Thanks Kate! Tessellations are a great example of something that's usually communicated by crease pattern, but without the skills to read the pattern it's very hard to decipher.
One of the things I've learned from folding and teaching tessellations is that there's a common misconception that the only way to fold tessellations (or other complex CPs) is to precrease everything and then collapse, but that's just not true.
Tessellation crease patterns are a great roadmap for choosing what grid you want, on what shape of paper, but then it's up to you to read the twists and their relationships to determine what steps to take moving forwards. Often tessellations can be folded twist by twist, with no precreasing after the grid is done.
On the complex figurative side of things, I've noticed a trend where the CP shown is more of an artistic artifact of the design process and less an instructional guide for folding. So, the CP will show the base for that particular design but leave out many necessary steps for completion or it'll show lots of lines but no references.
A further complication is that every designer uses different line types for mountains and valleys - and some CPs even have line types for folds that are partially open. This makes it hard to transition between designers - even in the same event like the Origami Olympiad packets. I had to redraw the CP for one of the IOIO tessellations in my line style to make it intelligible, so there's definitely more than just rising sophistication that can cause problems with comprehension.
Happy folding,
Madonna
On Feb 25 2022, at 12:43 pm, Kate Honeyman <[email protected]> wrote:
Not to plug anyone, but I also really struggle with CP. I recently took a class with Madonna Yoder, she is also on Instagram I think, anyway the way she teaches tessellations really helped me understand new ways to read crease pattern. Kind of gives a visceral sense of how those repeated patterns feel when folded. For those of us that paper talks to.. KateOn Fri, Feb 25, 2022, 9:39 AM K H Nelson <[email protected]> wrote:Dear folding friends,
I do not mean to side track this enlightening discussion - and thank you all who have shared thoughts - but on the topic of aspects of origami which have been less enjoyable, may I indulge a thought which has been percolating for some time?
Despite dog-earing my copy of Dr Lang’s incredible work (ODS) and Peter Engel’s inspiring foray into chaos, nature, and diagrams, I have reached an impasse with my own brain in understanding the process of turning crease patterns into models. And I feel like I’m being left behind. My lifetime love of origami now feels like two halves - models I can fold of high complexity which I have diagrams for, and models I have struggled with to the point of shredding paper in frustration which I try to make from crease patterns.
This is in no way intended as an indictment of the incredible progress being made in CPs and the associated techniques. I am an enthusiastic proponent of technology! I just seem to be missing a switch in my brain that allows me to adjust and keep going with the complex origami world that used to bring me such joy.
Am I alone? Is anyone out there feeling similarly, or has anyone found a way to evolve and keep up?
Laura, Ronald and others - thank you for the intriguing and gentle exploration of individual preferences within this paper universe and for gracefully expressing a variety of points of view. I hope what I wrote is received in the same vein without offense given to anyone.
Be well!Keith Nelson
From: Origami <[email protected]> on behalf of Ronald Koh <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2022 3:07 AM
To: The Origami Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Origami] finding an explanation for not liking golden venturesI feel the same way...<snip>
On Wed, 23 Feb 2022, 05:52 Laura R, <[email protected]> wrote:
I don’t like the golden venture technique...<snip>
