A Plethora of Polyhedra in A vs nm MontrollUNAM BIELIOTECA CENTRAL CLASIE. F MATRIZ NUM, AdQ. Z To Max and Craig Copyright Copyright © 2002 by John Montroll. All rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright Conventions. Published in Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd., ‘895 Don Mills Road, 400-2 Park Centre, Toronto, Ontario M3C 1W3. Published in the United Kingdom by David & Charles, Brunel House, Forde Close, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ12 4PU, Bibliographical Note ‘This work is first published in 2002 in separate editions by Antroll Publishing Company, Maryland, and Dover Publications, Inc., New York. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ‘Montroll, John, A plethora of polyhedra in origami : John Montroll. p. em. ISBN 0-486-42271-2 (pbk) 1. Origami. 2.Polyhedra in art, I. Title ‘Tr870.M5726 2002 736 982—de21 2001047905 ‘Manufactured in the United States of America Dover Publications, Inc., 31 Kast 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501Introduction 560439 olyhedra are some of the most beautiful geometric shapes imaginable. The ancient Greeks and other cultures believed polyhedra had mystical powers. Each shape seems to radiate a different feeling. In this collection you will make many discoveries as you uncover the secrets of folding polyhedra. It is, very satisfying to create your own, each from a single square sheet of paper. You will learn to fold the five Platonic solids—the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, icosahedron, and dodecahedron. Also here are the sunken versions of these five shapes and several diamonds, prisms, heptahedron, six-pointed star, rhombic dodecahedron, and several other polyhedra. Generally polyhedra are constructed from wood, plastic, stone, metal, or paper. From paper, the usual way is to either use multiple sheets or one which has been cut to a two-dimensional silhouette of the unfolded shape. In any of these methods, the polyhedron is as symmetric as the shape itself is, that is, all the sides are constructed in the same way. By the choice of using a single square, the polyhedra exhibit a different character—some sides are connected, some are locked or connected from the opposite side of the paper. The thicknesses of the sides are different. Inherent in this is that each shape carries an organic nature. ‘The models have been organized in groups of related polyhedra, Each group is ordered by level of difficulty, and each group itself becomes progressively more difficult. The illustrations conform to the internationally accepted Randlett-Yoshizawa conventions, ‘The colored side of origami paper is represented by the shadings in the diagrams. Origami paper can be found in many hobby shops or purchased by mail from OrigamiUSA, 15 West 77th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192 or from Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, NY 11501. Large sheets are easier to use than small ones. Many people helped make this origami polyhedra symphony possible. I thank George Hart and Peter Messer for their information on polyhedra. I thank Robert Lang for his efficeint folding sequences. Thanks to Russell Cashdollar for his continued support on this project. Thanks to Tom Slemmons for his ideas. Thanks to my editors, Jan Polish and Charley Montroll. Of course, I also thank the many folders who proof read the diagrams. John MontrollContents Symbols 8 7 * Sim ) ple Basic Folds 9 Folding Plyhedra 10 wee Comper Crease Patterns 116 sekiek Very Complex ‘The Platonic Solids page 11 yo & Tetrahedron Octshedron * = oa eaarevie page 12 page 14 page 16 page 18 Diamonds —_ page 22 I a Diamond Triangular Decahote iaxaheren Dipyramid page 23 page 25 page 27 pensagonss Aggy? tezagonnt Seed Dipyramid Dipyramid Dipyramid “ex 1 ek page 31 page 35 Page 38 Prisms page 42 BOQ © ‘Tetangular Prism Pentagonal Prism Hexagonal Prism page 42 page 45 page 49 6 A Plethora of Polyhedra in OrigamiBased on the Octahedron page 53 ae ‘Six-Pointed Star Octahemioctahedron Cubehemioctahedron *k 30% ry page 54 page 57 page 60 = 3 ‘Sunken Platonic Solids §=————— = & Heptahedron Dimpled Octahedron te ek page 63 page 67 ‘Sunken Tetrahedron Sunken Cube Sunken Dodecahedron Sunken Icosahedron tok tok 1 OK Page 75 age 80 page 85 page 90 Dodecahedra page 95 ‘Triskis Tetrahedron Rhombic Dodecahedron Pentagonal Dodecahedron tobe 19% ‘Trapezohedron se page 96 page 100 oes page 110 page 105 A Plethora of Polyhedra in Origami 7Symbols ‘Valley fold, fold in front. epee cseccernactes Mountain fold, fold behind. Crease line. X-ray or guide line, Arrows Santis Fold in this direction. ey Fold behind. aA Unfold. a SS Fold and unfold. TS tmoe Ww ‘Sink or three dimensional folding. ww Place your finger between these layers. 8 A Plethora of Polyhedra in OrigamiBasic Folds Squash Fold. Im a squash fold, some paper is opened and then made flat. The shaded arrow shows where to place your finger. 1 2 3 A three-dimensional ‘Squash-fold. intermediate step. Inside Reverse Fold. In an inside reverse fold, some paper is folded between layers. Here are two examples. 1 2 1 2 Y e $ Reverse-fold. Reverse-fold. Sink Fold. Ina sink fold, some of the paper without ‘edges is folded inside. To do this fold, much of the model must be unfolded VG Basic Folds 9Folding Polyhedra Folding polyhedra from a single square sheet of paper so that they hold together requires different and new ways of folding. Because of this new adventure, I recommend you start with the simple or intermediate models shown below. Towards the back of the ook information is given on the crease patterns or possible math used for some of the polyhedra. Polyhedra require extensive use of three-dimensional folding. During that stage, be careful to understand how to interpret the valley and mountain fold lines. Where a mountain foid line typically means to fold behind, it could now refer to folding slightly behind. Another challenge during the three-dimensional folding is that the model might want to come apart and you wish for several extra hands. Here are the typical stages in folding my polyhedra: 1, Stage 1 1s finding the location of a landmark that is the key to folding the rest of the model. In some models this is found immediately and easily, while in others it could take over a page. 2. Stage 2 is in making all the prepatory creases. Often only small segments of a fold are creased. This is typically a couple of pages of simply folding and unfolding—the calm before the storm. 3. Then comes stage 3 where the main folding begins. The model becomes three-dimensional and the shape is realized. 4. Finally, stage 4 is the locking, tucking, inflating, or whatever it takes to close or finish the polyhedra. In some it is an easy tuck, but n others it tales some juggling to get all the loose ends to cooperate. Some simple and intermediate models: NA gS ‘Tetrahedron Octahedron page 12 page i page 16 WZ a ‘Triangular Prism ‘Sunken Octahedron page 23 page 42 page 72 10 A Plethora of Polyhedra in OrigamiThe Platonic Solids ‘Tetrahedron page 12 Cube page 14 Icosahedron Dodecahedron page 18 page 110 ‘The five regular solids, known as the Platonic solids, represent the first group of polyhedra. These are the only polyhedra with the following properties: 1. The faces ofeach are identical regular polygons, 2. The corners of each are alike. 3. Line segments connecting any two corners are on or inside the solid. In folding these, the tetrahedron, cube, and octahedron are relatively easy, the icosahedron difficult, and the dodecahedron very difficult. Directions for the dodecahedron are shown towards the end of the book. ‘The Platonic Solids 11Tetrahedron Composed of four equilateral triangles, this is the simplest of the five Platonic solids. Plato believed the tetrahedron represented fire because of its sharpness and simplicity. It is simple enough that the same folding pattern has been created independently by several origami artists. This is the perfect place to begin this journey. it 2 7 3 / Fold and unfold on Bring the lower right saree the left and right. corner to the center line. fold Fold and unfold. 12. A Plethora of Polyhedra in OrigamiUnfold. Unfold. Fold along the Reverse folds. existing creases. 14 Lift up at the while the The ¢'s will meet dots meet. The model will the & at the top. become three-dimensional, Tuck inside on both sides. Tetrahedron Tetrahedron 13Cube Designing a cube is an interesting problem. There already 1s a beautiful cube—the traditional waterbomb. The waterbomb wins hands down for its ease in folding, elegance, and the surprise at the end when you inflate a two-dimensional model. Instead, I chose to design a cube in which each side is a square panel with no crease on any side. In keeping with the naming conventions of polyhedra, this could be called a hexahedron. Plato believed this regular polyhedron, composed of six squares, symbolized earth because of its stability. ' 1 1 i Fold and unfold. Fold and unfold. Fold and unfold. \ BZ ~ aN Da Fold and unfold. Fold and unfold. 14 A Plethora of Polyhedra in Origami8 , This Is a view of the inside of this three-dimensional model. Rotate Open to view the inside. i view the outside so the side with several layers is on the left ll 12 Bring the dots together while the A sticks out. Rotate a little to the left and bottom. 14 15 Fold and unfold to reinforce the crease. puri taaides 16 Repeat steps 14-15 to tuck the other two flaps.Octahedron For this model, all the folding is two-dimenstonal, until the last step when it is inflated. ‘This regular polyhedron, formed from eight equilateral triangles, represented air to Plato because It appears to be suspended. Like the other Platonic solids, the octahedron can be inscribed in. a sphere where all the vertices meet the sphere. If the center of each side of the octahedron becomes the vertex (corner) of a new polyhedron, the new polyhedron would be a cube. Polyhecira related this way are called duals. So the dual of the octahedron is the cube. The dual of the tetrahedron is itself. 1 2 2 Fold and unfold along Fold and unfold to Align the dots and lines the diagonals, Rotate. find the quarter mark, on the front and back. CS | 16 A Plethora of Polyhedra in Origami Unfold8 Zo 9 o> \ M ST Fold the corners to er the center and unfold. Fold and unfold. a ‘Squash-fold. Turn ae eee over and repeat. 14 15 16 7 K A J Tum over ‘Tuck inside. Turn Turn over Fold and unfold all and repeat. ‘over and repeat. and repeat. the layers. Turn ‘over and repeat, 18 19 Tuck inside. Turn over and repeat. Inflate. Octahedron Octahedron 17Icosahedron ‘The icosahedron is a regular polyhedron composed of twenty equilateral triangles. Plato attributed this one to water because of its ability to roll. Its dual is the dodecahedron. I thank Robert Lang for working out the folding method for finding the landmark in step 5. ll 2 3 Fold and unfold. Fold and unfold, Fold and unfold bringing creasing at the ends. the dots together, creasing on the left. 4 S 6 7 Fold and unfold, creasing on the diagonal. 18 A Plethora of Polyhedra in Origami8 9 10 ‘Unfold. Fold and unfold. Fold and unfold. ul 12 : 13 iS TINS \ Unfold. Fold up so the edge Fold and meets the dot. id. 14 # 15 16 # \ Fold and unfold along the diagonals, Fold and unfold. 5 : 6 7 Unfold. Fold and unfold. Decahedron 23Fold and unfold three more times. AJ) Reverse-fold. Fold both layers together inside. ‘The tip will be folded back. Qe Repeat steps 13-14. Reverse-fold on Lift up at the dot, Place the right. Tarn your finger inside to make Turn over and repeat. Tuck inside with Tuck inside. Do not 20 21 [> } Ls a squash fold. make a squash fold. Decahedron 24 A Plethora of Polyhedra in Origami