Hi everyone,
It may seem too early to start thinking about December yet, but Advent of Tess is only 67 days away!
I'll be sharing a brand new set of tutorial videos again this year, with tutorials and crease patterns for these mini tessellations released daily from December 1-25.
Since the tutorials will start with easier patterns and move to harder ones over the course of the month, this challenge is accessible to folders who haven't tried tessellations yet (or who have been frustrated by them in the past) and many participants from the last two rounds have commented on the clarity of my tutorial videos relative to other tessellation instructions.
In fact, I won the OrigamiUSA teaching award in 2023 after the first round of Advent of Tess!
You can see all the patterns included and sign up for reminders at https://training.gatheringfolds.com/advent, which will also get you the PDFs for the tutorials when they're released.
A list of all the grids needed, links to instructions on how to fold them, and links to what paper to use are also available after you sign up.
The patterns this year focus on hybrid hexagon twists - a particularly fruitful source of new patterns that can create more organic-looking designs than conventional geometric tessellation patterns while remaining foldable directly from the grid.
It won't be hybrid hexagon twists the whole time, though - the first five days use only triangle twists, the next three add hexagon twists, the next seven add rhombus twists, and then the hybrid hexagon twists are gradually introduced, ending with a flagstone motif.
There won't be any twists hanging halfway off the grid this year either, and every pattern will be folded directly on the grid - no additional precreasing needed!
Like last year, there will be an ebook of larger crease patterns that includes multiple ways to repeat each mini tessellation from the main challenge, which could easily keep you folding for a whole year.
This ebook will become available for purchase in the next few weeks.
Now is the perfect time to start folding the grids for Advent of Tess, especially if you want to have backup grids on hand for a clean copy without pen marks.
If you take a week to wait for my favorite paper to arrive at your door and then another few days to cut out the hexagons you'll need to fold about three small grids per week to have them all ready by December 1 - or six grids per week to have a backup too.
So, check out the patterns included and sign up for Advent of Tess 2024 for free: https://training.gatheringfolds.com/advent
Happy folding,
Madonna
