Learn how to make origami pixels from paper squares and how to join them into beautiful origami mosaics. There is no glue or tape, the pixels are just folded together to form cool paper pixel art. Folding an origami pixel unit is very easy and takes only a few seconds, and creating an origami mosaic is fun and relaxing. Everybody can do it, so it does not matter if your are an origami beginner, a kid, an origami enthusiast or an experimented folder, you are all welcome to the wonderful world of origami pixels and mosaics!
I created those simple origami pixels modules a few weeks ago. They are very simple and quick to fold, and it is easy to join them together. I looked over the Internet to see if someone had used pixel units like these before, but I have not seen any origami mosaic (with only folding and no glue or tape to hold the pixels together) made with those simple pixels.
I found other origami pixels though. There is an origami pixel created by Max Hulme that was presented at the Origami USA convention in 2008. Max's pixel units look very cool, and the pixels seem to be very versatile, as one can make 2D mosaics with them and also very complex 3D objects. There are some pictures of cool origami pixels animals, hats, and even a bag made with pixels on Gilad Aharoni's page: www.giladorigami.com/PG_OUSA20...
There is a picture of a cool origami pixels banner made with Max Hulme's pixel units on this report of the Lyon Ultimate Origami convention 2014: orisamy.blogspot.fr/2014/11/lu...
I did not find instructions online for Max Hulme's origami pixel. From what I could gather, they are published in the 2009 Origami USA convention book, and in the book of the 18th Origami Tanteidan convention.
I also found research paper titled "Modular Origami Halftoning: Theme and Variations" from Zhifu Xiao, Robert Bosch, Craig S. Kaplan and Robert J. Lang in the Proceedings of Bridges 2015: Mathematics, Music, Art, Architecture, Culture: www.langorigami.com/publicatio...
In this paper, Robert Lang describes a very interesting Chromatophore pixel unit that not only have a locking system, but can also show different amounts of each side of the paper.
In my quest for paper pixels, I also found Evie Salonika's Instagram paper8bit: / paper8bit Evie creates beautiful photographies using square paper pixels. Evie uses pixels that are like mines, but she displays them on their back, and she does not fold them completely, which makes them 3D and creates interesting reflections and shadows. As far as I can tell, the pixels are joined by sticking them on their back, or just arranged next to each other.
There are also some 3D modular origami cubes that are joined together to create Minecraft like 3D objects.
That's all I could find on the web regarding origami pixels. Of course pixel art is not new. I fondly remember drawing 16x16 pixel sprites when I was a kid for the first video games I created on my PC in the 80s. And more recently, a lot of people have created paper pixel art by sticking Post-it notes on walls and windows. There is a famous French artist called Mademoiselle Maurice who creates very colorful murals by sticking thousands of origami models.
To make each origami pixel, you need one square of paper. I used 7 cm squares for my big Space Invader mosaic, and smaller 3.5 cm squares for the heart and the flowers. Once folded, the pixel is half the size of the original square. Which means that if you want to create a mosaic of a given surface, you need paper for twice the surface.
This 2 to 1 ratio is quite good, but the downside is that locking mechanism is not very strong. But as you will see in the video, it is definitely strong enough. You can use origami pixels to create 2D mosaics of any size, and you can even hang the mosaics on a wall.
Only one side of the paper will show, so you do not have to use 2 colors paper. Although if you use "kami" origami paper, you will get a nice shine effect for the diamond variation of the pixel.
I hope you will like those origami pixels and mosaics. Please let me know what you think of them in the comments of the video!
I am launching a new site origamipixels.com to display pictures of origami mosaics. If you fold some origami pixel mosaics, please send me some pictures to stephane@origami.plus so that I can add them to the web site and show them in future videos.
I'm always very happy to read your comments, and to see pictures of models that you have folded. Thanks a lot for sending them and for folding my models!
For more fun and easy origami videos, please subscribe to my RU-vid channel. It encourages me a lot to create new origami models and to publish new origami tutorials. Each video takes 20 to 40 hours of work, so your support means a lot to me.
Thank you very much, and happy pixels folding! :-)
23 мар 2017
