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Gathering Folds I teach aspiring tessellation folders to understand the patterns so that they can fold any design!

When I designed Dislocation, I started with the pairs of kite hybrid hexagon twists and figured everything else out from...
10/22/2026

When I designed Dislocation, I started with the pairs of kite hybrid hexagon twists and figured everything else out from there.

That's why I ended up with double-open hexagon and triangle twists in the middle instead of the more typical closed or open twists.

These twists take up more space, but they're highly effective for this pattern.

I designed Dislocation right after my husband broke his ankle (he has since fully healed) and the name comes from his X-...
10/21/2026

I designed Dislocation right after my husband broke his ankle (he has since fully healed) and the name comes from his X-ray summary.
Here the dislocation is between the pairs of kite hybrid hexagon twists, which are in the positions of 2-fold rotational symmetry in the pattern.

This pattern actually has the same symmetries in the same tiling as Sprouts, the pattern I taught in this week's livestream, but it uses very different hexagon and triangle twists.
That means that Dislocation and Sprouts have practically the same folding sequences, with some modifications due to which side of the paper certain twists are on, and can use the same tiling diagram.

Check out the second image to see the symmetry points drawn on the photo!

10/20/2026

Tessellation Garden is my full collection of designs, with over 730 of these origami tessellation patterns.
You can see all the details and get access for yourself at training.gatheringfolds.com/garden 🎉🎉

After my first two hundred or so designs, I developed a rubric for my difficulty ratings, with low/medium/high ratings for twist difficulty and structural complexity.
Now it's easier to figure out how hard each pattern is, especially as I dive into harder and harder ones that skew my perspective!

Sprouts uses only basic twists (open and closed hexagon and triangle twists), but the density of the twists and the unus...
10/19/2026

Sprouts uses only basic twists (open and closed hexagon and triangle twists), but the density of the twists and the unusual use of symmetry means it's not a basic pattern to fold.
It's actually an alternate ending of a pattern in Advent of Tess this year, so you can find the crease pattern in the AOT26 ebook and in Tessellation Garden.

Make sure to bring a 48-division *diagonal* grid on a hexagon to fold Sprouts along with me at the livestream tomorrow (or with the recording afterwards) - Tessellation Foundations has all the gridding tutorials you need.

The stream will start at 10am NY time on Tuesday, October 20, and I'll be showing how to use the tiling to keep track of your folding too.
Here's the direct link: https://youtube.com/live/5fRzABsdxhs

10/18/2026

Three months of folding for me means 23 new patterns and bigger versions of 3 older patterns that I liked too much to leave them as prototypes.
That's about two patterns per week, at 4-6 hours per pattern - a very significant time investment!

If you want to get crease patterns for all of these designs, you can find them in Tessellation Garden along with over 700 of my other designs.
Check it out at http://training.gatheringfolds.com/garden 🎉🎉

This update to Tessellation Garden brings the total number of patterns to 733 - all of which are designed by me since 20...
10/17/2026

This update to Tessellation Garden brings the total number of patterns to 733 - all of which are designed by me since 2018!

Most of the patterns in this update are in the Advent of Tess 2026 ebook, and several others were designed in Tessellation Academy or folded in my course office hours, but there's also a few that can't be found anywhere else.

Plus, you can count all of your past ebook purchases towards getting Tessellation Garden - ask my for your personalized coupon code!

Check out all the details and get the full collection for yourself here: http://training.gatheringfolds.com/garden

Shurikens is a 4/5 star difficulty pattern due to the number of different twist positions, but uses only basic twists wi...
10/16/2026

Shurikens is a 4/5 star difficulty pattern due to the number of different twist positions, but uses only basic twists with reasonable spacing between them.

In fact, I'd recommend trying this pattern right after Tessellation Starter Sequence (my course that teaches how to fold from crease patterns in 50 video lessons).

Here's some patterns from that course that teach key lessons for folding Shurikens:
1. Closed Triaxial Weave: learn to fold closed hexagon and triangle twists
2. HT6 Closed Mixed Side: fold hexagon and triangle twists on opposite sides of the paper, learn triangle and compound wraps
3. Rhombus Weave: learn to fold closed rhombus twists
4. Sawtooth (also in AOT23 tutorial, AOT26 ebook): use hexagon, rhombus, and triangle twists in the same pattern, learn pseudo-tiling breaks in the HRTR tiling
5. Spinning Saws (also in Tess By Tiles lesson, Tess Garden, AOT26 ebook): use open triangle twists with hexagon and rhombus twists, learn pseudo-tiling breaks in the HRTR Expansion 1 tiling

Shurikens (YT demonstration video, AOT26 tutorial coming soon, Tess Garden) uses closed hexagon/triangle/rhombus and open triangle twists in the HRTR Expansion 3 tiling (requiring pseudo-tiling breaks) with the same central motif as Sawtooth.

Happy - which of these patterns will you fold next?
I'm happy to send you links to the resources too.

Last year I folded Shurikens in one of my livestreamed folding demonstrations (watch the replay on my YouTube channel), ...
10/15/2026

Last year I folded Shurikens in one of my livestreamed folding demonstrations (watch the replay on my YouTube channel), and this year I'm teaching Shurikens in Advent of Tess.

This means that the crease pattern is already available in Tessellation Garden and the Advent of Tess 2026 ebook!

The pattern uses only basic twists (closed hexagon, closed and open triangle, closed rhombus) in an unusual arrangement that creates a swirly lattice when backlit.
The spacing is far enough apart to make this a good next step for intermediate tessellation folders looking for a challenge, too.

Shurikens uses rhombus twists in the positions of 2-fold rotational symmetry and triangle twists in the positions of 3-f...
10/14/2026

Shurikens uses rhombus twists in the positions of 2-fold rotational symmetry and triangle twists in the positions of 3-fold rotational symmetry, but they're not the first rhombus and triangle twists that you fold in the pattern.

In fact, there are three positions of rhombus or triangle twists that are asymmetric in the pattern as a whole!

Can you spot which twists are in which symmetry positions?
Check out the second image to see these positions drawn on the pattern!

10/13/2026

I always have a steady supply of new patterns to fold - I've already designed over 750 of my own origami tessellations, and I only started in 2018.

This one is named Shurikens, and you can see a lot of the folding process on my YouTube channel (Gathering Folds, link in bio).
I folded it for the first time in a livestream almost exactly a year ago!

If you'd like to start folding origami tessellations, the best beginner resource is my free Tessellation Foundations course, which you can find at http://training.gatheringfolds.com/start

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