Development of curves on polyhedra via conical existence

We establish that certain classes of simple, closed, polygonal curves on the surface of a convex polyhedron develop in the plane without overlap. Our primary proof technique shows that such curves “live on a cone,” and then develops the curves by cutting the cone along a “generator” and flattening the cone in the plane. The conical existence results support a type of source unfolding of the surface of a polyhedron, described elsewhere.