Slinky

I yesterday I folded this origami slinky, shown in the two above videos. I used miura-ori, which is a type of origami where you fold it into an accordion, and then through a series of diagonal folds going through all of the layers, you can create an angle. Instead of making the paper go back and forward so it is a single plane, I made the paper have four ninety degree turns so that it was in the shape of a square. The accordion-like body of it is what made it behave like a slinky. In order for it to “walk” down steps, I need to add some weight on the ends, so I taped a small lead tube to each end. When I was able to make it walk down the steps at my house it was so exciting!

Folded by Sophie Usherwood

Teapot

Here’s a teapot I made out of clay. The main hollow part of the teapot is a very large pinch pot. It’s hard to judge by the picture, but this teapot is actually quite large (it’s too big to hold in one hand). I cut a large section out of the pinch pot so I could attach the spout. I was happy with the final look, especially the touch of yellow in the handle, brim, and spout, against the dark blues.

Waves

I folded up a hurricane! Each uncut, unglued piece of paper contains three waves, each one successively smaller.

Folded by Sophie Usherwood

Designed by Peter Engel

Spring Wish

Here is an abstract ceramic sculpture I made. At the mouth of the pot, the light green and dark green (with hints of blue) abstract shapes represent leaves with red spots (often leaves that fall have spikes or spots on them). The spiral on top of the half circle represents sunlight. To give the structure a cohesive look, whenever I used a new color I made sure to apply it to multiple places. Overall, I was satisfied with the finished result.

Inverted Cone

I recently folded this inverted cone. It is basically a cone that has been turned inside out over and over again to create this flat looking shape. I found this shape very interesting because if it were turned inside out an infinite number of times, it would be a circle. Also, I haven’t worked with curved creases very much, so it was interesting to try. I had to score the creases, and then pry the paper into place.

Folded by Sophie Usherwood

Mobius Strip

I recently found a way to fold a mobius strip into a symmetrical, flat piece of origami. I demonstrate that it’s flat on the top right photo. Here are some more pictures of it. There isn’t a picture of it from the top view, but on the top looks like a square, and to the right on the diagonal it is blue, and to the left of the diagonal it is purple.

In mobius strips, if you cut along the center of the entire strip it makes one larger loop. With my flattened version of the mobius strip, it is very easy to make two simple cuts (shown in black sharpie, in #3) to create the larger loop (#4).

Folded by Sophie Usherwood

Songbirds

I folded a few songbirds, and perched them on a massage ball (which I thought resembled a nut). I liked how the intricate wings gave the appearance of it flying.

Folded by Sophie Usherwood

Designed by Robert Lang