Vinyl origami

This project came about when I received some vinyl Mead folders with incredible designs by Chuck Anderson (see this pic at nopattern.com). After feeling how sturdy the material was, I couldn't resist trying to fold something out of them. I chose the stellated icosahedron because the angles of each strip aren't too severe; the thickness of the vinyl would make hard folds difficult.

This shape is made from 20 strips, and is one of the earliest designs I came up with when developing this style of origami.

The shape is sturdy in any material, but when executed in vinyl it's amazingly tough. I could kick this thing around all day and it wouldn't suffer any structural damage.

It's pretty hard to squash too - these books weigh over 15 lbs. Although the shape is distorted under the strain, it returns to normal once the weight is removed.

Although the material was quite difficult to fold, I'll definitely be producing more of these models once I find some folders. The two that went into this shape came from Goodwill and were the last in stock. Apparently they were initially sold in Target, though I haven't seen any more. Hopefully I can track some down somewhere, as this project was really fun!