In our days, tessellations are abstract (or geometric) origami only technically - we still use folds, pleats, twists, and molecules as distinct elements of a tessellation. But conceptually, tessellations are gradually moving nearer to figurative origami. And this becomes clear as we recall that one of the most popular ornaments in origami are flowers - not abstract forms, but real objects. Therefore, this "Silver Roses" design can be called "figurative tessellation".
Almost all figurative tessellations that represent flowers are flat. The reason is very simple: it's quite hard to make a 3-dimensional flower using origami tessellation technique. A much easier approach is to fold one big flower from a whole sheet of paper, using edges as petals. We all know such flowers, and the most typical one is Kawasaki Rose, as an example. But what if one needs to put the flower on the plane as one molecule and then connect it with other ones in one complex tessellation? My "Silver Roses" model solves this problem.
As the base of the flower, I used a twist (hexagon twist, to be more precise) - it is a good thing to start any flower with. But then I used special double-width pleats (which I call "directed pleats") which raised the flower above the paper. And that's it, the flower is done, it remains only to fold the petals...
Almost all figurative tessellations that represent flowers are flat. The reason is very simple: it's quite hard to make a 3-dimensional flower using origami tessellation technique. A much easier approach is to fold one big flower from a whole sheet of paper, using edges as petals. We all know such flowers, and the most typical one is Kawasaki Rose, as an example. But what if one needs to put the flower on the plane as one molecule and then connect it with other ones in one complex tessellation? My "Silver Roses" model solves this problem.
As the base of the flower, I used a twist (hexagon twist, to be more precise) - it is a good thing to start any flower with. But then I used special double-width pleats (which I call "directed pleats") which raised the flower above the paper. And that's it, the flower is done, it remains only to fold the petals...
