Here are some brief instructions for the truncated octahedron hyparhedron. This is actually a pretty simple shape to make. It’s just 4-hats joined together with a few extra warped squares. If you know how to zip together warped squares to make a star you can use the same method here! My warped squares are 7 rows in total, and I make them out to row 6 then use row 7 to zip to any other squares as needed.
First join four warped squares with 2 brown sides and 2 green sides into an upside-down 4-hat – that is, with all the points in the centre pointing downwards. This will be one of the square faces you can see in the photo above.
Here’s a diagram for the individual warped squares that make up the 4-hat:
Make the first square completely all the way out to row 7 and stitch in the threads (the photo is in red and white instead of brown and green – sorry!):
Now make a second square out to row 6 and join it to the first square on one brown (or red!) side as part of row 7 as shown (note I’m working anticlockwise around the square):
Finish the round and weave in the end – you should now have two squares joined together like this:
Make a third square out to row 6 and again join to one of the others on one brown (/red) side as part of row 7 as shown:
When this square is completed it will look like this:
Make a fourth square out to row 6 and this time join it to the two remaining brown (/red) edges from the previous squares using row 7:
When this square is complete you will have a finished 4-hat like the one below!
Here it is from the side – the centre points downwards (so technically it’s an upside-down 4-hat!):
Make five more of these so that you have six identical 4-hats in total. The warped squares here are all edges of a square face on the finished shape.
Now make a completely green warped square out to row 6 (I use the same silver diamond pattern as before, but all the sides just have the same background colour). Step up for row 7 and zip it on all sides to two of the 4-hats, as shown on the left of the diagram below. The centre pyramid of both 4-hats should be pointing downwards. (Note that I’ve shown this new warped square in blue rather than green!) The new warped square is an edge of a hexagonal face. To show the shape flat I’m going to draw the warped squares slightly distorted (as on the right of the diagram) from this point onwards.
Here are two 4-hats and a warped square ready to be joined together:
Here are the first two sides being joined together:
And here’s the piece from the other side showing last two sides being joined together:
When the join is complete the beadwork will look like this:
Here’s another in-progress photo from slightly later in the construction outlining how this square fits between two of the upside-down 4-hats:
(Note though that this particular photo used a slightly different order for joining the squares than the instructions here!)
Repeat this step three more times to join three more 4-hats around the first, as shown in the diagram below:
Now join in four more warped squares around the edge of the shape connecting some of the remaining edges of the 4-hats as shown below:
The diagram above looks pretty distorted but in reality the warped squares will fit easily into place.
Turn the beadwork over. There will be a space for the remaining 4-hat, which should be joined in using 4 more green warped squares, as shown below:
Once all these joins are finished the hyparhedron is complete. Sorry the instructions are a bit brief but if you have any questions just ask and I will try and help!
© Copyright 2019 Patricia Verrier. All rights reserved.
These instructions are for personal use only. Please contact me if you require more information.
Bead Mechanics 