Chemistry Meets Origami Again

I've been interested in chemistry for seemingly forever, and I've made a couple models in the past to try to represent concepts in chemistry. However, for the longest time what I really wanted to fold was an organic chemistry model kit. I'd seen one before somewhere (if you find it, feel free to send me the link) but I thought it would be best if I designed my own. My main problem when trying to fold a model kit was the tetrahedral shape. I could see how it would be possible to fold a unit from a single square, but not without wasting a lot of paper. Finally, for some reason I had the idea to fold two identical units that could fit together to make the tetrahedron. I tried folding the elbow section so that the slits on the two units would fit together, but that didn't have any way of locking. After playing with that idea, I decided to try something else: using two different units. At first, one unit was just a 90° elbow using reverse folds, and the other flat piece was simply slid into the elbow. That, like before, fell apart easily; however, by changing the elbow to have alternating 22.5° angles, the second unit locked in place nicely. I left the model like that until a couple days ago, when I realized that one of the units was too floppy. I added a sink fold to unit 1 and a crimp to unit 2 so that both units would hold their respective angles equally. The result is a couple of really simple units which can make just about any molecule, such as ethanol: Or benzene: The diagrams show how to make and assemble the two tetrahedral units, as well as the hydrogen unit. The tetrahedral angles should be 109.5°, but the diagrams use 90°. This is on purpose because the angles tend to unbend a little. Note that a lot more can be improvised such as double bonds and simply atoms like oxygen and sulfur. I haven't quite figured out how triple bonds or sp³ centres with a lone pair (such as nitrogen) will work, but I'm pretty sure they're both possible. Click Here for Diagrams. Normally I wouldn't draw diagrams, especially not for something so simple. For some reason I hope that the model might be useful for someone who, like me, never had a model kit. Unfortunately with things like closed sinks and crimps involved a non-folder might have a bit of trouble, although I would love to be proved wrong.

Digital Hermit

Two posts in two days? What is the world coming to? I've actually had a lot of time to fold since the school year in May, but I only recently had the inspiration. Near the end of May, I finally did it: I permanently deleted my facebook account. I enjoy trying to fold logos, so I figured the facebook logo might be a good challenge. I tried a couple different ways of making the "f" on a square background, but my first way ended up working the best. The major problem was the proportions, and once I had that I couldn't find reference points. I ended up having to change the references for each size of paper I tried. On the 2nd try with 10cm kami, I ended up with what you see below.

Not Sore Losers

I'll start off by saying I'm not a hockey fan at all, despite being Canadian. I originally wanted to fold the Canucks alternate logo with 2 sheets of paper to get the blue, green and white but the model ended up being too messy and with too much wasted paper. I ended up using the same hockey stick shape and adding arms and a body.

A Break From My Break

For anyone that didn't notice, I haven't posted anything since September. This is mostly because I haven't had the chance, and even when I did I couldn't seem to design anything. Anyways, as for the model, it is basically the result of a doodle. I started with a bird/frog hybrid base, similar to what I used for my Kangaroo. After a few folds, I knew that I was aiming for a dinosaur but I wasn't sure which one. I actually took the finished model and looked through pictures until I found one that looked the same. That dinosaur ended up being the Ornithomimus, as you can see from my picture: Hopefully I will design a few more models over the summer, and perhaps for the school year too. Anyone getting this years OrigamiUSA Convention Book should see my loon diagrams inside as well as plenty of other great diagrams (although I don't think the contents have been released yet).