My final sonobe variation for now, from the book "Marvelous Modular Origami" by Meenakshi Mukerji is the Origami Swan Sonobe, assembled into an icosahedron and made from 30 modules. 

The icosahedron assembly is another that I love making. And in this icosahedron, you can see the swan pattern visible in each of the face. 

Recently, Meenakshi Mukerji, in her Instagram account, had announced a giveaway. Check out the post to find out details of the giveaway. The idea is folding as many of her models as possible, so that gives me added motivation to fold her models!! Though I think I am done folding the sonobes for now. Anyway, do participate if possible and take part in the giveaway :)

Model Details:

Model: Swan Sonobe - Icosahedron

Creator: Meenakshi Mukerji

Book: Marvelous Modular Origami

Author: Meenakshi Mukerji

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: ~3 inches across

Modules: 30

As a gift for a friend, I had again folded the origami Patterned Icosahedron, created by Meenakshi Mukerji. I had previously folded it during the Christmas season. And enjoyed making it.

So this time, I decided to go with a pink and lavender duo-coloured paper, a favourite of my friend's, which resulted in a very pleasing modular origami. And I also went with smer unit sizes than my previous attempt and still was able to fold and assemble without any problems.

Model Details:

Model: Patterned Icosahedron

Creator: Meenakshi Mukerji

Book: Ornamental Origami

Author: Meenakshi Mukerji

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Rectangle in ratio 1:2

Paper Size: 3 inches * 1.5 inches

Model Size: ~ 2.5 inches in diameter

Tutorial: Youtube

Number of Modules: 30

The Origami Patterned Icosahedron has been on my to-do list for quite some time now. This pretty icosahedron is designed by the amazing Meenakshi Mukerji. The icosahedron is assembled using 30 modules and looks best with dual coloured paper. The same module can be assembled using 12 units to form the Patterned Octahedron.

The modules are pretty easy to fold and are folded from a rectangle in ratio 1:2 i.e., a square cut into two. I had used a green-red combination in the hopes of adding it to my Christmas Tree. But I get the impression that this looks more like a strawberry than an icosahedron, courtesy of the black dots on the red, I guess 😄😄 Nevertheless, it is a good modular to fold.

The assembly is, by modular origami standards, fairly easy. I would still recommend plenty of paper clips and an equal amount of patience when assembling this one!

Model Details:

Model: Patterned Icosahedron

Creator: Meenakshi Mukerji

Book: Ornamental Origami

Author: Meenakshi Mukerji

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Rectangle in ratio 1:2

Paper Size: 3.5 inches * 1.75 inches

Model Size: ~ 3 inches in diameter

Tutorial: Youtube

Number of Modules: 30

In recent times I have made quite a few of Tomoko Fuse's modular origami. So for a change, I decided to try out Tom Hull's Bouncy Ball.

The Bouncy Unit Icosahedron, better known as the Bouncy Ball is made from 30 square modules. The folding starts with creasing into fifths. Once the paper is folded into fifths, the strip is folded to form the modules. So thin origami (60 gsm) paper is recommended, as we will be folding 5 layers of paper together.

Assembly is a little challenging, but once fully assembled, the model is really strong. And makes a great bouncy ball!

Model Details:

Model: Bouncy Ball 

Creator: Tom Hull

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inch squares

Model Size: ~4 inches in diameter

Modules: 30

Tutorial: Youtube

The Icosahedral Kit is yet another of the Polyhedron kits from Miyuki Kawamura's book 'Polyhedron Origami'. In this modular origami, 2 kinds of modules are used - the Edge module and the Vertex module. The icosahedron kit is made from a total of 12 vertex modules and 30 edge modules - a grand total of 42 modules.

Double-sided paper works best, since the back of the vertices are visible through all those gaps. The modules are fairly easy to fold and assemble. I used glue as a precaution, but it is not absolutely needed. The size of the paper that I had used was 3 inches and it resulted in a fairly big icosahedron - about 6 inches in diameter.

Model Details:

Model: Icosahedron Kit

Creator: Miyuki Kawamura

Book: Polyhedron Origami

Author: Miyuki Kawamura

Difficulty Level: High Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: 6 inches diameter

Number of Modules: 42

Tutorial: Youtube

I have not been the most active blogger these days, mainly because I am experimenting with paper jewelry and well, that is pretty time-consuming. Though I enjoy making paper jewelry, there is nothing like folding a good solid modular origami to get one back in the blogging game! This modular icosahedron is a fairly easy model to complete and is folded from half a square. So 15 squares, cut into half gives the 30 rectangles required for the icosahedron. The base unit is Lewis Simon's Triangle Edge Module.

Some points to note:

* I worked with coloured copy paper (80 gsm), which resulted in a good, sturdy model.

* If you are working with single sided paper, be sure to start with the coloured paper facing down (as given in the diagram).

* If your model is going to be tossed around (and believe me, this icosahedron very quickly becomes a football!), then be sure to add a dab of glue at the joints.

Model Details:

Model: Icosahedron from Triangle Edge Modules

Creator: Lewis Simon

Book: 3D Geometric Origami

Authors: Lewis Simon, Bennett Arnstein and Rona Gurkewitz

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Rectangle

Paper Size: 3.5 inches * 1.75 inches

Model Size: ~3 inches

Modules: 30

Tutorial: Youtube 

The truncated icosahedron is another of Tomoko Fuse's modular creations. This is from her book Unit Polyhedron Origami. The model is fairly easy to do. It rather reminds me the origami football I had folded nearly a year back!

The model is made of a combination of hexagonal flat units and connecting units that connect the hexagonal units. Usually modular units have a pocket and a tab - each tab fits into its adjacent unit. But in these models, the hexagonal shapes have 3 pockets and no tabs. So the connecting units fit into the pockets of adjacent hexagons and hold the model together.

I like the little windows in the model as well :) Also, though the backs of the hexagons can be seen through the windows, the reverse side of the paper is not seen in the completed unit. So single-sided paper works perfectly well. I had used 80 gsm paper which turned out to be great for this model. The completed truncated icosahedron is sturdy - so sturdy, in fact, that my brother suggested we use it as a football! 😮

Model Details:

Model: Truncated Icosahedron

Creator: Tomoko Fuse

Book: Unit Polyhedron Origami
 
Author: Tomoko Fuse
 
Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3.5 inches for the hexagons; 1.75 inches for the connectors

Model Size: ~5 inches in diameter

Modules: 50

Let me start off by saying that the more I read about origami snapology, the more information I find! Plenty of tutorials are available to make the basic snapology unit. As for assembling the units into various polyhedra, there are tutorials for assembling the Icosahedron but all other polyhedra are strictly DIYs :) But once we understand the polyhedral shapes, using snapology units to form those shapes is fascinating, though challenging.

To start off with the basics, snapology is a term coined by Heinz Strobl and involves folding units from paper strips. The beauty of snapology is that, these units can be used to form any polyhedra, starting from the Tetrahedron (4 vertices and 4 triangular faces) to the complex Truncated Icosidodecahedron (120 vertices and 63 polygonal faces!).

The basic snapology units are assembled along the wire frame of a polyhedra (for a polyhedral solid, when the faces of the solid are removed, the edges along remain. These edges, that retain the shape of the solid, is the wire frame) to form the various shapes. Each unit has 2 parts - a strip that forms the basic shape (a triangle for the icosahedra in this post) and a second strip that acts as a connector and links 2 shapes.

The icosahedra has a total of 12 vertices and 20 triangular faces. So we need 20 strips to form the 20 triangles. To determine the number of connector units, we need to determine the number of edges that the polyhedron has. Here's where a little Maths helps - the Euler's formula, which goes thus:

Euler's Formula:

V + F - E = 2

where V = number of vertices, F = number of faces and E = number of edges

We need E, so the formula works out as

E = V + F - 2

For the icosahedron, E = 12 + 20 - 2 = 30.

So, we need a total of 50 strips (20 for the triangles and 30 for the connectors). I used A4 sized paper, cut into 8 strips each, which I then cut into halves. So a single A4 gave me 16 strips. So 3 A4 sheets + 1 additional strip gave me the 50 strips I required.

Model Details:

Model: Icosahedron using Snapology 

Creator: Heinz Strobl

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: A4 paper cut into 8 strips

Model Size: ~4 inches tall

Instructions: Haligami

Tutorial: Youtube

I recently ordered a lot of origami paper from Kim's Crane and am now thrilled with my supply of beautiful origami paper :) And since I had so much of variety, I decided to start off making Christmas decorations from them. And, I think the most common origami decoration for Christmas must be the Sonobe!

So here are a whole lot of origami sonobes made in a variety of colours and patterns, all set for Christmas. I am yet to add satin ribbons for hanging them from and I will be all set. I also ended up making a few Christmas stars, which you can see scattered around.

I worked on both 30-unit and 12-unit models. All using 3-inch squares, so all of them ended up pretty much the same size.

Model Details:

Model: Sonobe

Creator: Mitsunobu Sonobe

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inch squares

Model Size: 3-inch in diameter

Modules: 12 or 30

Tutorial: Youtube