First Models

The first model I did was out of regular 8 1/2 x 11 copy paper. This model uses 30 units and took me about 3 hours to create. The folds were relatively simple, but putting it together was such a headache.

When I picked this model, I had only looked at the folds of the individual units, not the way the units interlocked. As I began to put the model together, I quickly became aware that this was a tension-based model. What does that mean? Well, if you push a unit with too much force, the entire model basically explodes and you have to restart. Several attempts and a solid day-long break and I could finally complete it.

This wasn't off to a great start.

For my next attempt, I looked at a simpler construction. I figured a unit with more gaps (i.e. negative space) might be easier as it would be held together solely through "tab and slot" construction as opposed to tension.

This unit was created with notepad paper. It uses 30 units and took me about 1 1/2 the first time I attempted it. This was so much simpler. I could easily manipulate the paper and get it to do what I wanted without little to no struggle. This made it a lot simpler to understand how the dresses could be constructed too. I could cover a large area with these orbs.

That being said, I didn't want to give up on my first attempt completely. I wanted to try another model that didn't have any negative spaces.

OH MY GOD NO! This model took 30 units and 6+ hours to make. Why? Well the folds were more complicated and the tabs on each unit ended up being less than 1/8th of an inch. This meant that in order to get this model to stay together I had to glue every. single. piece. And then wait for the glue to set before moving on to the next one. It ended up being a beautiful model, but I think it will be quite a while before I attempt another like this again.


So after those experiments, it was clear that the best method would be to use models that included a lot of white space and that could be easy to manipulate into whatever shape I needed.