Water Bomb (Eric Gjerde): Instructions

Folder: 
Adams, Sara
Difficulty Level: 
Simple
Model type: 
Square Grid
Tessellations and Fractals
Paper ratio: 
Square

Origami Tessellation Instructions: Water Bomb Tessellation (Eric Gjerde)

Update: I was made aware of the fact that Ron Resch discovered this origami tessellation before Eric Gjerde. I have updated the list of designers on this page accordingly. I fear the credits in the video are harder to fix...

This might be the easiest model presented it the book "Origami Tessellations" by Eric Gjerde. It basically is a agglomeration of waterbomb bases, which leads to a visually pleasing result.

Comments

hi sara how many grid divisions dose the one you made have the one with a bunch of squares?

Thanks so much for a wonderful tutorial!! I have finally successfully folded a tesselation. I have tried many times but have given up before anything came out of it. Thanks for the help!!
Linda

I think an origami artist named Mark Leonard had posted a crease pattern on the origami forum. That was where I got the diagrams. Also, there is a slanted crease pattern. The normal crease pattern has the result of the squares aligning into a 22.5 degree grid. The slanted crease pattern has the result of the squares lining up into a 90 degree grid.

Another great video. I really appreciate that I can start the video, find a piece of paper, begin to follow along in a steady pace not trying to rush things, and 17 minutes later I have finished a nice-looking tesselation while listening to your final insight comments.

unable to view the complete video even after repeated tries.

What was the size of paper you used to make that brown waterbomb tessellation?

I used a 19.5cm square of relatively heavy paper (115gsm). I think you should easily be able to fold it from a 15cm square, too, though.

-- Sara

Those look great! And you went a bit crazy with doing grids with more divisions, didn't you? ;)

-- Sara

Hahaha yeah ^_^ and I almost didn't finish :) I used really thick card paper, such a pain to fold ^_^ But I finished anyway... it honestly doesn't look as good when you see it in person (good thing you're way over there and I'm over here hehehe) thanks again for the video. Have you thought about what video to do next?

Well, the Jack in the Box was heavily requested, so maybe that. I'm more keen on the following models though: Star Puff (Ralf Konrad), Snowflake (Dennis Walker), Star Box (Robin Glynn) -- they can all be used quite nicely as Christmas decoration, so doing those should fit well into doing them this time of the year. Ah, we shall see. Maybe I'll manage to do all 4 models this year.

-- Sara

Yea, those would be a good idea for the upcoming holidays. Most of my families Christmas decorations are hand-made by us, or cut out from cereal boxes for example. It would be nice to have some origami in the mix too.

When i want to fold a 16division one i get stuck with the diagonals.
I have no idea how to start with those crease.

I'm not sure what you could be stuck on. Just like with 8 divisions, put the first X in a corner, then proceed as seen in the video until the while grid is filled with Xs. Hope this helps

-- Sara

How do you get your brown waterbomb tessellation in a neat round shape.
will that shape depend upon the size of paper you use?
Or does it depend upon the precision of folds?
What is the grid size used for this? Is it 16 by 16 grid?

I guess it depends on the paper you use. Machine-made paper will probably curl much more in one direction than the other, because the paper fibres are aligned, whereas hand-made paper should curl more evenly.
My red waterbomb tessellation now curls a lot in one direction, but not the other, but at the beginning it was still quite balanced. I did use a 16 by 16 grid, yes.
You can of course start with a rectangle and then make a grid that has more rows or columns. Just be sure that each grid square is - well, a square.

-- Sara

Hi Sara,

I am a total novice and I completed a 16 division water bomb last night (took me almost 3 hours). I just want to say: Thank You! Your instructional videos are spectacular. You have a real talent for teaching Origami.

-Casey
Oregon, US

what video are you going to make next

hi sara!
superb tutorial..wanted to ask if there is any method for tessellating Triangles instead of Squares in the similar fashion?

the folding part is very hard . i tried over i7 times. any idea what went wrong???

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