Modular Origami

Make a stellated octahedron, a stellated icosahedron , or a simple cube using only paper.

Sorry for bad quality pictures!

Thanks to xavtek for the project cover.

Step 1: Materials

All you need is paper.

Make sure you have several square pieces of the same size. If you are gonna make the cube, you need 6 pieces. For the octahedron, you need 12, and 30 for the icosahedron.

Also make sure you have a lot of patience and free time.

Comments

[andiesasser]

I have done 5 times smaller size on the modular. it took forever to fold and put it together, but I lost it in the move. It was fun to do.

[PuzzleJenn]

I love using Christmas cards (buy a bunch of boxes the day after Christmas for really cheap), cut the picture out in squares, make the units, make the 8 unit stellated octahedron, put a string on it and hang it on your Christmas tree.

I bet these would be awesome folded in tracing paper as shown above, and pushed over the Christmas tree lights.... :)

[joel263]

i cant see shir

[jaredarm]

I used a different module but it folds to the same size in the end. I made mine out of tracing paper and then put an LED in it! Thank you for the inspiration. This instructable got me interested in finding out more and then making one. :D

[yvettedq]

yeah really? it sure looks very polished...

[princessbunnyrooroo]

ohhhhh I love the LED inside idea.

[dragon0305]

Everyone i know how to make this so if you have any quetions ask me

[Runnynose12]

can you use notebook paper if i were 2 cut them all the same size???

[dragon0305]

The paper has to be square

[Blue Mist]

So sweet i used 16 instead of 12 but i couldnt do it and i got this it rules i may even post an instructable about it

[Runnynose12]

nice job looks like a book lol

[HALOPLAYER101]

Where can u buy origami pieces of paper?

[kog103]

I've been making these for a good while now, and they are oh so much fun to do. 90 unit Dodecahedral especially. Just thought I'd post saying that your instructions are really good, and are a good way to help people get into it. Here's a Icosahedral I made today actually

[gertth]

too hard to understand, make a video

[MasterOfNone]

Nice job on your Instructable. A slightly different module, along with video instructions, may be found http://www.danallan.com/2009/01/. I like the module at the linked site better because it locks together (unless I messed up following your instructions).

[origamianything]

umm, it looks like this one wont, but you just have to find the right pocket. the other one is locking because u see the pocket. that's ur problem.

[BraisedDuck]

There is also the 270-unit Buckyball, 210-unit Snub Dodecahedron and 135-unit Wreath of Cuboctahedra, 150-unit Snub Dodecahedron; 180 and 120-unit Rhombicosidodecahedra, 120-unit Icosidodecahedra, 90-unit Dodecahedra, 84-unit Truncated Octahedra, 60-unit Snub Cube, 60-unit Icosidodecahedron, 48-unit Rhombicuboctahedron, 48-unit Cuboctahedron, 42-unit Truncated Hexahedron, and finally, the 30 unit Icosahedron. And they are ALL made from the same module.

[Ben The Builder]

 You can also take 3 and make a hexahedron, it's like a smashed square type pyramid

[origamianything]

Hey. You can make an even BIGGER (yes, i said bigger) ball with about 270 pieces of paper. A.K.A. the epcot ball. The one that's like a buckyball, with 12 pentagons and lots of hexagons. try making it by putting together a pentagon, then surround it with 2 lines of hexagons and add s'more pentagons. be careful though, because if it's put together wrong, it won't close up.

[awsome_guy27]

Your Instructable is amasing. I love origami, but I do think you could have been a little bit more specific in step three on how to finish it. I would tell you how to put notes on if I could but I just joined and don't know how either.

[Ben_the_Builder]

yer i no wat u mean it says to clik n drag on the pic but it doesnt work.... : ( any way i have a programe with origami in it and this specific design is in it and i cant find all the steps so it doesnt make sense to me so thankyou for completing the steps for me... :D

[pskim333]

I used this module for the basis of my final project (in architecture school). Ultimately it was the "mistakes" that were made in previous comments that became the most useful models.

[urbosssez]

sooo awesome! here are mine

[Pixel_Master]

Can someone please send me a video on how to put together those things in the post I replyed to? Cuz mine turned out to be more of a "Stelated and leaning to the left side Cylinder" than these. :(

[MasterOfNone]

Check out this website for a video:
http://www.danallan.com/2009/01/.

[nightninja87]

one thing to remember is that the biggest one has five points and one hole between them all that helped me out i hope it helps you out too

[Pixel_Master]

Thanks!

[nightninja87]

your welcome put a picture up when your finsh so i could see it

[deeifrost]

I finally made it!!! thanks for this Instructable, I just finished my icosahedron. First I made the octahedron, but I didn't really like how it looks, so I went for something bigger. (and I'm glad of It, 'cause it's pretty cool) I also used different module, but the final shape is exactly the same, and you were right, there's no strategy for setting it up, it's just a matter of time and patience.

[ceciliaa]

nossa muito muito bom seu trabalho consegui fazer sem quebrar muito a cabeça so paciencia mesmo *-* valeu (y)

[fatking]

lol i've made the boxes b4 and i made like 11 wif different sized paper and i put the smaller ones into the bigger ones... i would post a pic of all my boxes but i lost them ages ago and forgot how to make the boxes... thanx for this instructable =]

[jonathan111]

MINE

[knexsuperbuilderfreak]

ive bult the boxes before

[UchihaFan123]

too hard 2 connect make a video

[bowow0807]

yes

[darius3]

I like very much this kind of sonobe modul...3papers A4 and you can realise something really atracttive ...great job indeed!Thanks!

[UchihaFan123]

i olny know how 2 make da cube

[UchihaFan123]

da pics r 2 blurry

[unbentcrayfish]

redo the pictures, they are hard to see what you realy did...

[kenny94]

I made a 30 unit stellated isoscahedron and an inverted 12 piece stellated octahedron

[hixair]

Hi ! thanks for that awesome instructable : i use to do a lot of these younger. It's great to find back the way to make them. i did that one yesterday :

[Mascimo]

I see some printed stuff near the down-rightest vertex, =P

I love the picture you took.

[Mascimo]

Do you mind if I use it for the prject cover?

[hixair]

sorry, it took so long, you can use my pic as a cover for the project of course ! i would be glad if you do :)

[karossii]

your pictures are all out of focus, making it hard to follow!

[smilgy]

i am only able to make the cube :(

[LCSoccer5]

It took me awhile to figure out how to put the modules together but after eyeballing it and seeing how I want it to be shaped like, I got it to work. Thanks for the great instructible, I'm gonna try making a bigger one later!

[effin.fantastic]

These are fun! I just made 2 of the stellated octahedra watching TV. I see some x-mas ornaments in the future.

[bigblondeboy]

this is hard can u make a little video or subitles for pictures

[endolith]

:-)

[Mascimo]

Great, I like the colors!

=)

[latobada]

build the epcot center. it is possible, ill find a photo and upload it. it consists of sets of 6 around one side, (so the real eppcot center is not really a circle after all!), and then another 6 at the top and bottom, and the rest are groups of 5. Stay tuned for an Instructable as how to make it.

[Mascimo]

Epcot center is a stellated polyhedron of many many faces. Though, I believe it's impossible to build that with this module. Reason? Simple, stellated polyhedra like these are built of many pyramids. Each pyramid, in this instructable, is made of 3 modules. If you try mounting more than 5 pyramids like these around a single vertex, you will just find out you can't. That's because of the specific metrics of these faces. Note that 5 pyramids around a vertex corresponds to the stellated icosahedron, so that is the most complex shape achieved with this technique.

[jewlia]

Actually, you can use 6 at a vertex, it will just have no curvature. Thus the idea of using 6 at a few verteces, and 5 or 4 at others to connect them. I've been making these for years, and have created several maps involving 300 or 400+ pieces, with several vertices having 6 pyramids, and have built them quite successfully.

[eon789]

Nice instructable. Check out mor instructables like this at my group origami masters

[eon789]

Oh yeah i also remember seeing this in an origami book i have.

[Havok]

Nice :D

[T3h_Muffinator]

Nice, these look really cool!. You should either try to get a better camera, or use the macro function (flower icon) on your camera ;-)

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To put notes you just click and drag in the "picture preview area" when you're making the instructable. Good work!!

[Mascimo]

I had my camera on macro function, problem was that when it's on macro it doesn't activate the flash, and the shutter has to bo open for a long time. So , with my shakey hand, you get that blur.

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I tried that, but somehow I could'nt make it neither on firefox 2 or IE 7.

[T3h_Muffinator]

I dunno then, I use firefox 2 and it seems to work for me.....

[Mascimo]

Now it worked, lol.

[T3h_Muffinator]

w00t w00t!

[ThomasGriffiths]

wow you sure did beat me to making an instructable on this :P well done they look fantastic i like the newspaper here is my one i made a couple of weeks ago

[Mascimo]

Try making the icosahedron.

It's a hundred times neater =)

[Jezza Bear]

Great, like it. The one on the right of the original is a stellated icosahedron, have you got plans/instructable for an icosahedron, if so can you PM me or even better publish here...pppllleeeaasse:-)

[Mascimo]

Well... Not with modular origami I know.

Try constructing one using it's planification

[Jezza Bear]

Yeah, been there, done that:-) Thanks

[supes]

I followed easily until the assembly part...then I had to go over it a few times...i am still at assembly

[Mascimo]

Which one are you trying? I am sorry I couldn't explain better because I don't have a real strategy for that. If you could make the "pyramid" with 3 modules, all I can say to you is keep trying.

[crestind]

Woah, fancy! Reminds me of Katamari Damacy.