3D Geometric Art

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http://www.instructables.com/id/3D-Geometric-Art/

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3D Geometric Artby watchmeflyyon January 30, 2014

Table of Contents

3D Geometric Art ..............................................................................................................

Intro: 3D Geometric Art ......................................................................................................

Step 1: Materials ...........................................................................................................

Step 2: Designing ..........................................................................................................

Step 3: Folding units ........................................................................................................

Step 4: Artwork preparation ...................................................................................................

Step 5: Gluing down units ....................................................................................................

Step 6: Trimming paper ......................................................................................................

Step 7: Frame: design ....................................................................................................... 1

Step 8: Frame: cutting and folding .............................................................................................. 1

Step 9: Frame: gluing ....................................................................................................... 1

Step 10: Inserting artwork .................................................................................................... 1

Related Instructables ........................................................................................................ 1

Advertisements ............................................................................................................... 1

Comments ................................................................................................................ 1
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Intro: 3D Geometric ArtInspired by Fibonacci spirals, I came up with some paper art (I'm calling this one Fire Flower for apparent reasons) using minimal origami. I folded some paper andexperimented with units before deciding that I liked this design best. It was simple yet beautiful--anyone's favorite combo, I'm sure.

Step 1:Materialsorigami paperglue + scrap piece of paperthicker paper (for background)ruler

pencilindex card (or just scrap paper)scissorsOPTIONAL: beads and embellishments, poster paper for frame


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Step 2:DesigningHere's the time to plan out your artwork if you choose to do something different from my design. See above for possible ideas. Look at different art (perhaps search fogeometric art) -- you'll never know what can inspire you. The picture of my inspiration, for example, was this:a picture of Fibonacci sequences in action in aloe plants.

Feel free to wing everything, should you wish, but I find that it's a good idea to have an idea in mind prior to working. I suggest folding a few units for experimenting (senext step for folding) to guide you in finding out what you can and cannot do.

Image Notes1. This was one interesting design that I came up with when I was working on
http://www.bluesci.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/I24_15_AloeVera.png


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another project. (see my ombr earrings project if you want to see how to makethe glued units)

Step 3:Folding unitsThis modular units of the tessellation are fairly simple so no need to worry if origami is far from your forte.

Start with a square piece of origami paper.1.Fold along one of the diagonals.2.Fold the two sides to the diagonal crease from the previous step.3.And...... that's it. Quick, eh?4.

These will be your units as you make your artwork. You can always invent new units for your own use, but I just stuck to something simple that I could recreate the unquickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the Fire Flower, you'll need to cut out squares of different sizes. The side lengths of my sizes were 1.875 cm, 2.175 cm, 2.475 cm, 2.775 cm, 3.075 cm, and 3.375cm. (The decimal places are because I had a few 1.875 squares already, and I just wanted each unit to be 3 millimeters bigger each size up.) The corresponding coloare progressively darker for larger sizes (so red is the largest size, white is the smallest).

Use your ruler and pencil to draw squares for those sizes (for decimal places, eyeballing your ruler is fine) and you should end up with 8 squares per size, 48 squarestotal.

Vary the sizing as you want for different size flowers, and you could choose different colors. I personally would have gone for ombr blues (and thus Winter Flower, Iguess), but my collection of shades of blue was nearly depleted from another project.


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Image Notes1. completed unit

Image Notes

1. 3.375 cm2. 3.075 cm3. 2.775 cm4. 2.475 cm5. 2.175 cm6. 1.875 cm

Step 4:Artwork preparationOn the thick paper that's going to be your background paper, lightly sketch out the places where your units will go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the Fire Flower, draw four long lines that intersect to make eight congruent angles (so now you have something that looks like an asterisk-type of star but with eighpoints). Line up your units in groups that look like arrows of fire (first picture) and taking one of the arrow groups, spread it along one of the l ines so that the arrow pointo the intersection. Then, using a finger, gently push the line of units upward so that they make a slight, graceful curve.

Grab your index card, and mark the distance from one unit to the next. This is your measure for how far apart your units will be as you glue them to the background

paper. Cut the index card so that marked measurement sticks out (see the sixth picture for what I mean).

On the other side of the index card, cut something that's approximately like the curve of your units. Just cut something by eye, check it against the real curve, and keecutting and checking until your index card's curve fits the units' curve.

(here's the part in which the pictures above are necessary for understanding what I'm saying) Now line up the curve with each of the eight lines coming from theintersection and lightly trace the curve. These will be your guidelines as you glue down the units. Erase the straight lines afterward.


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Image Notes

1. Mark that distance.

Image Notes1. You want your index card to closely match that curve.2. Make a little mark here at where the curve ends.

Image Notes1. finished index card


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Image Notes1. bottom curve = curve on index card

Image Notes1. curved mark along the straight line

Image Notes1. eight curves total

Step 5:Gluing down unitsTo glue down your units, squeeze some glue onto a scrap piece of paper (I just cut off a piece of plastic from something.) and run the edge of a unit along the glue befpressing it down on paper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the Fire Flower, start with the smallest unit. Run the two edges along the glue and press the unit down so that one edge lies along the pencil mark of a curve, pointoward the center intersection of the lines. Take the second smallest unit and run the two edges along the glue too. Insert the point into the smallest unit and line up thedge with the pencil curved line. Use your index card to make sure that the units are correctly spaced. Take the next units and repeat until you're finished with one "peof the Fire Flower. Repeat to complete the whole flower.

The center of my flower looked a bit off due to my clumsy first attempts so I put some glue in the middle, dropped 5 small seed beads in the glue, and then added a fin

dollop of glue on top to seal the beads.


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Image Notes1. Run the two edges of the unit in the pool of glue.

Image Notes1. Put the unit down so that one edge is along a curvy line.

Image Notes1. Apply glue on the edges of the next larger unit.

Image Notes1. Insert it into the first unit. Use your index card to make sure the distance iscorrect.

Image Notes1. Repeat, using the index card again.

Image Notes1. Once you complete one "petal," start on the next. Don'r forget to line up theedge to the curved lines.


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Image Notes1. done and trimmed (see next step)

Step 6:Trimming paperTrim the edges of your background paper if the artwork is not properly centered. My artwork, after trimming, ended up 13.8cm by 13.8cm. See above for how I centeremy Fire Flower, but I don't suggest my method; it's not as effective as I'd like. Instead, grab another piece of paper and draw a square or rectangle or circle (etc) and c

out the shape. Then put that makeshift stencil on top of your artwork, trace the shape lightly in pencil, and then cut out your artwork with the shape you want. Far easie

After that, your new art is ready for putting on the wall!

BUT if you want to make a frame for it like I did, read on...

Image Notes1. Draw a line like this that makes your artwork centered and correctly tilted.2. Mark that height.

Image Notes1. Flip the artwork to the opposite side and mark that same height. Connect thispoint to the other corner to the right --->.


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Image Notes1. Connect that point to the corner. Repeat these steps so that you have slantedlines on all four sides of the paper.

Image Notes1. 1.5cm2. My artwork still wasn't centered in a square because my original paper wasrectangular. Thus, I marked a light line connected these two red points andmeasured the distance from the line (black point) to the nearest slanted line.

Image Notes1. As you can see, the artwork is a lot farther from the slanted line. So I markeda line connecting two red points, and measured 1.5cm down. Then I drew a lineparallel to the slanted line but going through this 1.5cm mark.

Image Notes1. first light mark; 1.5cm from slanted line2. second light mark; over 1.5cm from slanted line3. light mark 1.5cm from light mark above4. line is parallel to bottom slant line but goes through the mark 1.5cm downfrom the light mark


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Image Notes1. You should end up with something like this.2. But I don't suggest this method. See below for what you should actually do.

Image Notes1. done and trimmed (see next step)

Step 7:Frame: designI like to frame my work so I used a poster board (22" by 28"). Alternatively, you could make a shadow box-type of frame by following my tutorial here. I drew a simpledesign for it in MS Paint (see colorful picture above). The idea is that I would make a hole in the paper for the artwork to fit in, fold and glue the extra paper to the back

insert the artwork in the hole, and insert the clear plastic screen. The design is exactly like the one from my other project here; I liked the frame so much (and it was sofun to make!) that I transferred the idea.

I measured the borders of my final design (18cm X 18cm X 3.5cm) and decided that I wanted the frame to be a bit higher than the artwork. SO (on MS Paint picture):

white square's dimensions = artwork's dimension = 13.8cm X 13.8cmblack square's dimensions: 16.8cm X 16.8cm (so frame will provide a 1.5cm border)green rectangles' dimensions: 2cm X 16.8cm (The 2cm part determines the height of the frame so my frame will be about -- actually a little less than -- 1cm talthan the artwork.)white tabs'/trapezoids' height = green rectangles' height = 2cmpink trapezoids' height = less than frame's border = 1.25cmso blue square's dimensions = 5.8cmyellow tabs' height: 2.5cm (any measurement here is fine as long as the tab ends up big enough for gluing later)blue rectangles' dimensions: 8.4cm X 8.4cm (I got 8.4cm from dividing the length of the black square in half -- 16.8cm/2.)

I drew the pattern on my poster board, using those measurements as guidance, before cutting it out.

HELPFUL TIP:for folding and creasing thick paper, it's easier to lightly score the paper (drag the blade of your scissors or use a knife on the line) before folding along

line.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Secret-CompARTment-3/http://www.instructables.com/id/Picture-FrameShadow-Box/


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Step 8:Frame: cutting and foldingAfter cutting out the 2D frame design, I folded up the side pieces (see the pictures for what way and which lines), cut out the center square (blue from MS Paint imageand folded the inside trapezoids (see pictures again).

HELPFUL TIP:When folding thick paper, scoring the paper by lightly dragging a blade (paper-cutting knife or a blade from scissors) along the l ine will make foldingeasier.

Image Notes1. blue = valley fold (fold inward)

Image Notes1. Before cutting, score the paper by dragging a blade (you could also usescissors' blades) lightly across the line.

Image Notes1. red = cut, blue = valley fold (fold inward), green = mountain fold (foldoutward)

Image Notes1. inside view


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Image Notes1. outside view

Step 9:Frame: gluingGlue the blue rectangles (from MS Paint image) in a pinwheel formation. (see above for visuals) Don't forget the four smaller yellow trapezoidal tabs too. Trim any papthat juts out in the end.

Image Notes1. Apply glue here (bottom half)...2. and here (trapezoidal tab)3. Then press this side down on the glue.

Image Notes1. Press the adjacent side down.2. MANY GLUE APPLICATIONS: here...3. here... (see next picture)4. Next picture is concerning this intersection.


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Image Notes1. here...2. here...3. here... (AND the trapezoid somewhere on this side too)

Image Notes1. Do all the side rectangles at once. Do this in a pinwheel formation, and don'toverestimate your glue's strength.

Image Notes1. Completed, after much hassle.2. Trim parts like this.

Image Notes1. The flaps may need extra glue on the corners.

Step 10:Inserting artworkInsert your artwork into the hole on the opposite side of the pinwheel. This might take a bit of coaxing, and if the artwork really isn't fitting, trim the edges a bit.

Et voil! New art for decorating a room or presenting as a gift. Be creative and invent new patterns; let your creativity flow into a sketch--and bring that sketch to life.

If you end up with extra units, I'm working on another project to avoid wasting the paper. I'll post it soon. :)


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Image Notes1. Make sure your folds are correct (mountain vs. valley folding)

Image Notes1. Don't worry too much about these small gaps; I don't think they matter much.2. APODSIFJA;SDKLFJH GORGEOUS

Image Notes1. side view of the artwork showing off its 3D nature

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Comments

3 comments Add Comment

duceysays: Feb 3, 2014. 9:16 AM REPWow this is an amazing project great work

emilyvanleemputsays: Feb 3, 2014. 8:16 AM REPNice!

emilyvanleemputsays: Feb 3, 2014. 8:19 AM REPI love the side view picture, it shows the 3D part really well!
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