Multipole Division Hints and Tips

多面体の地割りの秘訣

The discussion list recently had a few contributors offering hints and tips for working a multipole division....

From Paula (who has this down pat) -
I rarely tack...I just leave my pins in until the design threads have thoroughly fixed the guidelines. This is even true for multipole balls. I leave the 12 pentagon center pins in, and I mark all the other guidelines by eye. The first multipole I marked using all kinds of pins but I find I am more accurate by eye, and sure helps not to have all those pins getting in the way! When I put in the guidelines I may put a little tack where my new guideline is crossing another guideline if this is convenient, especially if it is not on a straight line track to the next point ((eg when you put in extra quidelines on the c122 so that the hexagons are divided into 12 pie slices (here we go with the temari pie recipes...) I usually "tack", ie take a small stitch, at each hexagon side midpoint, pass over center of hexagon, tack at opposite side midpoint, and continue around the ball in this manner.) I actually find, surprisingly, that the more poles a ball has over 12 the more forgiving small differences in size and shape of hexagons is. After all, the pentagons are quite a bit smaller than the hexagons yet one never notices on a multipole.

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And from the one and only Nicole (and I trust that you will take this tongue in cheek and not be dissuaded from working one):

Um, here are some nifty little hints I've acquired about multi-poles... If you don't see the number of divides you are trying to do on the chart, and the number you decide to use isn't evenly divisible by 3 (Oh, say 8 for example) you will end up with several wonderful hexagons, a few pentagons, and some jumbled up triangular things that make you want to curse.

Furthermore, if you decide to go ahead and stitch on the ball, hoping to pull it off as a wonderful new variation, it will look kind of crappy and make you want to curse, although you normally don't resort to such behavior.

Then you will likely pull all those marking threads out and be left with a lovely, though somewhat ratty looking ball with a design that you could have easily stitched on a C-10 in regular pearl instead of the single strand of floss that you used while you were planning on all those wonderful designs you'd do on your fabulous multipole. When you consider all the time you put into stitching with those tiny threads and a magnifier on your Ott Light, you will want to either cry or curse.

Chances are, you will eventually get over the trauma and try it again, using a multiple of three and enjoying the results immensely. (I haven't advanced
to this stage yet, but I'm sure it's right around the corner.)

Oh, I suppose I should mention that the "3" rule only seems to apply when you are doing the "around the pentagon" method to mark your multipole (method 1
on the temarikai.com instructions), not the tiny triangle method.

To quote my mom when she watched me struggle with my first (and only) bin temari, "Nicole, wouldn't it be easier if you had followed the instructions
correctly?"

Yes, Mother.