Again with the Smart Waterbomb
Himanshu was asking the other day about how curve folds were made and I did what I usually do, respond with a text description of what I think I’m doing when I fold curves. But I’m always aware, this is not a very satisfactory way to explain it.
The Smart Waterbomb is a simple model, which is not to say easy. A thing may be both simple and difficult. This model has 12 folds in it and no reverses — that’s pretty not complex. And it holds together well. When I try out a new paper, this is one model I always fold, to see how the paper will support a curve. It’s easy to memorize the sequence of folds.
Anyway, I’ve made a video of it, so that you at home can fold along with me:
It probably bears mentioning that Californian folder, Chris Palmer, made a model that bore some similarity to this one, some years previous. Whenever you enclose space with radial symmetry, you will have this issue. As we often say, when we’re affecting wisdom, there’s nothing new under the sun. But that doesn’t mean we can’t share new ways of refracting the light.
Gracias por las explicaciones, me parece una figura muy interesante.
April 11th, 2010 at 5:39 amHi. I folded this model today with the help of your excellent tutorial video. I found it very easy to follow and the model came out pretty well for a first fold. Thank you very much for sharing this!
July 29th, 2010 at 8:29 pm– Ancella
Hi Philip,
I used an inkless pen to score the curved folds in this model. I know it is not a ‘purist’ way to do it, but it facilitates the process.
In a blog post I shared some tips on how to cut a circle and how to score the curved folds for this model.
http://bit.ly/a6RDeU
Leyla
November 8th, 2010 at 11:25 amHi philip,
I’ve been having problem with the last step – collapsing the model. Any tricks for it?? thanks so much!
kate
June 28th, 2012 at 10:42 pmI would recommend Leyla Torres’s excellent video explanation:
June 29th, 2012 at 5:27 amhttp://youtu.be/tdrvy77H1_c
Beautiful design!! Thank you very much, Philip and Leyla! I’ll try it soon.
October 22nd, 2012 at 12:20 amThe waterbomb video ist just perfect. Thank you so much! I enjoyed just watching … and then folding – an easy task after your video!!!
February 21st, 2014 at 11:10 amthousand folded thank yous!
T.