a full 32 pleat execution and figure the rest out as I went.  Once I had enough space to work out the rest, it wasn't too difficult. Some plain printer paper stood up pretty well to my final adjustments.  It's a rather large tessellation that doesn't really repeat on a 32 pleat grid. Still, I liked it enough to go ahead with it anyway.  I gave a little thought to how it ..read more

 This is a modification of a tessellation by Arseniy K called 'Pixelated Chrome'. I changed it up to repeat  on a smaller grid.  The structures are very similar, but the results are different. Mostly because I used paper that backlights really well.  I used the same size rectangles, but smaller, natural triangles.  It's a pretty easy to fold tessellation. I encountered no difficulties with the execution.  I used white, 28 lb printer paper folded into a 32 pleat triangle grid.  The diagram for my version is included at the end of this post.  The ..read more

 This is a pretty simple tessellation that has some interesting patterns.  What I wanted to do was tuck some open back hexagons under some straight lines. This is where I arrived with that.  I kinda mostly worked on the reverse side pattern more during the conception than I did the front.  The front has forward facing open back hexagons connected to long parallelograms.  In-between the parallelograms are more hexagons hiding shyly. Hence the name.  On the reverse side are small triangle twists around the prominent hexagons.  You can also see how the ..read more

  While perusing Instagram, I came across a new tessellation by Aresniy K called 'Wheel of Misfortune'.  As I was working out its construction, it occurred to me that a really beautiful variant was possible.  His is a circular style pattern of long parallelograms tucked into each other.  In my case, I went with a linear weave pattern of the same shapes.  While it's pretty basic from a conceptual standpoint, it yields, what I think, is an impressive finished product.  On the front, it's all parallelograms. They need to be long enough to accommodate tucking ..read more