More Hourglass: Dodecahedron and Truncated Icosahedron

I was already plenty giddy with an Hourglass tetrahedron; then I read Ferrousknight's tutorial on M.A.I.L., and saw the photos in the gallery. Forget food and sleep, I've got to make myself some of these!!


Dodecahedron is a fun and rather quick one to make. I forget how many rings... only that I had to disassemble my first HG tetrahedron, reused the rings here; and then it's still not enough... Finally had to pull out my stash of 18 gauge copper wire to make up the rest. Ideal AR s/b about 7.5 to 8.3; my copper rings went way over that; can't find the right size mandrel around my house; this is the best I had at the time.

Stats:
Bright aluminum rings are R18 ALUM from Blue Buddha, 18 gauge, WD 1.2 mm, actual ID 9.5 mm, AR ~8. Copper rings are made from 18 gauge wire, WD 1.1 mm, ID about 10 mm, yeah, I know, bit too big, that's why they all have 3-ring connectors, compared to 2 on the BA rings.



Pretty neat, wouldn't you say?

OK, here's the truncated icosahedron. I had to google/wiki around to learn what that is. Want to know what it is? Try this; go ahead, I'll wait.

Got it? Good. Pretty interesting, wouldn't you say? I thought so.

Here's one made with Hourglass units. Looks complicated? Not really, once I got the concept, it's rather simple and elegant, almost zen.

So my hand cut rings leave lots room for improvement, the AR's were all over the place, copper and brass wires have lots spring back, and the last roll of aluminum wire was so weak that it kinked like every other inch.

But I had loads of fun! Believe me when I say practice makes perfect; this little boy has over 500 rings! (something like 540 in total, according to the math, but don't hold me to it....)

Now I'm obsessed. I'm making a chainmaille soccer ball, in black and white rings, yay!!!