Origami: how to make a dodecahedron of paper

The dodecahedron is a polyhedron consisting of 12 identical pentagons. This is the basic figure for a variety of crafts: from desktop calendars to tracery lanterns.

How to make a dodecahedron of paper?

You can build a pentagon yourself - it's easy and guarantees high accuracy of the picture. To build a regular pentagon, you need a compass and a ruler. Draw a circle of the required size. Swipe anywhere in the radius. To it perpendicularly draw another radius. Then divide one of the radii into two equal parts. Each half will be the radius of another, a small circle, which will perform the role of auxiliary. Then connect the center of this auxiliary circle to the place where the main circle intersects another radius (say, at point A). The resulting line will intersect the auxiliary circle at a certain point-B. The distance AB is one-tenth of the circumference. Note this distance with a compass note on the main circle, and then connect these points through one straight line - the correct pentagon is ready!

There are other methods. For example, a pentagon can be constructed using a protractor, but it does not guarantee accuracy. The most legible way - to take a ready-made scheme, print it and for this "pattern" is already making of a suitable paper craft. But this method, despite its simplicity, does not always work - in fact sometimes it is necessary to make a dodecahedron of a certain size. You can enlarge one pentagon to the desired scale and print only it, then build the figure in the diagram below.

But the "pattern" is not yet a ready-made hand-made article. How to make a dodecahedron of paper? To do this, you need:

1. Paper that is suitable for density. It should not be too thin or too thick - preferably 220 g / m², this is the density of the cardboard that is sold in children's sets. Although it is possible to create three-dimensional figures from thick cardboard, you only need to pre-process all the folds - slightly cut or press well, so that they bend well and evenly.

2. Scissors, pencil, glue, knitting needle or writing-knife

Tips for making a dodecahedron

It is desirable to press the paper slightly at the folding sites with a spoke, with a blunt side of the clerical knife or with something sharp, but not cutting. Careful even bends are half the success.

If there is no glue at hand, the dodecahedron can be assembled as a designer, making incisions on the folds, and then simply inserting the sides one into the other.

If you are assembling a dodecahedron in a modular technique (the instruction below), then it is desirable to glue or secure the junctions with clips, since the structure will become stable only after the last module has been fixed.

Dodecahedron in the technique of origami

The origami module is an excellent base for the dodecahedron. How to make a dodecahedron of paper in modular technology? It will take 30 rectangular or square sheets of paper. Each of the leaves folds in half, then each half must be bent in the opposite direction - you get an "accordion" in four additions. Sometimes, if the sheet is not square, make an "accordion" in three additions. As a result, you have a narrow, rectangular strip in your hands. Then, from each side of the rectangle along the narrow side, it is necessary to bend the corner. The corners are folded in one direction - these are the future attachments, which will be refueled in the "accordion". Then bend the module in diagonally diagonally from the small side corners. Thus, one module for origami dodecahedron is three-dimensional, it includes two edges of the future figure and corners. When all modules are ready, you can begin the assembly.

Assembly begins with one node, for which you need to take three modules. In the figure below, these are blue, pink and yellow origami modules. The assembly schemes are quite simple, and even beginners can easily cope with such figures.

What crafts can be made based on a dodecahedron?

Each side of the dodecahedron of paper is a flat pentagon, which itself can be the basis for a variety of different and bizarre forms. For example, in the photo below, the pentagon is replaced by a five-pointed star. Ribs in this shape are absent, although they are supposed. How to make a dodecahedron from paper in the form of a star? Replace in the unfolding shown above, each pentagon with the necessary five-pointed figure and connect them not along the edges, but along the vertices.

This photo shows a star dodecahedron. At the heart of each "ray" is the same pentagon.

Instead of pentagonal pyramids, any three-dimensional shape can be executed.

In the photo below, more complex origami modules act as pentagons, whose schemes interested in this technique can be found in the special literature.

In any case, mastering even the simplest scheme of assembling a dodecahedron will already give huge opportunities for creativity and the search for its own variants.