Stellated dodecahedrons!
Hello there. I seem to be stuck in a geometric-paper-model rut at the moment! I promise this will be the last one for a while! (I have just white-washed a lot of the walls in our home so I have been looking to make some colourful objects to hang up…these are just the job).
Making stellated dodecahedrons is fairly time consuming and requires a light-touch and a fair bit of patience…so teenagers/adults only! (I would say that each one takes about 2 hours to make…but you can do most of it with your feet up in front of the telly). They look fantastic and you will be super-chuffed when you have made one so don’t be put off. Greater effort = great satisfaction (hope you agree?!).
As usual there is a how-to below…along with printable templates.
It’s ‘summer’ here in the UK but it hasn’t stopped raining for months (or so it seems). Hope you are having less dissapointing weather wherever you are!
HOW-TO
You will need
- – - – - – - -
// Scissors
// Paper (or thin card)
// Double sided tape (I also made one using a gluestick but the tape yielded much better results)
// Ruler
// Needle…or similar sharp point for scoring the paper
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
1. Download the template here (there is also a template with darker lines here as some people have had problems printing the lighter template). You will need 5 ‘shapes’ and there are two ‘shapes’ on the template…so you will need to print the template 3 times! Cut out each of the shapes as shown. Using a ruler and needle score along all the lines (the scoring is probably the most time consuming part of this project and accuracy is essential).
2. You then need to join the five ‘shapes’ together. Locate one of the little circle on one of the shapes and glue to the next shape.
3&4. Keep going until all five are stuck together.
5&6. Then you need to start creating the triangular points. To do this fold along the lines you previously scored and fold and glue….it looks complicated and perhaps a little confusing but I promise it will fall into place once you make a start.
*If you run into problems then do leave a comment below and I will get back to you ASAP*
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littlewrenpottery #
Wow your shapes are definitely getting more complex! Amazing : )
Kate #
Thanks LittleWren…yep, I am becoming obsessed! Must try to divert my attentions to something else! ^_^
Jo Lyn LIndsey #
Hello. I keep getting a WARNING when I click to download the pattern. Saying it may be a virus. Please send it to my email. I remember making these in 5th grade Math. Great memories
Kate #
Hi Jo Lyn. Please right click and save to your desktop. The file contains no virus so please disregard the warning. If you are still having problems then leave another comment ^_^
OnePerfectDay #
Hi Kate,
I just discovered your fabulous blog and I’m trying to follow and/or subscribe but I’m afraid I’m not familiar with wordpress….I’ve looked over the whole blog twice and can’t find a button to do what I want….
Any help would be appreciated.
Kate #
Hello OnePerfectDay! Try this link:
http://www.minieco.co.uk/subscribe/
^_^
jolanda #
dom dom dom dom dom
groetjes jolanda
Rosa @ FlutterFlutter #
These are very fun! I love pops of color!
Samantha #
I know right?!?!
evdokia t. #
what an amazing scheme!
i am going to try it i think!
& great tutorial as always!
Bob #
It seems in the third picture that your icosahedron went wrong. Even if it fits, the faces must be regular triangles, and the final figure must be rounded, not like an egg.
I don’t mean to bother you, it’s just that I’m a descriptive geometry teacher. If you wish I can share all my material with you. Have a nice day!
Kate #
Hi Bob…have you made the model?
It really does fit together perfectly…….and it is rounded, not egg-shaped.
Please have a go at making it and then get back to me ^_^
Kate #
…as you can see in figure 5 when each triangle is folded, the base forms an equilateral triangle…
check out the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_stellated_dodecahedron
Galletitaa #
Me encanta todo lo que haces
Un beso!
Galletita.
Haley #
When I printed off the template the actually shapes wouldn’t show up on either white or coloured paper so I was wondering if I could the template darker or is there a solution??
Thank you!!
Kate #
Hi Haley,
I’ve add a darker template to the post for you to try out
The direct link is here:
http://www.minieco.co.uk/images/jul12/stellated-dodecahedron-black.pdf
Haley #
Thank you sooo much!!
Pat #
I love this! Thanks for posting; I’m going to try with some metallic paper. Should be cool!
Nicole Underwood #
these are delightful!
Taylor:) #
I love this little star thing but I’m still really confused on how it all goes together… I’m a very visual person, it would be amazing if you could show me steps pass six? Just do I know what I’m doing when I’m doing it. Thank you!
Fargevandring #
Thank you so much for this great tutorial. I love it! I just made a blogpost about my star. http://fargevandring.blogspot.no/2012/08/stella.html. And also thank you very much for an inspiring and creative blog:-)
Anne Lise
Kate #
Hi Anne Lise, thanks for sending the link to your model….it losk great….yay! Have a happy Monday ^_^
Jen #
So excited to give this a try. THANK you for sharing.
Kate #
Thanks Jen,
I loved making these. one of my favourite projects ^_^
saeed #
it’s awsome. really cool . thanks
Sierra #
This is amazing, I love it!
Siobhan #
This star looks awesome, I can’t wait to make some!
Do you also have a template for the shapes in the third picture? I would like to add them to your paper gem templates to make a mobile.
Thanks!
Kate #
Hi Siobhan, they are here:
http://www.minieco.co.uk/i-mathematics-platonic-solids-garland/
Andrea #
People, do not make this with ordinary printing paper! It will not hold. An hour of work and lots of paper down the drain when I started to glue…
The tutorial needs to be completed with further steps. It is not easy to figure out how to fold and glue. And also: how does the shape fit together after gluing?
Lovely shape but definitely too hard for a beginner!
Kate #
Hi Andrea,
Just a quick message to let you know that I’m always available to give help and advice in the comments section if you run into problems.
I made mine with paper and it was fine….although thin card does make a stronger model. I would also recommend double sided tape rather than glue.
Best of luck if you decide to try it again.
Caroline #
I started making this and then thought, ‘Woh, I’m not gonna be able to finish it, it’s too complicated….but I got it and it looks great.
I used just normal A4 copy paper and it has worked really well. I reinforced the joints where it could pull apart with a little bit of pva glue which has dried clear.
My dodecahedron is going to look great on top of my tree this year!
Thanks soooooo much for putting this up!
Kate #
So happy to hear it went well Caroline. Glad you had success using normal copy paper. Have a great xmas ^_^
Sally #
If only you could have seen how excited my son’s teacher was when she saw the one we made from recycling for the school xmas tree (http://a-little-crafty.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/more-recyled-christmas-tree-ornaments.html) Fantastic design, Thankyou!
Kate #
Looks fab Sally. Well done you (& pat on the back to your son too)!
Sally #
I should add that the school entered the tree in a competition (with the star made from your template at the top) which won the school some new vegie gardens. So thankyou again for sharing!
Kate #
Yay…well done you guys ^_^
Hannah #
heya kate, im a bit muddled with the folding hahah silly me …
Kate #
Hi Hannah…I think I am going to have to get a ‘new-and-improved’ tutorial up for this project but probably won’t have time until next week. So sorry to leave you in the lurch. I’ll email you once it’s done.
You start by sticking the five pieces together….then you fold the long lines backwards and the short lines forward.
Each group of three triangles comes together to form a 3d triangle (or point) then there is a spare tab which connects each point to the next.
….does that make any more sense?
As I said…I’ll try to get a better tutorial up…let me know if you succeed in the meantime.
Good luck
Kate ^_^
Cookie Sent Bon #
Hello :] I’m actually doing the star, i have already created all the triangular points, and glued them, but then, I’m left with the small connecting paper, which i don’t know how to connect :[ and cannot complete my star :[ Look in step 6, on the triangles there is a piece of scored paper left, what should i do with it? How do I glue it? Can you help me out, please? :]
Kate #
Hi Cookie…I think I am going to have to get a ‘new-and-improved’ tutorial up for this project but probably won’t have time until next week. So sorry to leave you in the lurch. I’ll email you once it’s done.
You start by sticking the five pieces together….then you fold the long lines backwards and the short lines forward.
Each group of three triangles comes together to form a 3d triangle (or point) then there is a spare tab which connects each point to the next.
….does that make any more sense?
As I said…I’ll try to get a better tutorial up…let me know if you succeed in the meantime.
P.S. If you want to send me a photo, let me know and I will email you directly then I can see exactly where you are having problems.
Cookie Sent Bon #
I made it, thank you soooo much for your quick response, it did help me a lot. I’m really happy with the result, thank you sooooo sooooo much for your tutorial and your help. ♥
Kate #
Yay! Glad it went well Cookie. Have a fantastic Christmas
Yash #
But how I can’t made it even in the first step problem please help…
Yash #
I can’t understand the 1st step please clear it from where it cut or not
Kate #
Hi Yash…you cut all around the outside and then along the dotted lines. Hope that helps ^_^
Yash #
that’s great i make the 5 star and bind with the ball looks nice at the door thnks very much Kate
Bee #
hi kate,
i printed your template and looked at ur tutorial and realized that the printed side is actually the one that can be seen outside. no matter how i turned the paper its the black lines can be seen outside
Kate #
Bee….just flip the paper over so that the printed lines are on the inside…that’s what I did…works perfectly ^_^
Ance #
Improve the tutorial!
Please, please, please, please!!!
I really want to make this project! Actually, I did made it, but it looks nothing like yours! I just can’t figure out whats wrong, I think I don’t understand whats the right way to glue all the triangles together!
Kate #
I will, I promise
Stacy #
I found this very hard to figure out (in fact I couldn’t figure it out at all) I didn’t want to give up because I love, love the shape. I did some research and found a tutorial for making the body and the points separate and taping it together.
Here is a link to one made from Christmas cards;
http://www.jennyharada.com/fun-diy-christmas_card_star.html#
I want to make these as a permanent decoration for my home so my plan is to make it from poster board or thin cardboard (I save cereal boxes for this kind of thing). Once I have the shape put together nicely I am going to paper mache over it to make it more solid and sturdy and then decorate it. (I am going to paint the whole thing, then cover each point with a different design of scrapbook paper, then I am going to spray with a topcoat to seal it off) If they turn out to be easy enough I will decrease the size and make some for Christmas ornaments next year. I am thinking lots of glitter!
Kate #
Thanks for sharing your ideas & discoveries Stacy (& sorry for the late reply ^_^)
Yash #
Dear Kate,
Pls send me the large templates so i take the print i want a large star so i want a large print on only one print on A4 sheet please hurry, actually i have a 4 month old a baby she is very attract to this so i want to make the large star… waiting your reply.
Bob #
Nice polyhedral models. Just a little clarifcation, the pink stellated model is an icosahedron (20 face triangles), a dodecahedron has 12 face pentagons!
You should try making a “great icosahedron” it’s a real challenge. You can find the net in the book
Mathematic Models by Cundy and Rollett
Kristina #
Can you make a video to show how to fold it? I cant fold mine:(
snoozie and moose #
These are divine, what a perfect weekend activity. I would love to do this for my daughters birthday party for an extra special touch. Thank you again for your magical idea’s!
BOOBY FLAY ROCKS # #
im stuck…
when i finish there is a trail of unused lines… its like
^^^^^^^^ in the center wat do i do
Kate #
Can you send me a picture?
Samantha #
What is scoring
Samantha #
Those shapes look GREAT!!!!!!
Samantha #
I tried to make one but it just looked like a crumpled up ball… You must have some serious talent!!!
Kate #
Hi Samantha,
I will be doing a new tutorial for this (lots of people are having problems with it) but can’t fit it in for about another 6 weeks :0
Do pop back then and hopefully you will be able to make a lovely star rather than a crumpled ball of paper
Kate ^_^
Samantha #
Okay, thank you very much!!!!
Jesse #
AH! This is so cute, I’d marry it if it were legal.
Kirsten #
Beautiful and mesmerizing! if only maths had been this addictive at school eh? thank you for doing the hard part for us and figuring out the pattern! just a query – do you have any sneaky tips to getting the last 3 joins together neatly? with no room to poke my fingers in to secure the double sided tape together I found this part the challenge. My new born is loving the black and white dodecahedrons i have made into a mobile for him. THANKYOU!!
Kirsten #
ah I see…you have stuck the tabs on the outside, yes that would have been easier! thanks again for sharing your loveliness.
Kate #
Hi Kirsten, well spotted…you can stick a needle through one of the corners and push it in that way…I think it would have been easier to do that it i used a stronger glue. I’ve just recently started using Bostick glu & fix which is really great and very strong.
Robert Webb #
Hi Kate,
Looks like a very nicely made model. I make these a little differently, see here:
http://www.software3d.com/GreatStelDod.php
I use double-tabs throughout, meaning each edge has a tab and I glue the tabs to each other, and keep all tabs on the inside. I also add some parts inside for strength. I wrote a program called Stella to create and print out the nets (templates). I’m afraid it’s not free (years of work!) but there’s a free demo version. Stella also has a facebook page where I post a lot of my models:
http://www.facebook.com/Stella4D
Thanks!
Rob.
Foram #
what to do with the smaller tabs by th way thns a lot this was great u helped me a lot
Chase Kote #
Hi! I would just like to know how you got the other angles after Step 6 it is for a school project it will be much appreciated
MOnii #
Merci pour cette idée (c’est assez long à faire mais c’est très joli )
vanessa #
more details on constructing it please?
Rubikorigami #
Nice! well, not. maybe… Amazing! yes, that’s it! Just one (really little) mistake: The plural of polyhedron is polyhedra, and the same goes for any polyhedron name that finishes by -dron, it make a plural in -dra. If that makes any sense.
Jess #
can you make a video?