I ♥ mathematics {platonic solids garland}

Oooh….it’s been I while since I last posted. We had a smashing Christmas and new year. Hope you all did too!

My computer died just before Christmas and it’s taken my hubby and I a while to bring it back to life…which is why it’s been a bit quiet. I lost 3 months worth of work (new years resolution no.33 = backup files more regularly!).

Now seems like a good time to thank all you lovely lot for visiting minieco over the last couple of years. I am ever amazed at the increasing number of people who tune in! I also realise as far as bloggers go I am quite slack…only managing to get a post up every week or two. I’d like to say that this will improve……! Thanks for sticking with me through the quiet times anyhow!

In between posts I regulary use pinterest so do pop over and check it out if you haven’t already. It’s a great site for gathering together all your favourite bits of eye candy!

Platonic solids garland

There seems to be a bit of a Polyhedra craze going on at the moment. It seems to me that mathematics has never been so cool.

Platonic solids garland

I have put together some templates for a ‘platonic solids‘ garland. Perfect for cheering the place up now all the festive decorations have been taken down.

Platonic solids garland

Simply chop, score and glue together.

Platonic solids garland

Don’t forget to thread your cotton in whilst glueing the pieces together….I forgot! (I did manage to thread the cotton through afterwards but it was pretty tricky and took longer than it should have done).

Platonic solids garland

I’ll try to get a better photo of it in situ…our conservatory is really bright and sunny but the rest of the house is pretty dark (especially in this miserable weather).

If you want something a bit more subtle then you could make the polyhedra white with some neon/gold thread!

If you fancy having a go you can download templates here. (There are two templates on each page!)
Cube
Icosahedron
Tetrahedron
Octahedron
Dodecahedron

Happy chopping/folding/sticking!!

Check this site out for a jawdropping collection ofpolyhedra templates. Amazing stuff!



 

57 Comments Leave yours

  1. I love your work – always so bright and cheerful!

    • Kate #

      Thanks Colleen. Hey, I tried to leave a comment on your site but it said: “Your OpenID credentials could not be verified”. Not sure why :(

  2. I am so impressed! Found your site through a facebook source. Way cool! I’ll be following!

    • Kate #

      Thanks Vicki! x

  3. Anne-Laure #

    Cool ! I love your bright geometric solids. But isn’t it difficult to glue it ? I would think so because of the pieces inside to glue…
    Today, I made my first 3D origami solid. Do you know that ?I didn’t know that it was possible to do such a thing in origami, without glueing, but when I saw it, I had to try ! It is not easy but it is so cool!
    It is a 3D star like this (the tutorial is on the second page). : http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=210195.0
    I hope you will like it! Thanks for your blog. :)

    • Kate #

      Hi Anne-Laure…

      The star is beautiful. I’ve tried my hand at origami before and it’s a lot of fun…

      I think if you can manage to fold something this complex then glueing these shapes together is not a problem at all. All you need is a gluestick and a little patience. Suitable for teenagers and older.

      Cheerio for now

  4. jet #

    Love this, sooo cute and what a great idea to make a garland of those paper shapes!
    thank you for the links and the sharing, and have a great crafting weekend as well;-D

  5. Vie #

    This looks like fun. I have been wanting to do something easy(cheap) to perk up me and my place. Thanks
    Texas USA

  6. This looks so amazing! Graphical and clean and easy fun to make!

  7. They look so good! Your work is great.

  8. Hello! Thank you very much for the web site. I’m like you love these forms. I’ve made Hexagonal Kaleidocycles with children at school and they really enjoyed it. So let’s have fun (really cheap hobby actually). Have a great time!

  9. Lena #

    Hi Kate! I love these, so pretty. I’m going to make them as decoration for my entry hall. What brand paper did you use? I love the vibrant colours, but can’t find anything similar around here.

    • Kate #

      The paper was from paperchase which I think is a British store only. Let me know where you are based and maybe one of my readers can give you an idea where to get something similar!
      Kate x

      • Lena #

        I love paperchase! Some of their products are available over here in the Netherlands, although I’m not sure I can get the coloured paper. I may need to go shopping tomorrow to find out. :)

        • Kate #

          Good luck…let me know how you get on. The range is called ‘spectrascope’ :)

          • Lena #

            Success! For your Dutch followers: De Bijenkorf verkoopt Paperchase producten. (De Bijenkorf sells Paperchase products).

          • Kate #

            Yeah….glad you got some Lena…thanks for sharing!

  10. These are delightful!!

  11. Hi Kate, I saw the garland of the platonic solids on Pinterest (see. it works; pinning!) I love them, so simple and clean. Going to try to make them with my 4-year-old daughter. Thanks for sharing the patterns. Nice, all those bright colors on your blog…

    • Kate #

      I’d be interested to know how your 4 yr old manages….

      I thought it would be more suitable for teenagers/adults.

  12. Charlotte #

    Thank you very much for the patterns! I’ve made origami dodecahedrons in the past (lots of folding!). These will be much easier

  13. love it! thank you for sharing!
    s

  14. These are awesome! I play Dungeons and Dragons and all of these shapes are used as dice in the game! I can’t wait to surprise the other players with this awesome polyhedral garland! Thank you so much for sharing :)

  15. Christina Dedic #

    OMG that’s just amazing!!!
    thank you so much, you inspired me <3
    (I'm a fashion designer :) )

  16. Maggie #

    Sooo cute!!!! I defiantly want to try them! It’s nice to see something so bright and cheerful after so much dreary weather! :)

    One question though: What kind of paper do you use?

    • Kate #

      Hi Maggie,

      It’s just coloured paper from Paperchase. About the same weight as normal printer paper. If you wanted to use a thin card that would work just as well.

      Kate :)

  17. stephanie #

    thank you, love these solids & colors!

  18. Love these! My maths teacher husband will be very impressed!

  19. Merci beaucoup, les enfants vont adorer!

  20. gerd #

    Best site for this papermodels:
    http://www.korthalsaltes.com/

    second best:

    http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/platonisch.htm

    I am a german teacher and had builöt many of this with my students.
    Good idea:
    the five “Paltonische Körper” build in one “object like Kepler did it!

  21. I love these patterns: I study cryptography, my boyfriend is about to become a maths teacher – we are a perfect household to decorate our rooms with these solids. I modified your idea slightly, so now we have a colourful window hanging – thank you :)

    Have a look at the post about your my DIY project: http://chancediscovery.blogspot.com/2012/02/mathmaticious.html

  22. Sydney #

    This. Makes. Me. So. HAPPY!!!!

  23. So great! Thanks a lot for the templates, saved me a lot of headache. :) I made a mobile in grey and neon with it: http://fraushizzle.blogspot.com/2012/02/polyederphil.html Your blog is so inspiring, I can’t wait to try the pixelated valentine, too.

  24. Sangmi Lee #

    Hi~
    I’m sangmi lee from korea. ^^ Thanks for the templates. Very Good!! (I don’t speak English well..ㅠㅠ)
    I’ll be visit here next time. bye~~

    • Kate #

      Thanks Sangmi, I think your English is great!! I wish I spoke other languages so well! ^_^

      • Sangmi Lee #

        Thank you Kate! ^^ Have you ever heard about korea? I live in south korea.
        where do you live? i am really curious~ ^^
        Korea has many beautiful tourist spots. Come korea. You should come here.
        If you have plan for visiting korea, then tell me before. Then i will introduce good place.
        Thanks for your attention to what I’m saying~ ^^
        Have a nice day~~ ^o^ ♬

  25. These are great templates, thank you! I want to point your attention to another construction template that I made for a very unique form that is not on any other website: a seven-faced form with equal areas, called the Chestahedron. You won’t believe the research behind this form (the whole website is about exploring it):

    http://frankchester.com/2012/make-your-own-chestahedron-template/

    Enjoy!

    • Kate #

      Ooooh…thanks Seth. Gonna try it out ^_^

  26. Oh wow, I love your blog. And this post… sigh, it is exactly what I need in my life; vibrant colours, platonic solids, make and do… it somehow balances the nerdy, mathematical side of my brain with the artistic, colourful side! Keep up the good work, I’ll definitely be stopping back :)

    • Kate #

      Thanks for such a kind comment. Yep, think my brain is two sided too!

  27. karen #

    Thank you. xxx

  28. Thanks, this great garland is simply beautiful :)

  29. Just found this through a tumblr post and it looks great! Really liked the combination of colors. Thank you for providing the templates, I think I will try these for christmas decorating this year.

  30. Hi, Kate! I just wanted to thank you for the paper models of the dodecahedron and the icosahedron. I’ve put them to good use in one of my projects – Cookie Monster cookie box!

    K :)

    • Kate #

      Yay…they look so cute! I’ll give you a shout out next time I write a post ^_^

  31. Cynthia #

    So cute! I’ll be following from Argentina :)

  32. Anum Zaib #

    Amazing work ..so creative and neatly done.

  33. waooo its so nice sir <3

  34. iris #

    youre work is amazing,
    i make the figures.
    the arebeautyful!!!

  35. Thank you so much for these templates! My son wants a Team Umizoomi party for his 3rd birthday, but there aren’t many party supplies available with this theme. The characters on the show use shapes, patterns, and numbers…so these shapes are PERFECT. We’ll be decorating the house with garlands of polyhedra. Thanks again!

    • Kate #

      Yay…sounds like fun. I had to google ‘Team Umizoomi’ *^_^*

  36. Lev #

    Thank you!

  37. Hello! What a beautiful idea! I recently attempted my own platonic solids garland and am very happy with my results. I wanted to let you know that I posted about ithe project on my blog, and linked back to this post to ensure you get the credit you so very much deserve.

    Thank you so much for the inspiration! I will definitely stick around and read more :)

  38. Emily #

    We actually just made these in Geometry class!

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