Articles and Tutorials — tutorial

Tiling-Based Origami Tessellation Design

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Tiling-Based Origami Tessellation Design

Origami tessellations are infinitely repeating patterns folded from a single sheet of paper.

My designs are in the twist-based style and I fold my patterns one twist at a time whenever possible.

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How to Fold from a Crease Pattern

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

How to Fold from a Crease Pattern

To start folding from crease patterns, we must first decide what part of the pattern to fold - what to put in the center, and how many repeats we want.

Next, we need to actually fold the grid.

Finally, we can start folding!

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How to Fold Your First Tessellation

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

How to Fold Your First Tessellation

Managing many pleats at once is one of the harder things about tessellations, but using these three-way intersections one at a time lets us minimize the difficulty and focus on the steps.

These three-way intersections can be put together in a huge variety of ways, from rotational to mirrored to combinations of both.

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How to Start with Tessellations

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

How to Start with Tessellations

Many folders would like to start learning tessellations, but aren't sure where to start. In this video I introduced the four major grid types that every tessellation folder needs to know and clarified the distinction between twist-based tessellations, corrugations, and tessellations that require an all-at-once collapse. You see, there are easier and harder ways to fold tessellations and when many folders see a crease pattern for the first time they think that they need to precrease everything and then collapse all at once. That's actually the hardest way to learn tessellations - you have more work at the beginning, more...

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Triangle-centered grids on hexagons

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Triangle-centered grids on hexagons

The more I fold grids, the more I realize that the possibilities are endless.

For example, I used to think that triangle grids on hexagons could only be centered on grid intersections - that I had to start by folding the hexagon in half in one way or another.

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Rotated Grids: A Practical Guide

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Rotated Grids: A Practical Guide

So, you've seen the math behind rotated grids but you're still confused about how to *actually* use them for your patterns. You aren't alone and you're in the right place.

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Rotating Grids in Squares and Hexagons

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Rotating Grids in Squares and Hexagons
You don’t have a laser cutter or Cricut scorer, but you still want to make stunning tessellations without guessing and iterating over and over. The good news is that there’s a fairly simple solution - rotated grids!

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Compound Quadrilaterals Tessellation Tutorial

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Compound Quadrilaterals Tessellation Tutorial
Now that you've learned to fold compound open and closed squares, it's time to add rectangles to the repertoire!

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Compound Squares Live Tutorial

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Compound Squares Live Tutorial
If you've seen my compound squares tutorial video, but you're still wondering about the details, check out this live video where I explain the ins and outs of using compound squares in larger tessellations!

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Open Compound Square Twist Tutorial

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Open Compound Square Twist Tutorial
Origami twists are very versatile - often, a technique that applies to one twist can apply to them all. Follow along with my video as I show you how to compound a twist!

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Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Christmas Stocking Tutorial
Stunning Christmas stockings are easier to make than you might think. Learn how to smock your own with this tried and tested tutorial!

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The only thing you need to know to fold any odd division grid

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

The only thing you need to know to fold any odd division grid
What if I told you that you don’t need to look up how to fold even thirds, or even fifths, or even 17ths ever again? Like you, I used to spend a lot of time looking up how to fold thirds every time I wanted to fold a 48-fold grid. No more.

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Hybrid Square Twist Tutorial

Posted by Madonna Yoder on

Hybrid Square Twist Tutorial
This quick tutorial on the hybrid open-closed square twist will give you all the knowledge you need to design your own weave patterns, and all you need to start is a 8-fold square grid.

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