Fortune Teller
The Fortune Teller, also known as the Cootie Catcher or Salt Cellar, is one of traditional European origami designs. In different languages, it is known unde...
Single units
Pages dedicated to single units: a unit by itself is a single-sheet model, but is most usefult for building modular origami (multi-sheet) models. Having a separate page for a unit is especially useful for versatile units which can each be used to build a huge number of different shapes. A unit’s dedicated page contains all general information about the unit and links to the unit’s folding instructions when available.
This page lists models of a single type. You might be interested in folding instructions instead.
Two-Unit Cube III
Yet another approach to making a cube from two identical units. This design is paper-effective, and looks very clean from the top and the sides. Looking at t...
Checkered Sonobe
A Sonobe variant derived from my Paper Airplane Sonobe.
Terada Module
This simple module is folded from a bronze rectangle (1:√3).
Conveyor Belt Unit (CBU)
This unit can be used for building objects such as flat tapes, rings, Möbius strips, knots, and combinations thereof. The linking mechanism between units is ...
Weird Asymmetric Sonobe (WASS)
This modular origami unit behaves like the Sonobe unit and can be used to build similar shapes, but its structure is asymmetric, hence the name. Solids built...
Hexagonal Honeycomb II Unit
This is a family of units which can be used to build structures consisting of connected hexagonal pillars, resembling honeycombs. Pillars can be capped at on...
Bow-Tie Sonobe
This is a Sonobe variant, derived from my Paper Airplane Sonobe by changing just a few folds.
Springy Unit
This is one of my older unit designs (from 2008), derived from PHiZZ unit. Models made using this module are springy and shaky. Since the spring-shaped parts...
PHiZZ Variant IV
This is my modification of Tom Hull’s PHiZZ unit. The centers of the pyramids are sunk which causes the ball to become more rounded and to resemble a golf ba...
Generic Edge Unit
Several well-known edge units, for example Ow’s 60-degree unit or Simple Edge Unit can be thought of as special cases of a generic edge unit whose connection...
Two-Unit Cube II
Another simple model in which a cube is built from just two units. See also: Two-Unit Cube I.
Paper Airplane Sonobe
The name of this Sonobe variant comes from the arrows which look like a paper airplane that you can see on the units. In the assembled model, the tips of the...
Two-Unit Cube I
This is a very simple modular origami design I recently came up with when revisiting my Oxi unit from a few years ago. The unit has folded edges on one side ...
Lelum Unit
A modified version of Lelum Polelum Unit where one out of each pair of flaps is hidden.
Lelum Polelum Unit
A modular which I designed after being inspired by test-folding some of Meenakshi Mukerji’s new single-sheet designs based on the Four-Sink Base. There is a ...
Aton Unit (variant A)
Aton Unit, variant A (many more are possible). More variants are possible, some with interesting color changes. Unit named after the Egyptian deity.
Cross Lap Unit (CLU)
The Cross Lap Unit (CLU) consists of a long strip into which a number of notches have been folded. These notches can be placed on either edge of the strip, a...
Woven Slit Module (WSM)
Woven Slit Module (WSM) is an origami unit which can be used to build different kinds of modular assemblies, from simple cubes to more complex objects. They ...
Outdoor Origami Meeting Module (OOMM)
I came up with this unit on the train back home from the 14th Outdoor Origami Meeting in Kraków, hence the name. This unit can be used to make spiked version...
Building Block Units (BBU)
Building Block Units (BBU) are a family of units which make it possible to design a great variety of shapes. An important class of models are buildings and o...
Simple Edge Unit (SEU)
Simple Edge Unit (SEU) was designed by me, and as I later learned, also independently by many other people before. It is quite a versatile edge unit with sev...
Pyramid Vertex Module (PVM)
The Pyramid Vertex Module (PVM) is actually a family of units. It consists of vertex units which look like trigonal pyramids (hence the name) and connector u...
Sturdy Edge Module (StEM)
Sturdy Edge Module (StEM) was designed by me, and as I later learned, also independently by many other people before. It is a versatile edge unit and a speci...
Super Simple Isosceles Triangle Unit (SSIT)
This is a very simple unit which can be use for all sorts of spiked polyhedra. The spikes can point both outwards and inwards of the model.
Open Frame Unit
This is a relatively simple to fold edge unit. It is quite versatile as far as the possible ways to connect the modules go, and there are two variants, I (bo...
Swallowtail Module (Dog Bone Unit)
This unit is designed for business card origami - it will not work well with regular, less stiff paper. At the time of designing it (2013), I was not aware t...
Little Turtle Unit
This is a versatile edge unit. No limitation on the number of edges meeting at a single vertex.
Custom Unit 2009
This is a custom unit I designed in 2009. The design is a variation on the theme of generic edge unit, folded along the shorter axis.
Moreno’s Unit
I designed this simple unit myself but later learned that it had been already published before by Jose Arley Moreno. From a Facebook discussion I know at lea...
Trimodule
The Trimodule is a simple but versatile module which can be used for all sorts of solids with faces which are equilateral triangles. These can range from the...
PHiZZ Variant III
This is my modification of Tom Hull’s PHiZZ unit.
Trapezoid Edge Module (TEM)
A simple edge unit that has a number of peculiarities. There are two variants, “symmetric” and “antisymmetric” which have slightly different limitations.
PHiZZ Variant II
This is my simple modification of Tom Hull’s PHiZZ unit. I think I remember seeing the same modification somewhere on flickr which suggests others have come ...
PHiZZ Variant I
This is my simple modification of Tom Hull’s PHiZZ unit. I think I remember seeing such a variant somewhere on flickr which suggests others have come up with...
Umbrella Dodecahedron
The module, originally designed just for folding this dodecahedron, can be also used for other kinds of models. See, for example, this spiked icosahedron.
Business Card Cube Module
This unit can be used to make cubes and almost any shapes built from cubes using business cards. With only two folds, it’s literally the simplest unit I know...
Francis Ow’s 60-degree unit
Francis Ow’s 60-degree unit is one of the first versatile edge units and can be used for a number of geometric shapes. With minor modification, similar units...
Bascetta Star Unit
I originally learned about this unit under the name Modulo Tornillo and only later found out it was better known as the unit for making Bascetta Stars.
That Simple Unit (TSU)
That Simple Unit (TSU) is a versatile edge unit which can be used for making all sorts of spiky balls.
Jitterbug Unit
The Jitterbug Unit can be used to create a number of polyhedra which can undergo the jitterbug transformation (devised by Buckminster Fuller) wherein they co...
Oxi Module
This module is my first published modular origami unit (designed in 2005) and was inspired by Thomas Hull’s PHiZZ unit. Two units are needed for each edge an...
PHiZZ unit
Even though it was originally designed for making buckyballs, PHiZZ unit is quite versatile and many other shapes, especially rounded and organic solids, can...
WXYZ
Model is also known as WXYZ Diamonds.
Sonobe Unit
This is a very popular and historically important module, but its origins remain uncertain. While it is often attributed to Mitsunobu Sonobe or Toshie Takaha...
Penultimate Unit
Penultimate Units are a family of very simple and very versatile modular origami designs which can be used for building a variety of different polyhedra. Mod...
Blintz Icosidodecahedron
There are six intersecting planar surfaces, each in the shape of pentagonal star, in this model. This leads to the most popular coloring with six different c...