Origami Heaven

A paperfolding paradise

The website of writer and paperfolding designer David Mitchell

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  Flexagons are fascinating manipulative toys made from folded strips of paper which, when flexed, change shape and pattern in remarkable ways. The simplest type of flexagons are the tetraflexagons. Flexagons and Flexigation provides a good introduction to making, flexing and mapping some basic members of this family and shows how they can be used as the basis of puzzles and magical effects.

The most complex and fascinating flexagons to explore and flex are the silverflexagons, which are made from strips divided into right angle isosceles triangles. You can find detailed instructions showing how to make, flex and explore many of the best of these in my book Silverflexagons and the Flexatube.

An extract from this book analysing the Woven Flexatube can be found below.

I have also written The Magic of Flexagons for Tarquin publications. This is a more general cut-out-and-glue-together book, which provides an excellent introduction to a wide range of interesting flexagons and the Flexatube.

There is a page in the Public Paperfolding History Project section of this site about the history of Flexagons.

 
General   Selected Flexagons   Templates
                     
  Flexagons and Flexigation     The Woven Flexatube     Template for the basic tri-tetraflexagon
                     
                  Template for the 3-row tri-tetraflexagon
                     
                  Template for the 3-state linear tri-tetraflexagon
                     
                  Template for the Zigzag Silverflexagon
                     
                  Template for the First Slit-Square Silverflexagon
                     
                  Template for the Labyrinth Silverflexagon