Month: August 2019

How to make an origami Rubik’s Cube by Jo Nakashima
Designed by Jo Nakashima (07/2019)
Difficulty level: intermediate

This is a modular origami and each cube is made from a single sheet of paper. The “stickers” are also origami units, all connected without glue.

While real Rubik’s Cube are puzzles that you can scramble and solve, this is just a static origami representation of it. However I already created a magnetic version that is fully functional!

Paper

I recommend using 9cm x 9cm origami paper (but any square size works, of course).

• 27 sheets for the cube units (black)
• 6 sheets to be cut into smaller rectangles for the “sticker” units (red, blue, green, yellow, white and orange)

Helpful videos

To make this model you’ll need to fold a 5×5 grid on many sheets of paper. In the tutorial I show the “origami way” to do that, without a ruler or any kind of tool. However, there are easier methods and the videos below can help you in this task:

To cut the rectangles for the sticker units I recommend this paper cutter:

How to make the origami Moving Cubes 2
Designed by Jo Nakashima (06/2019)
Difficulty level: low intermediate

This is a modular origami and each cube is made from a single square sheet of paper, all connected without glue nor tape. It’s also a very fun action model and the cubes will move when you press two pair of cubes from oposite corners.

In this version there’s more movement than in the first origami Moving Cubes: the corner cubes goes up and down and middle cubes rotate in different directions.

Paper

In the video tutorial I’m using 12cm x 12cm origami paper for each cube. Any square size can be used. You’ll need 16 cubes.

Diagrams

Diagrams for this model are not available yet! Watch the tutorial to learn how to make it!

Helpful videos

To make the origami Moving Cubes 2 you’ll need to fold a 5×5 grid on every sheet of paper that you’ll use. In the tutorial I show the “origami way” to do that, without a ruler or any kind of tool. However, there are easier methods and the videos below can help you in this task:

More origami models with cubes

On my YouTube Channel you can find a playlist with all my models based on the origami cube. Check it out for more action models like the Infinity Cube and also puzzles like the Soma Cube and the Rubik’s Cube.

How to make an origami seamless cube
Designed by Jo Nakashima (06/2019)
Difficulty level: simple
My paper: 15cm x 15cm origami paper

This model was based on the origami Pandora’s Box by Yami Yamauchi. The original model has the edges of the pleat folds visible on the sides and it has a very nice mechanism to close the top and bottom. At first I just changed the pleat folds hidding them inside, but them I realized that I could make a different top and bottom to make it completely seamless.

More models from the cube

The origami seamless cube is nice as a stand-alone model, but it became really great when I turned the locking flaps into connectors to combine multiple cubes. There are now many different modular origami made from cube units, check out my Cube playlist to see all of them.

Dividing the paper

In the video tutorial I show how to divide the paper into 5ths without using any tool. But you can use this method to make it easily and quickly: