This model is a composition of various parts. In fact making a flower and pot from just one square feels more like folding seperate models than folding one piece.
The pot
was the first thing I designed. The pot should be stable, relatively easy to fold and good looking, of course.Using mostly freeolding on a hexagonal grid, I developed it seperately. Once I was content, I drew the cp. Afterwards, I folded it starting from the middle and working my way to the edges.
After making the pot, I needed a connection between pot and plant parts. I decided to place the pot in the middle making it fully closed. It also had the advantage of making the leaves and stems thinner, because they are all edge/ corner flaps. So I settled for a ring of transitions, resulting in a 28×28 grid mix of Boxpleating and Hexpleating. The original crease pattern did not lie flat, so I simplified it.
However, this pattern didn´t have the space for three good blossoms, so I added a two-unit-wide graft on two sides. In addition, I made the plant parts half a unit wide. The final crease pattern does not lie flat, using the pot as it should be in the end. I used the simplified crease pattern to split the collapse into parts.
The ideal paper
for this model would be thin enough to give the plant parts an organic look. Additionally it should be strong enough to shape the pot without wrinkles. I don´t know if there is a paper suited for both tasks. However one can circumvent this problemby mixing papers.
My plan was it to prepare a paper with three layers. Double tissue for the blossoms and the plant parts with an extra layer in between in the area forming the pot. But due to several failed attempts, I had to change it a little. In the end, I used double tissue for the flowers, triple tissue for the pot and single tissue in between.
If you want to fold this model, I would recommend using double tissue or something thinner. After precreasing, I would glue an extra layer onto it: a Hexagon, one unit wider than the circle of transition units. This way you could give the blossoms and the pot different colours.
Folding
this flower pot was quite funny. Most of the collapse, I worked with the inside out. Only after folding the entire crease pattern, I finally turned the outside out. First I made the leaves and blossoms, then I locked the pot. Then I shaped them into their position.
