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Hourglass Dodecahedron
Article © MAIL User: FerrousKnight

This "weave" is less of a weave and more of a specific sculpture, although I'm sure there is still quite some interest in making more of them. If one examines the Hour Glass Unit they are made from, it becomes apparent that it is nothing more than a bunch of interwoven one ring segments of Captive Inverted Round. Logically, CIR can be built off of these stubs creating complex sculptures. These balls are also lovely for pure decorative value and would make wonderful Christmas ornaments. The weave creator, Noldolantë, didn't feel a tutorial was necessary as the construction is rather simple if you have an understanding of the unit. I have provided one for those who may respond better to pictures than words.

This sculpture can be made from a few ARs, depending on the number of "captive" rings in the CIR segments. Noldolantë reports a functioning AR of somewhere around 7.2-7.3 for doubled rings. I know that for tripled rings, an AR of 7.8 will work. This corresponds to TRL's 16swg, 7/16" ID machine-cut bright aluminum rings. This size makes a ball 2 1/2" in diameter.

I am unsure of what size would work for single captive rings. The piece will need 120 open rings and 20 closed rings for each captive ring. For the 3-ring piece shown in the tutorial, 180 rings were used.

Step 1: Connect twice the number of closed rings in a single captive unit with two open rings. After this, I will simply say three (in this step, six) closed rings. Substitute in the number you are using.

Image: step1.jpg

Step 2: Take an open ring and create an orbital as shown in the picture.

Image: step2.jpg

Step 3: Repeat step 2 three more times. This completes the modified hourglass unit that is the basis of this weave.

Image: step3.jpg

Step 4: Through the tripled rings in the unit, place an open ring as shown.

Image: step4a.jpg

Onto this ring, add 3 closed rings and close the open ring.

Image: step4b.jpg

Step 5: Take an open ring and form another orbital as shown.

Image: step5.jpg

Step 6: Now, you have recreated part of the structure of an hourglass unit and you need to repeat steps 4 and 5 two more times so that you have 5 clusters of rings in a circle. Instead of adding more rings to the open ring in a final step 4, instead put it through the three rings on the other side of the original hourglass unit and close it.

Image: step6.jpg

Step 7: Put an open ring through two adjacent clusters of rings and close it.

Image: step7.jpg

Step 8: Add two orbital rings as in steps 2 and 3 to finish the hourglass unit.

Image: step8.jpg

Step 9: Repeat steps 7 and 8 all the way around the piece. It will look like this from the top:

Image: topfinal.jpg

And this from the bottom:

Image: bottomfinal.jpg

Look at the side of this piece. Do you see how you're looking at the side of an hourglass unit just like in step 4?

Image: sidefinal.jpg

Begin the process over again. As you add more pentagon units, the piece will curve itself into a ball.

Image: dodecahedron.jpg

Enjoy your Hourglass Dodecahedron!

-Ferrousknight
Original URL: http://www.mailleartisans.org/articles/articledisplay.php?key=468