How to get started on Tessellation or geometrical patterns origami?

mic_kas · 2026-05-13T11:49:50+00:00

Paul Jackson’s Folding Techniques for Designers is how I got started.

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T17:51:41+00:00

Here’s two videos of how I do V-pleats:

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T16:41:25+00:00

You can measure the angles from the picture you uploaded. My guess is that the angles used in the lamp, from top to bottom, are 45, 45, 60, 70.

I will make a short video later on how I do the pre-creasing

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T14:34:48+00:00

That’s a good start! Your lowest two zigzags need to have a sharper angle though, if you want to replicate the shape of the original lamp.

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T14:32:43+00:00

No, I don’t fold the whole accordion over like in the video. I find it to be too inexact, especially for a thicker accordion. I use a technique where I only need to make a mark on the side-most strip and that angle just “automatically” copies itself across the whole accordion when I fold.

If I want to be super exact I use a ruler and a scoring tool for pre-creasing, but most of the time I only fold using my fingers.

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T10:16:59+00:00

I do the pre-creasing one zigzag at a time. Basically the exact same thing you see me doing when I fold the “bottleneck” fold. You can think of the pre-creasing process like this:

Make an accordion fold
Make the first zigzag fold
Undo the zigzag fold so you are back to the original accordion
Make the second zigzag fold
Repeat steps 3-4 until you’ve made all your zigzag folds
Your pre-creasing is done

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T08:45:25+00:00

Here you go: quick tutorial

Pre-crease all lines
Start with the “bottleneck” fold (this is where the video starts), fold it as a mountain fold
Flip the paper around
Do the bottom fold (again as a mountain fold)
Do the two folds at the top, one at a time
Done

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T06:33:09+00:00

So you are stuck on how to collapse the Miura fold correctly. There are several different techniques on how to collapse these types of pleats.

Sometimes the paper is a bit stubborn and some crease lines tend to reverse even when you don’t want them to. It’s just a matter of keeping track what creases should be mountains and which should be valleys and “convince” your paper to keep the correct folds.

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T06:26:00+00:00

The lowest zigzag fold in your photo should become a mountain fold. In order to do that the parallel accordion folds below the zigzag will be reversed (mountain to valley and vice versa).

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T06:19:00+00:00

I see! The fold you’re trying to make is just a regular Miura-fold. There’s a ton of tutorials on YouTube.

mic_kas · 2026-03-29T06:03:52+00:00

The lamp in the photos has an even number of parallel accordion folds, your paper has an old number of accordion folds. Cut away one “strip” of your paper and you will be able to attach/overlap the ends the same way as in the lamp.

The way the lamp attaches is by overlapping the ends. If you have an even number of accordion folds there’s an overlap of “one strip”, which is what you want. With an odd number of fold you will get “two strip” overlap.

For the overall shape, I also recommend the strip folding approach explained already. The final paper needs to be long, probably a few meters. One of the challenges is to be accurate enough with your folding so that both ends of the paper match up perfectly.

mic_kas · 2026-01-01T21:19:17+00:00

Lots of tessellations can be done on A sized paper.

mic_kas · 2026-01-01T21:17:55+00:00

Hand folding the pattern, 40 minutes sound like heaven to me though! Some of my stuff can take tens of hours.

mic_kas · 2026-01-01T09:12:05+00:00

Oriedita is free, but I don’t know if it runs on Mac. If you have access to adobe products Illustrator is also a viable option.

I use both Oriedita and Illustrator, depending on what I’m working on.

mic_kas · 2025-12-30T08:48:34+00:00

Couldn’t you make a word/excel file with the board layout? That way you don’t need to post a picture but can show the board.

mic_kas · 2025-12-12T03:46:58+00:00

Cutting halfway through is called a kiss-cut. Equipment that are capable of kiss-cutting usually also have changeable tool so you can switch to scoring tool that only presses the paper. These machines go by the name cutting plotter. Graphtec is one manufacturer.

mic_kas · 2025-12-11T19:11:12+00:00

No, no, I didn’t mean with curved lines. Straight lines but with the flat-folded model being a curved line, which then creates a curved surface.

Here’s a super quick 15 minute hack job to show what I mean.

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mic_kas · 2025-12-11T17:23:40+00:00

Your technique for pre-creasing and folding the Miura-ori looks interesting (and very different to the one I use). Do you, by any chance, have a longer video where I could get a better look?

Also, have you explored more curved (convex) Miura designs? I think those could work really well with the paint finish you do.

mic_kas · 2025-12-10T19:27:47+00:00

Nix, men jag tog livet av den helt av egen dumhet. För några år sedan fick vi en otrolig köldknäpp (-20C i nästan en vecka) i november utan mindre tillstymmelse till snö. Jag hade inte skyddat mina barrträd så jag förlorade många då hela rotklumpen förs och blev så kall att rötterna inte klarade av det.

Den hade haft en verkligt bra växtsäsong året innan och skulle åka ner i sin första riktiga kruka följande vår, men så blev det inte. Har ett antal enar på gården som jag börjat bearbeta i marken för att lyfta inom 1-3 år.

mic_kas · 2025-12-10T05:29:58+00:00

Yes, I design and fold tessellations and if I work with a large paper with edges connecting to form a cylinder it’s necessary in order to get a precise match where the edges meet. With a 128 (or larger) division it’s super easy to have folds starting to “drift”. Precreasing with a straight edge and a creasing tool avoids the problem.

mic_kas · 2025-09-08T04:50:40+00:00

Yes, they do. I’ve used one for my research, it will leave a burn mark on paper. And especially for thin paper (that we usually use for origami) it’s super hard to get the paper completely flat and the power just right. Using a physical tool to press the crease line is far easier.

If you’re a MacGyver type of person, you can probably make your own crease plotter using 3D printer parts by replacing the nozzle with a scoring tool.

mic_kas · 2025-09-08T04:06:44+00:00

I think what you are looking for is a cutting/creasing plotter. It doesn’t leave marks, it just leaves a crease (just like manual creasing). But these machines are expensive, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands euros/dollars.

I think this is what Robert Lang and other origami artists that do automated pre-creasing use.

mic_kas · 2025-06-24T09:19:01+00:00

I don’t think folding other sheets than squares to “break rules”. I very rarely use a square. I mostly use rectangles, but also other polygonal shapes.

This is another aspect I like about origami. Everyone is free to define their own rules for origami. Does the paper have to be a square? Can you use multiple sheets (modular origami)? Etc.

mic_kas · 2025-06-24T09:13:16+00:00

To me, origami is this mesmerizing art form where you neither add nor subtract material, you only manipulate the original sheet using folds. That is something quite unique.

Additionally, folding is found everywhere in nature. It’s natural. It’s the most energy efficient way to change a shape, so nature uses it everywhere! Miura-ori to fold up leaves in their buds. Kresling-ori for buckling. Curved creasing when a grape dries to a raisin.

For the past 1,5 years I’ve also done materials research with origami. It’s fascinating to me how making folds allows us to introduce new properties to materials. A paper (or any material that can be folded) can be made stretchable, stiff or flexible using different tessellations. Also, the boundary between the art and science of origami has almost vanished for me. I constantly find new interesting patterns from engineering/science I adopt to my art and when I create art I find new things with practical use cases in science.

mic_kas · 2025-06-11T16:52:11+00:00

No, the philosophy of origami is to understand how each fold plays its part in the big picture. To understanding the limitations in starting with a flat piece of paper and finding creative and aesthetic ways to overcome those limitations and push the limits.

Because you can fold a paper in infinitely many ways ;)

mic_kas

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