By George Hart for the Museum of Mathematics

Beading is a traditional craft which recently has been applied to make interesting mathematical models. Here are some impressive examples by Bih-Yaw Jin, starting with a beaded Mobius strip.

A beaded helical surface twists through space like a cork screw.

All five Platonic solids are shown here, using beads for their edges: octahedron, cube, tetrahedron, icosahedron, and dodecahedron.

This is a model of a high-genus Fullerene, which in principle could be synthesized from carbon atoms.

Given enough patience, this triply-periodic minimal surface could, in principle, be extended in all directions.

What interesting shapes can you make with beads?

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