Roman Dodecahedron

From members’ albums

Roman Dodecahedron

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A Roman dodecahedron in leather: a twelve-sided shell with a round opening in each face. Many such objects have been found, mostly in metal, and what they were for is still not known. Eugene Pik made this one, which took Best Non-Traditional Article at the Society's 2014 Annual. It is the only dodecahedron anywhere in the Society's papers. The faces meet at 116.5 degrees, so each edge of the 5–6 oz leather pieces, each under two inches long, was cut at 58 degrees between two blocks of wood set at that angle. The Society's list of the 2014 Annual's special awards, newsletter for Spring 2014, page 6: “Best Non-Traditional Article – Eugene Pik – Dodecahedron”; the award is listed again with a photograph in the newsletter for Summer 2014, page 6. The maker's own account on pikva.com, “Roman Dodecahedron – leather sculpture”, 11 September 2015. The making: the maker's own e-mail, “Re: leather covered screws”, 29 April 2014.

Leather Roman dodecahedron, finished, from below

Leather Roman dodecahedron, view through one of its round openings

Leather Roman dodecahedron, close view of the openings

Leather Roman dodecahedron, close view of one face

Leather Roman dodecahedron, finished, front view

Leather Roman dodecahedron, view from above

Leather Roman dodecahedron, finished, three-quarter view

Leather Roman dodecahedron, three-quarter view

Leather Roman dodecahedron beside its paper model

Leather Roman dodecahedron beside its paper model, side view

Two halves of the leather Roman dodecahedron

Pentagonal leather faces laid out with their paper templates

Pentagonal leather faces of the dodecahedron, tooled with rings

The twelve pentagonal leather faces of the dodecahedron, dyed

Leather Roman dodecahedron being assembled, open on one side

Leather Roman dodecahedron being assembled

Leather Roman dodecahedron being assembled, half the faces joined

Wooden gluing jig for the dodecahedron, with a clamp

Wooden jig clamped to glue the dodecahedron's faces at the right angle

Pentagonal leather faces of the dodecahedron before dyeing

Photographs in this album by Eugene Pik, released under CC BY-SA 4.0: free to reuse for any purpose, commercial use included, with credit to Eugene Pik, provided adaptations are shared under the same licence. Photographs with a “Wikimedia” link are also on Wikimedia Commons, under the same licence. How to use and credit them