Origami star tutorial!
Because I'm bored and these things are my new addiction.
Learn to make them in... some easy steps! Let's go!!
First, I must explain what you start with. All it is...
...is a strip of paper. This one is about, hmm... half an inch wide? And 11 inches long. It just came from a template sheet with all kinds of little designs. But really, you can use any color, any design. This one says 'Deery-Lou', which is some Japanese deer thing, so I'm told. Anyway, let's begin.
Start by flipping the strip over.
Obvious picture FTW! What you do now is take your starting end... If the design is printed across the entire strip, start on either end. Most of the time you'll have a bit of blank space, which is where you'll start in that case. So, take that end and hold it toward yourself, then bring the bottom up and into a small loop, about an inch wide is good.
I like to leave a tiny bit of the end sticking out, so I can pull it in the following steps. What you want to do now is take the top end and thread it down through your loop to begin tying a sort of knot.
Like this. Pull it taut, but make sure both ends are nice and secure, forming a tight, flat knot. Not too tight, as you don't want to squash the two ends sticking out. That will distort your star. Here's a good example:
And here's a bad example:
Get it? This part is important and a tiny bit tricky, but it forms the foundation of the star, so make sure it's good! Next, you're going to want to flip the entire strip over and fold in the short bit that's sticking out.
Like so. Sometimes it will be too long, and will extend a bit past the edge of the knot, so just tear it off a little, that part will end up hidden anyway. Now you're going to fold the long bit across the knot, like this:
The fold should go naturally, like folding a flag into a triangle. It only has one direction to go. Again, make sure it's tight and crease it. Then flip the entire thing again and fold down the long bit once more.
Lalala. Keep doing this. The long bit is going to get shorter and shorter and your little pentagon is going to get thicker and thicker. After a few folds, you'll end up with something like this:
To me, this is the most frustrating part, so listen up. See the white outline shaped like a V? The other white outline, the short bit sticking out, is going to tuck into that V.
Kind of like this. You're going to want to get both corners of the little tab in, and it might take a bit of maneuvering, especially if the pentagon is really tight like I said to make it... hah. Like before, if this part is too long, rip off a little bit. Likewise, if it's too short to tuck in completely, back up one fold and rip off a bit to make it fit. You'll get it, it's pretty much common sense. Anyway, once it's tucked it, here's what you've got:
Bam. Plain old pentagon. To make it into the star shape, all you do is pinch the edges, like this:
Use your fingernails to give it sharp edges, but don't squash it. Repeat this on all sides, and voila!
It's your very own little star!
Now make a ton of them, and show me! These are going to someone special~ <3 Give them to your friends, they'll be thrilled, and then they'll go 'What am I supposed to do with this now?' No, really, they're cute and fun and you can make them any color or size.
Hope you have fun!
Sa
Learn to make them in... some easy steps! Let's go!!
First, I must explain what you start with. All it is...
...is a strip of paper. This one is about, hmm... half an inch wide? And 11 inches long. It just came from a template sheet with all kinds of little designs. But really, you can use any color, any design. This one says 'Deery-Lou', which is some Japanese deer thing, so I'm told. Anyway, let's begin.
Start by flipping the strip over.
Obvious picture FTW! What you do now is take your starting end... If the design is printed across the entire strip, start on either end. Most of the time you'll have a bit of blank space, which is where you'll start in that case. So, take that end and hold it toward yourself, then bring the bottom up and into a small loop, about an inch wide is good.
I like to leave a tiny bit of the end sticking out, so I can pull it in the following steps. What you want to do now is take the top end and thread it down through your loop to begin tying a sort of knot.
Like this. Pull it taut, but make sure both ends are nice and secure, forming a tight, flat knot. Not too tight, as you don't want to squash the two ends sticking out. That will distort your star. Here's a good example:
And here's a bad example:
Get it? This part is important and a tiny bit tricky, but it forms the foundation of the star, so make sure it's good! Next, you're going to want to flip the entire strip over and fold in the short bit that's sticking out.
Like so. Sometimes it will be too long, and will extend a bit past the edge of the knot, so just tear it off a little, that part will end up hidden anyway. Now you're going to fold the long bit across the knot, like this:
The fold should go naturally, like folding a flag into a triangle. It only has one direction to go. Again, make sure it's tight and crease it. Then flip the entire thing again and fold down the long bit once more.
Lalala. Keep doing this. The long bit is going to get shorter and shorter and your little pentagon is going to get thicker and thicker. After a few folds, you'll end up with something like this:
To me, this is the most frustrating part, so listen up. See the white outline shaped like a V? The other white outline, the short bit sticking out, is going to tuck into that V.
Kind of like this. You're going to want to get both corners of the little tab in, and it might take a bit of maneuvering, especially if the pentagon is really tight like I said to make it... hah. Like before, if this part is too long, rip off a little bit. Likewise, if it's too short to tuck in completely, back up one fold and rip off a bit to make it fit. You'll get it, it's pretty much common sense. Anyway, once it's tucked it, here's what you've got:
Bam. Plain old pentagon. To make it into the star shape, all you do is pinch the edges, like this:
Use your fingernails to give it sharp edges, but don't squash it. Repeat this on all sides, and voila!
It's your very own little star!
Now make a ton of them, and show me! These are going to someone special~ <3 Give them to your friends, they'll be thrilled, and then they'll go 'What am I supposed to do with this now?' No, really, they're cute and fun and you can make them any color or size.
Hope you have fun!
Sa