Making the Polyhedra

Introduction -- Making the Modules -- Making the Polyhedra -- Jim's Origami Page
These are notes on some of the polyhedra that you can make with the basic modules (triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon). The ones with octagons and decagons can be made with similar modules, but they're pretty flimsy, so I haven't include them. Each module is an edge of the polyhedron. The notation is as follows --- if it says ``sq--tr'', then it means to fold a module with a 90-degree angle on one side, and a 60-degree angle on the other. That edge will be used for places on the polyhedron where a triangle meets a square. For example, on the cuboctahedron, all edges are like this.

Coloring is a matter of taste. I have made most of these polyhedra, and some colorings to look much better than others (at least to me). In general, I've found that it's best to make sure that all three edges of any triangle are not the same color. Two are fine. Three tend to blur the fact that it's a triangle.

Instructions and notes on coloring for each polyhedron

  • Tetrahedron
  • Octahedron
  • Icosahedron
  • Cube
  • Dodecahedron

  • Truncated Tetrahedron
  • Truncated Octahedron
  • Truncated Icosahedron

  • Cuboctahedron
  • Rhombicuboctahedron
  • Icosidodecahedron
  • Rhombicosidodecahedron

  • Snub Cube
  • Snub Dodecahedron
    Jim Plank --- Jim's Origami Page