Folding activities - May 2018

I've folded the Hydrangea Cube using the instructions in Meenakshi Mukerji's "Origami inspirations" book. The hydrangeas slot together in a way that's obvious when you understand it but which only a genius like Meenaksi Mukerji would have spotted. My first attempts at folding this failed because I was using the wrong sort of paper and I was trying to fold the hydrangeas too small. After I'd created the hydrangeas on strong 15cmx15cm paper, they fitted together with no problems

I'm also folding my way through Project - F - Hydrangea folding by Shuzu Fujimoto

I bought this book many years ago and although I quickly mastered most of the simpler models such as the Hydrangea and Crowding butterflies, I never got around to folding the more complex ones such as the high-density hydrangea tessellations.

Here are a few notes:

Crowding butterflies

This is an excellent model which I've folded several times. I've now discovered that providing you fold the model on large enough paper, you can create a multi-level hydrangea pattern in the centre.

Flower pyramid

Another classic model. The standard version is folded on a 32x32 grid, but I'm planning to try extending it on a 48x48 grid, as it may look even better with more layers.

Hydrangea flower bed - 4 flowers - With cuts

It's a beautiful-looking model, but the cuts spoil it for me, and the folding process is horrible. You have to fold the petals on the reverse and push them through a series of slits that you've made on the paper.

Hydrangea flower bed - 16 flowers - With cuts

As with the four flower version, the model can look great, but it requires a large piece of duo paper that you're willing to cut in a number of places. It took me several attempts before I managed to complete the model, and I'm still unhappy with the result. I might have another attempt at folding the thing at some point in the future, but I don't have the paper to do the model justice and the folding process is totally alien to everything I've learned when I've been creating tessellations. The cuts significantly reduce the strength of the paper, so every new crease feels like I'm one step away from tearing the paper.

Hydrangea 4 flowers

I've folded a variation of this model before, but I've used a high-density version which requires 10x20 or 12x24 grid, rather than the 16x32 grid used in the book. I personally find the high-density version a lot easier to fold, as there's no need to struggle to establish the initial centre petals. Another advantage of the high-density version is that the petals are larger, so it's easier to add additional levels to the hydrangea pattern.

Hydrangea 16 flowers

This is tricky on 36cm x 36cm sized piece of craft, but it's a nice model and I may well fold it on an equivalent sized piece of Tant. As with the smaller version, the hardest part is to add in the centre petals, but once that's done, it's possible to add in the outer levels without too many problems. The biggest issue is with the size of the petals, which are just over 1cm square, and that the craft paper I've been using has tended to crumple when I've attempted to make the compression folds which form the petals. The high-density version is easier and has larger petals. It can be folded on a 20x40 or 24x48 grid.

Hydrangea packing

This is a 5x5 hydrangea tessellation. Wow! It's the largest number of hydrangeas I've ever attempted to fold, and my first attempt has just failed because the paper isn't strong enough. I'm now pre-creasing some different paper which might be up to the task.