Creating a Sonobe Cube

JP Preisinger & Harlan Chernoff

November 7, 2012 English 202C Section 024

Introduction

Making a Sonobe cube is an enjoyable and relatively simple piece of origami created from joining Sonobe units. The Sonobe unit was created back in the 1960’s, and is attributed to Mitsunobu Sonobe. Since then, a large variety of three-dimensional geometric forms have been created with the use of these Sonobe units. These geometric forms can range from the use of less than 5 units to more than 100. In order to make a Sonobe cube, you must first create a Sonobe unit. For this instruction set, you will need to join 6 of these Sonobe units to create the finished product. The instruction set will be broken up into two sections. The first section will detail the process of creating the units, and the second will show how to join the units to create the cube. For your first time, you should expect to spend approximately 10 minutes, but successive attempts will become increasingly easier. You will need 6 square pieces of paper to create the finished product. You may either start with pre-cut origami paper, or cut pieces of paper into squares. Find a large even surface such as a desk, as you will need room to correctly fold and assemble the pieces. You are now ready to create a Sonobe cube!

Creating a Sonobe Unit

Step 1: Place the paper color side down and fold in half vertically with the color side in. Then unfold.

Tip: More precise folds will make the units easier to assemble.

Step 2: Fold the left and right sides in to meet the middle crease, thus dividing the paper into 4 vertical sections. Unfold the paper to show the three vertical creases.

Step 3: Fold the upper-right corner to meet the first crease and fold the bottom-left corner to meet the third crease. Step 4: Leave the corners folded and again fold the left and right sides to meet the center crease. Step 5: Fold the upper-left and bottom-right corners across to meet the opposite edge. The previous orientation is represented by dashed lines. Step 6: Undo the previous step and unfold the right side.

Step 7: Refold the upper-left corner down along the crease made in Step 5 Step 8: Fold the right flap once again to meet the center crease. Step 9: Refold the bottom-right corner along the crease made in Step 5 and tuck underneath the left flap.

Step 10: Flip the paper over and fold the corners in to make a square.

1 2

Step 11: Unfold the previous step. You have now created a Sonobe unit! Step 12: Repeat steps 1-11 to create a total of 6 Sonobe units.

Diagram of a Sonobe Unit

Corner flaps of units will be inserted into pockets in the direction of arrows. Corner Flap

Corner Flap

Pocket

Pocket

Assembling the Cube

Step 13: Insert one of the two flaps of a Sonobe unit into the pocket of another unit. Step 14: Insert another unit into the pocket of the second unit as shown.

Important: All triangular corners should perpendicularly connect to the center pocket of another unit.

Step 15: Fold the corner of the three intersecting units to form a right angle and connect two unattached units by inserting the corner of one into the flap of the other. You should now have three faces of the cube and one corner. Step 16: Continue adding units and forming the cube by tucking the corners of units into the pockets in the centers of other units. Continue until only one unit remains. Step 17: Tuck the two remaining cube corners into the center of the final unit. Step 18: Tuck the final two corners down into the sides of the cube to complete your Sonobe cube!

Conclusion

Now that you have finished making your first Sonobe Cube, you are now ready to impress your friends and family! If the Sonobe Cube was too easy for you, try creating shapes with more than six Sonobe units. There is no limit to what you can create! Shown below are figures made with nine Sonobe units (below right) and twelve Sonobe units (below left).