STRAW STARS

Page 1 - Part A - Introduction / The Center Basis
Page 2 - Part B - Folding the Triangles
Page 3 - Part C - Folding around the Triangles / Finishing Notes

Part A

Straw stars are not only intriguing in their rosette shape, they are realtively easy to create, once you understand their secret. The steps involved in making such stars is completely different from regular paper stars. I learned how to make these from the owner of a Japanese gift shop in Chinatown - at the price of buying the straws first...lol. However, the main difficulty in learning how to create these is the difficulty in teaching; scanned diagrams and written instuctions cannot fully illustrate the procedure. The basics of creating straw stars are: a) start folding in the CENTER of the straw, allowing for TWO ends of the straw to be manipulated. b) fold five triangles. c) wrap the two ends of the straw alternately around the triangles.

Packages of opaque or transparent colorful straws can be found in many Japansese gift shops, often used for making roses, or even stars. These straws are particularily useful because of the flexiblity of the plastic, however, in some cases, regular straws can be used if the plastic is thin enough(for example, straws from McDonalds). The use of plastic instead of paper allows for there to be enough resistance to hold the structure of the star. Technically, paper can be used, but it would take an enourmous length to do what plastic can do. Stiff plastic may also be used, if folded into a strip.


1. Make a 45 degree FOLD in the *center* of the straw while flattening it somewhat. This will create a 90 degree corner. It is important to try your best to estimate the center of the star in order to make the best use of the material. In this image, the left side is overlapping the right.

Tip: Fold the straw in half, and match up the ends to estimate the center.

Page 1 - Part A - Introduction / The Center Basis
Page 2 - Part B - Folding the Triangles
Page 3 - Part C- Folding around the Triangles / Finishing Notes