Math Monday: Business Cards III

For the Museum of Mathematics

I wanted to follow up on the two prior installments on the making opportunities presented by business cards with a roundup of some of the more exotic things that one can do with them. Beyond this, if you think I’ve missed some particularly mathematically worthy or impressive business card constructions, please send me your suggestions at mondays@momath.org. Thanks!

To begin with, it’s possible to play with ways to dissect and fold a single business card, producing such amazing creations as the one below by Sam Buxton. (Note that this is made from a metal business card, as it is hard to get such precise creases in paper.)

Next, you can leave the land of straight folds by creasing along along circular arcs as well, expanding the scope of possibilities. For example, that technique is the secret behind “Orb,” another Jeanine Mosely business card creation, with full instructions here, and its more complex cousin, “Triacontahedral Orb.”

Or, for a third alternative, you can keep the cards flat but still allow yourself some cutting to produce a wide variety of business card polyhedra, such as these devised by Harrison Ainsworth, also with full instructions:

Next time you come across a stack of out-of-date business cards, grab ‘em and enjoy!

3 Responses to Math Monday: Business Cards III

April | Ms Word Templates on March 5th, 2013 at 10:09 pm said:

These are amazing creations! Now I have an idea on what to do on my old stacks of business cards. Thanks for the inspiration.

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Mentally hilarious (@lolmaus) on March 26th, 2013 at 8:48 am said:

So the template for the Triacontahedral Orb shown on the picture are not available?

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- Glen Whitney on April 29th, 2013 at 4:52 pm said:
  
  Not so far as I know. You could try contacting Dr. Mosely — she is not difficult to find.
  
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