


The “Sample Whirlpool” page of the Sketchpad model displays the crease pattern above along with directions for printing it. Once you’ve printed the whirlpool pattern, cut it out. The final few minutes of the video below provide some pointers on folding the whirlpool. To experiment with whirlpools yourself, start by downloading this sketch. This video explains how I used Sketchpad to create a general whirlpool template that can be used to fold the more than 20 whirlpool designs in Fuse’s book.
#SPIRAL SKETCHPAD SOFTWARE#
By contrast, establishing the crease lines in a whirlpool defies a traditional origami instruction like, “Fold the paper in half along the diagonal.” Without software (or a ruler and protractor), a whirlpool could not exist. For most origami models, there is a well-defined folding sequence that allows a folder to start with a fresh, unmarked sheet of paper and determine where each crease belongs. The crease lines that define a whirlpool can only be created with the aid of a tool like Sketchpad.The sample crease pattern here only hints at a spiral, but other whirlpools are decidedly more spiral-like in appearance. Whirlpools are folded from spirals. Whereas most origami models are folded from squares, rectangles, or regular polygons, whirlpools begin life as spirals.This particular crease pattern creates the hexagonal whirlpool shown above. Whirlpools do not come with step-by-step folding directions.To fold a whirlpool, you start with a crease pattern: a blueprint of sorts, like the one at right, that shows every crease necessary to shape the paper into its final state.To explain the role Sketchpad played, let me back up a little and describe how whirlpool spirals are made.įuse’s whirlpool designs differ from traditional origami models in several notable ways: Indeed without Sketchpad, I would have struggled to fold these whirlpools. Normally, I keep my hobby of origami separate from my work with Sketchpad, but this was an instance where my two interests came together.

But perhaps my favorite category of spirals is what Fuse calls whirlpools.Īt left are four whirlpool designs that I’ve folded from Fuse’s book. There are helices and shells, all with graceful curves. The majority of the designs in Spiral are folded from single sheets of paper. But nothing prepared me for the amazing creations in her newest book, Spiral: Origami | Art | Design, published by Viereck Verlag. A Google search for her origami models reveals a plethora of boxes and intricate three-dimensional structures, many of which are folded from multiple sheets of paper and then assembled together.Īs an avid origami folder, I’ve always admired Fuse’s work.

Gradients in the style window, useable with most tools.Shapes: Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Gear, Star, Burst, Radial Burst, Spiral (Sketch Mobile).Crayon tool reintroduced from Sketch Mobile.Preview (ghost) the stamp tool before you apply it (Chris Smith).Change the tool type in the options drop-down menu after you’ve created a layer (Chris Smith).Spacebar+drag while your in a brush (recommended by Chris Smith).Editable generative brushes: Chrome, Fur, Shader, Sketchy, Web (via Mr Doob‘s Harmony).Doob’s generative brushes, and the improved stamp tool. SP2.1 is great at creating background wallpapers quickly now that most of the tools work with gradients, and are all editable in place-this can be especially fun on tools like Mr. Where Sketchpad 2.0 introduced non-destructive vector + bitmap editing on the web, Sketchpad 2 webpage.1 (SP2.1) takes that bland package of vector tools and borrows features from Sketch Mobile, an app that exhibited my furthest exploration in creating colorful enviroments.
