Craft tutorials and free templates

I ♥ mathematics {platonic solids garland}

Oooh….it’s been I while since I last posted. We had a smashing Christmas and new year. Hope you all did too!

My computer died just before Christmas and it’s taken my hubby and I a while to bring it back to life…which is why it’s been a bit quiet. I lost 3 months worth of work (new years resolution no.33 = backup files more regularly!).

Now seems like a good time to thank all you lovely lot for visiting minieco over the last couple of years. I am ever amazed at the increasing number of people who tune in! I also realise as far as bloggers go I am quite slack…only managing to get a post up every week or two. I’d like to say that this will improve……! Thanks for sticking with me through the quiet times anyhow!

In between posts I regulary use pinterest so do pop over and check it out if you haven’t already. It’s a great site for gathering together all your favourite bits of eye candy!

Platonic solids garland

There seems to be a bit of a Polyhedra craze going on at the moment. It seems to me that mathematics has never been so cool.

Platonic solids garland

I have put together some templates for a ‘platonic solids‘ garland. Perfect for cheering the place up now all the festive decorations have been taken down.

Platonic solids garland

Simply chop, score and glue together.

Platonic solids garland

Don’t forget to thread your cotton in whilst glueing the pieces together….I forgot! (I did manage to thread the cotton through afterwards but it was pretty tricky and took longer than it should have done).

Platonic solids garland

I’ll try to get a better photo of it in situ…our conservatory is really bright and sunny but the rest of the house is pretty dark (especially in this miserable weather).

If you want something a bit more subtle then you could make the polyhedra white with some neon/gold thread!



If you fancy having a go you can download templates here. (There are two templates on each page!)
Cube
Icosahedron
Tetrahedron
Octahedron
Dodecahedron

Happy chopping/folding/sticking!!

Check this site out for a jawdropping collection ofpolyhedra templates. Amazing stuff!

78 thoughts on “I ♥ mathematics {platonic solids garland}

  1. Love this, sooo cute and what a great idea to make a garland of those paper shapes!
    thank you for the links and the sharing, and have a great crafting weekend as well;-D

  2. This looks like fun. I have been wanting to do something easy(cheap) to perk up me and my place. Thanks
    Texas USA

  3. Hi Anne-Laure…

    The star is beautiful. I’ve tried my hand at origami before and it’s a lot of fun…

    I think if you can manage to fold something this complex then glueing these shapes together is not a problem at all. All you need is a gluestick and a little patience. Suitable for teenagers and older.

    Cheerio for now

  4. Thanks Colleen. Hey, I tried to leave a comment on your site but it said: “Your OpenID credentials could not be verified”. Not sure why 🙁

  5. Hello! Thank you very much for the web site. I’m like you love these forms. I’ve made Hexagonal Kaleidocycles with children at school and they really enjoyed it. So let’s have fun (really cheap hobby actually). Have a great time!

  6. Hi Kate! I love these, so pretty. I’m going to make them as decoration for my entry hall. What brand paper did you use? I love the vibrant colours, but can’t find anything similar around here.

  7. The paper was from paperchase which I think is a British store only. Let me know where you are based and maybe one of my readers can give you an idea where to get something similar!
    Kate x

  8. I love paperchase! Some of their products are available over here in the Netherlands, although I’m not sure I can get the coloured paper. I may need to go shopping tomorrow to find out. 🙂

  9. Hi Kate, I saw the garland of the platonic solids on Pinterest (see. it works; pinning!) I love them, so simple and clean. Going to try to make them with my 4-year-old daughter. Thanks for sharing the patterns. Nice, all those bright colors on your blog…

  10. I’d be interested to know how your 4 yr old manages….

    I thought it would be more suitable for teenagers/adults.

  11. These are awesome! I play Dungeons and Dragons and all of these shapes are used as dice in the game! I can’t wait to surprise the other players with this awesome polyhedral garland! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂

  12. Sooo cute!!!! I defiantly want to try them! It’s nice to see something so bright and cheerful after so much dreary weather! 🙂

    One question though: What kind of paper do you use?

  13. Success! For your Dutch followers: De Bijenkorf verkoopt Paperchase producten. (De Bijenkorf sells Paperchase products).

  14. Hi Maggie,

    It’s just coloured paper from Paperchase. About the same weight as normal printer paper. If you wanted to use a thin card that would work just as well.

    Kate 🙂

  15. Hi~
    I’m sangmi lee from korea. ^^ Thanks for the templates. Very Good!! (I don’t speak English well..ㅠㅠ)
    I’ll be visit here next time. bye~~

  16. Thank you Kate! ^^ Have you ever heard about korea? I live in south korea.
    where do you live? i am really curious~ ^^
    Korea has many beautiful tourist spots. Come korea. You should come here.
    If you have plan for visiting korea, then tell me before. Then i will introduce good place.
    Thanks for your attention to what I’m saying~ ^^
    Have a nice day~~ ^o^ ♬

  17. Oh wow, I love your blog. And this post… sigh, it is exactly what I need in my life; vibrant colours, platonic solids, make and do… it somehow balances the nerdy, mathematical side of my brain with the artistic, colourful side! Keep up the good work, I’ll definitely be stopping back 🙂

  18. Just found this through a tumblr post and it looks great! Really liked the combination of colors. Thank you for providing the templates, I think I will try these for christmas decorating this year.

  19. Hi, Kate! I just wanted to thank you for the paper models of the dodecahedron and the icosahedron. I’ve put them to good use in one of my projects – Cookie Monster cookie box!

    K 🙂

  20. Hello! What a beautiful idea! I recently attempted my own platonic solids garland and am very happy with my results. I wanted to let you know that I posted about ithe project on my blog, and linked back to this post to ensure you get the credit you so very much deserve.

    Thank you so much for the inspiration! I will definitely stick around and read more 🙂

  21. I stumbled onto your site, looking for an activity to do with my 8th grade students. We have a no pencil day, so I wanted to do something creative. I am not a creative person. I love the website of all the 3-d shapes. Thank you

  22. Hi! I’ve been steadily working my way through your tutorials – the templates are awesome, most of my Christmas pressies for people have been using your designs, or heavily inspired by! thanks!

    just one question though – where did you pierce your shapes for threading?

    ta again!!

    stigfinger 🙂

  23. I don’t think I marked the holes on the template. I just estimated mid points in some of the shapes or pierced the shape on opposite corners.

  24. These are lovely and I want to make lots and hang them from my ceiling. How do you stick them together so neatly?

  25. Thankyou for sharing your beautiful ideas and templates! I cannot wait to try making some diamond shaped christmas ornaments.

  26. Hope this isn’t a silly question, but what kind of glue did you use? Yours look neatly made and not sloppy! I tried one using regular paper, I may need a slightly thicker, prettier paper for it to look in tact. Anyways, glue recommendations (and paper weight) would be much appreciated!

    Cheers!

  27. Thanks for this templates Kate!!!!
    I’m from Catalonia and I apreciate your task. This sschool year we are riding geometry environments at school and I liked to meet me with this treasure sure that my students enjoy !!!

  28. The Gray theme shouldn't make it to Beta / Stable, it's diurlsting.Ctgs+B =Showing/hiding bookmark's barStar should be on left.don't make the mistake of destroying the UI, stop it !!I changed to the Stable now, I look at the blue theme and I think I'm in love, you promoted chrome as "definitely not gray" now keep that promise because GRAY is GAY !

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