Chris Palmer - Flower Tower

BigFIFan · Post by **BigFIFan** » August 3rd, 2010, 10:50 pm

Ever since seeing Chris Palmer fold an 8-pointed flower tower in the documentary Between the Folds I am determined to make this model. I found Tom Hull's explanation here: http://www.spundreams.net/~andy/origami ... -howto.txt Between his description and the footage from the doc I've been attempting to replicate Palmer's method.

I've taken photos of my progress and would love to have some helpful feedback from those who've folded it successfully telling me what I'm doing wrong.

This picture on flicker appears to share the same crease pattern as Palmer's but lacks the wicked twists that allow the towers to literally pop up. http://www.flickr.com/photos/georigami/1316527312/

The pleats ought to look like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gio_origam ... 2/sizes/o/
Note how there's no bird base shape to the flower petals and how each level of the tower is rotated in the opposite direction from the levels before and after it.

He's a clip of Palmer demonstrating the model: http://vimeo.com/5172038

Hull says to start with an octagon twist then to rotate it 45 deg to achieve some zigzags:
[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/U ... 10_002.jpg[/img]

Next he says to fold the corners of the octagon to the center creating petal fold halves:
[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/U ... 10_003.jpg[/img]

All 8 sides:
[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/U ... 10_004.jpg[/img]

Then he says to unfold all and reverse the creases of the smallest octagon then reassemble the base resulting in a devil's tower thingie. I must have the crease directions wrong in the base because it no longer looks like it does in the doc at this point, and it lacks the neat little curves sprouting from the tower. From this point on my model no longer resembles Palmer's in the doc:
[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/U ... 10_006.jpg[/img]

Then Palmer twists the cylinder down:
[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/U ... 10_008.jpg[/img]

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » August 4th, 2010, 1:40 am

You are going in the right direction. Use that new octagon you obtained and repeat the whole process. Have fun with it.

BigFIFan · Post by **BigFIFan** » August 4th, 2010, 5:12 pm

I was able to achieve this: [img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/U ... 10_002.jpg[/img]

But how do I get pleats like this?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/georigami/4548287190/

So that the towers will pop like this?: http://vimeo.com/5172038

garrasdecaiman · Post by **garrasdecaiman** » August 4th, 2010, 8:28 pm

it seems to me that you are squashing instead of reversing whic makes the model flatter and stiffer so you won´t get the popping movement but you are on your way
in the video there is a moment when he opens the model and displays the crease pattern inside it
pause the video there or take some screencaps and check your model and try to make it coincide
you are well on your way just keep it simple like palmer´s own work (you are trying reproduce his work right)
hope it helps
X

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » August 5th, 2010, 12:09 am

BigFIFan wrote:But how do I get pleats like this?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/georigami/4548287190/

So that the towers will pop like this?: http://vimeo.com/5172038

Congratulations on your achievement. the difference between the model on your picture and the one on the link you provided lies on the references you use for the precreasing.

Out of respect for Chris Palmer's copyrights I am not going to tell you what they need to be but if you watch the video closely he tells you himself.

BigFIFan · Post by **BigFIFan** » August 5th, 2010, 3:19 am

Thanks for the help! I've got the pleats right!
[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/U ... 10_004.jpg[/img]
Now the only question I have is how do I get the corners of the square to form the bottom of the tower like Palmer's? When I do an octagonal twist at the start the points overlap into the correct square shape but when I did the dodecagonal twist I got the corners into this throwing star pattern. Also, was my initial dodecagon the right size in relation to the starting square?

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » August 5th, 2010, 2:05 pm

BigFIFan wrote:Thanks for the help! I've got the pleats right!

Now the only question I have is how do I get the corners of the square to form the bottom of the tower like Palmer's? When I do an octagonal twist at the start the points overlap into the correct square shape but when I did the dodecagonal twist I got the corners into this throwing star pattern. Also, was my initial dodecagon the right size in relation to the starting square?

Congratulations, you are good at this!

Your two questions have the same answer (which I can't answer to you completely). The original shape of the paper is a square. From it you find the radial creases that you would need if you were going to do a dodecagon. Then you need to obtaind a dodecagon of the right proportions compared to the original square (hint: the reference is obtained by folding the corner a bit beyond the diagonal, and by bit I don't mean a random distance, the references are there). Now I think I've said too much.

BigFIFan · Post by **BigFIFan** » August 5th, 2010, 3:34 pm

Can you answer this?: Do I need to make my initial dodecagon bigger or smaller than what I've already got? And does the twist collapse naturally on the initial radial creases like they have been?

[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d52/U ... ctagon.jpg[/img]

redgator12 · Post by **redgator12** » August 13th, 2010, 12:09 pm

I, too, yearned to fold the 12-fold Flower Tower after seeing the crease pattern here, on the Between the Folds Website:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/betw ... folds.html

The CPs at the end for his 12-fold decreep method and the odder looking 12 fold are switched.

Chris Palmer is a very nice man, I talk to him often if I ever have a problem folding his works, and most of the time he is kind enough to give me an answer that always gets me to where I wanted to be. Try contacting him, and maybe he'll help you with your dilema. I talked to him about it and he gave me the perfect answer, and I now have a 4 tier 12-fold Flower Tower on my table. And thank you for posting some pictures of your 8-fold Flower Tower, they helped me with my own dilema.

Hope to see a great 12-Fold FT from you soon!

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » August 13th, 2010, 2:08 pm

BigFIFan wrote:Can you answer this?: Do I need to make my initial dodecagon bigger or smaller than what I've already got? And does the twist collapse naturally on the initial radial creases like they have been?

Read your private messages

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » August 13th, 2010, 2:14 pm

redgator12 wrote: Chris Palmer is a very nice man, I talk to him often if I ever have a problem folding his works, and most of the time he is kind enough to give me an answer that always gets me to where I wanted to be. Try E-mailing Chris at cxxx@xxxxx.com, and maybe he'll help you with your dilema. !

Don't post someone's email adress in a public forum. EVER!

redgator12 · Post by **redgator12** » August 13th, 2010, 8:15 pm

My apologies, I realize I should have PMd him about that (I sent the reply at 5 am, I was very tired and wasn't quite thinking right) please don't be angry at me for my mistake.

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » August 14th, 2010, 5:23 am

Never mind, everything's fine now.

fi-ori · Post by **fi-ori** » August 25th, 2010, 9:37 pm

Hi guys,

what is the best paper to make flower-towers?

Brimstone · Post by **Brimstone** » August 26th, 2010, 1:58 am

One that is not too thick and that can take a lot of creasing and reversing. Elephant hide would be a good choice but if you find a paper as the one I described, go with it.