Designing this flower tessellation reminded me of an advent calendar. In an advent calendar you open one box for each day and get a chocolate or some type of gift in each box. For this tessellation I prepared nine identical squares, and then I experimented with ways to fold each square. I felt as if the gift from each square (or each day, in the case of an advent calendar) was the pretty flower that emerged, and I could experiment with each square one at a time, just like opening the boxes in an advent calendar. I was satisfied by the final effect of seeing the nine flowers and then realizing that they were not all the same. The back side was particularly interesting because four x shapes appeared, but otherwise it was a a series of squares linked to together. When I held it up to a window, I enjoyed seeing a number of octagons and miniature stars that I had not even realized I had created.
Folded and designed by Sophie Usherwood
The Origami Journals 