Pardon the interruption...

My apologies, but Boston Origami is going on a 2-week hiatus. Due to unforseen weddings and holidays (okay, they were foreseen weddings and holidays... I just didn't plan well) my queue of origami pictures is empty. This blog will return on May 4 with something special.

The secret of the small dish

So what exactly is this "secret" we made reference to last week? Look and see, gentle viewer, and all will be revealed...


Here we see the "small dish" from last week, as well as a mirror-image version. (Why a mirror-image version? That's part of the secret, folks.)


Here we see the same two dishes, each with three "flaps" extended. The flaps are normally inserted into the base of the bowl as part of the locking mechanism. However, they can be extended...


...and combined! We are now privy to the secret: the small dish can be combined with it's mirror-image counterpart to create this geometric figure, known as a regular icosahedron. (A regular icosahedron is a solid figure that consists of 20 identical triangles. Geeks like me will also recognize it as a d20.) Such shapes have been studied by mathematicians for thousands of years, and are favorite subjects for unit origami designers.

The icosahedron was constructed from 12 sheets of 5-7/8" square origami paper and stands roughly 5" tall. It was designed by Tomoko Fuse; a folding pattern for it may be found in her book Unit Origami. (Just like last week, huh?)

Rice bowls

Here we have a pair of rice bowls. These bowls are examples of "modular" or "unit origami", a style of origami in which many identical units are created and locked together via folding alone to create the final model. Two different (but similar) kinds of units were used in the creation of these bowls; each bowl consists of 3 of the first kind and 3 of the second kind.

Astute viewers may notice that the bowls are similar in pattern. They are actually from the same pattern; slight changes in the shaping folds of the units account for the difference in shape. The bowl on the left is clearly triangular. The bowl on the right is referred to by its designer as a "small dish" and has special properties. What are these properties? They will be revealed in next week's post.

Notice the interior spiral pattern of the bowls.


Each rice bowl was created from 6 sheets of 5-7/8" square origami paper. Each is approximately 2-1/2" deep and 5" to 5-1/4" wide. The bowls were designed by Tomoko Fuse. The folding pattern for both may be found in her book Unit Origami.