Creations Gallery

Own Designs Gallery - SonobeVariations

Copyright © 2000 - 2015 by M. Mukerji. All rights reserved.

This gallery consists of own variations of Sonobe units. The name Sonobe Unit comes from its creator Mitsunobu Sonobe who created the original one in the early 1970s. Diagrams for the original Sonobe Unit can be found in Kasahara's book Origami for the Connoisseur and also on Helena Verrill's website. Tomoko Fuse has created many Sonobe variations and some of these can be found in her book Unit Origami. A lot of Sonobes type units also be found in book Mette Units by Mette Pederson. Some of my own variations displayed in this gallery could have been independently discovered by other folders who have played enough with Sonobe units.

The the number of polyhedra that one can construct with Sonobe units is virtually endless. You can make a hexahedron (Toshie's Jewel) with 3 units, a cube with 6 or 12 units, a stellated octahedron with 12 units, a stellated icosahedron with 30 units, a stellated dodecahedron 90 units and so on. The maximum number of units that I have used in one Snobe polyhedron is 90. Here is a picture of a 900-unit model folded by Rosa Sanchez. One can also construct irregular polyhedra and other objects such as wreaths, birds etc.
  
12-unit assemblies of my Sonobe variations folded by Carol Larson.

These are all constructed out of 6 Sonobe Units!

Hexahedron (Meenakshi Mukerji), Cube (Mitsunobu Sonobe), Octahedral Assembly (Ittai Hacohen).



Sonobe Variation 10 - Curled Sonobe, 5/2012

The Sonobe unit never ceases to amaze. Here is yet another variation with curls, showing two views.



Sonobe Variation 9 (Flowered Sonobes), 3/2007

    

    
Various Flowered Sonobes in unbloomed and bloomed forms.



Sonobe Variation 8, 5/2004


Sonobe Variation 8, only slightly
different from Variation 3 below.

Sonobe Variation 7(Striped Sonobe), 6/2001

 
Sonobe variation 7 made with different widths
of the white side showing


Sonobe Variation 6, 6/2001


A Bird Sonobe with 2:3 paper. This unit
is not as thick as Fuse's Bird Sonobe unit

Sonobe Variations 5 And 4 (Snow-Capped Sonobes), 1998

   
30 unit assemblies of my sonobe variations 5
and 4 done with duo kami paper

Sonobe Variation 3, 1998


36, 30 and 12 unit assemblies of sonobe variation 3


Sonobe Variation 2 (Swan Sonobe), 1999


30 and 12 unit assemblies of sonobe variation 2


Sonobe Variation 1 (Daisy Sonobe), 1997


6 and 12 unit assemblies of my very first sonobe variation



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