Hi everyone,
It may seem too early to start thinking about December already, but Advent of Tessellations is only 59 days away!
I'll be sharing a brand new set of tutorial videos again this year, with tutorials and crease patterns for these mini tessellations released daily from December 1-25.
Since the tutorials will start with easier patterns and move to harder ones over the course of the month, this challenge is accessible to folders who haven't tried tessellations yet (or who have been frustrated by them in the past) and many participants from the last four years have commented on the clarity of my tutorial videos relative to other tessellation instructions.
In fact, I won the OrigamiUSA teaching award in 2023 after the first round of Advent of Tess!
You can see all the patterns included and sign up for reminders at https://training.gatheringfolds.com/advent, which will also get you the PDFs for the tutorials when they're released.
A list of all the grids needed, links to instructions on how to fold them, and links to what paper to use are also available after you sign up.
The patterns this year focus on overlapping twists, flagstone motifs, hybrid hexagon twists, and several patterns are in multiple categories!
All of the patterns are folded on a 24-division grid on a hexagon and all of the twists are folded completely, without hanging halfway off the edge.
Like previous years, there is an ebook of crease patterns on 64 grid divisions that includes multiple ways to repeat each mini tessellation from the daily tutorials, which could easily keep you folding for a whole year.
Now is the perfect time to start folding the grids for Advent of Tess, especially if you want to have backup grids on hand for multiple attempts or for a clean copy without pen marks.
There are several options for pre-cut hexagons of Skytone available at gatheringfolds.com, including plain hexagons, hexagons with the 25 crease patterns printed on them, and hexagons with scored references for sixths in addition to the usual rectangular sheets and acrylic hexagon cutting templates.
This year there’s also a print book of tiling diagrams that you can color in as you fold to keep track of your progress on each of the 64 full patterns in the ebook!
So, check out the patterns included and sign up for Advent of Tess 2026 for free here: https://training.gatheringfolds.com/advent
Happy folding,
Madonna Yoder
Gathering Folds
P.S. I'm really excited to be a special guest for both the OUSA/BOS joint vCon in April and the BOS 60th Anniversary convention in September next year!
It'll be great to see lots of old and new friends there, and I encourage you all to sign up (as your travel plans allow)!![]()
It'll be great to see lots of old and new friends there, and I encourage you all to sign up (as your travel plans allow)!
