Doing the math!

I love the way those 3-D stars look.  I have a few mounted around my craft room, made of various leftover pieces of Designer Paper.  They're fun to fold.  They look great in pretty well every size.  I learned to make the stars using the folding method, almost like an origami fold that one has to cut in the end for the star to materialize.  That seems to be the most-used method.

And then I decided that I wanted to make a star out of the Glimmer paper.  Now, anyone who has handled the Glimmer paper knows that it is rough and actually feels almost exactly like very, very coarse sandpaper. Could you do one of those origami folded stars using very, very coarse sandpaper?   Trust me, it's next to impossible without having it crack on some of the folds.  Yes, I tried it simply because it was a cheaper trial run than using Glimmer paper.

So, back to my elementary math.  A circle has 360 degrees.  The star that I wanted to make has five points. It follows that I would therefore have to have five segments, each measuring 72 degrees, right?  Trust me, I've done the math--it's right.

So, I'm going to lead you through the whole step-by-step calculation with pictures accompanying the steps and then I'm going to upload a template.  If you print out the template, you can vary the sizes and your star will always be totally aligned and even, unlike the folded type.

I began with a 4" x 4" square of paper since my protractor is 4" and so I needed the room to make my marks for the lines.  Step two was lightly drawing a diagonal line from one corner to the other and then repeating this with the other corners, like so:

This gives me a centre where they intersect.  So, using my protractor, I lined the centre up to the intersecting lines.  It doesn't matter which line you choose to do this from.  The one you choose will be the first line of your star.  From that, measure 72 degrees and make a mark.  Draw a line from the centre to the mark.  This is line two of your star.  Keep doing this until you have five lines.  In the picture below, it is only the dark lines that are part of the star.  The others just gave us the centre.

Once you have the five lines marked in ink, erase the light diagonal lines.

 Then extend the five lines one inch past the centre as shown:

Then, with a ruler, connect the long line with the short line as shown:

Next carefully cut the outside lines.  This is your star template.

Since it's impossible to make an even line on the Glimmer side of the paper

I had to trace the star onto the back of the Glimmer paper.

Carefully cut out the star shape from the Glimmer paper.  Next, draw lines as shown:

Make sure the lines are carefully drawn since they are the lines which you will score using the Simply Scored.

Once you have scored each line firmly, fold along each line with the Glimmer side out.  Make sure all five lines have been well creased.

Now, turn the star over and make sure the long lines are hills while the short lines are valleys.  And voila!  You have a 3-D Glimmer star.

I decided to make one in the Silver Glimmer paper and wound up with this card.  Thank you Justin Krieger for the inspiration.

For those who do not wish to do the math, I'm uploading a template.  All you have to do is copy the picture file and then go to print.  You should be able to choose your printing size and thus also choose your star size.  Enjoy. :)