How To Make Paper Stars

[step 0] aquire paper

The most common dimension I use is ½ inch by 11 inches. Anything that's around that size should work fine.

Step 1: knot

We want to form a small pentagon at one end of our strip of paper. The way we do this is by tying an overhand knot.

step 2: flatten

We have our knot, but not a pentagon. We carefully flatten our knot...

step 3: wrap

We carefully wrap the long strip around out pentagon, making sure to follow the edges properly.

step 4: tuck

step 5: inflate

This can be somewhat difficult, so I've included a number of tips to raise your success rate. Before reading those, why not try making a few stars first?

tips

methods for cutting strips

Scissors are not recommended, due to their potential to make a jagged edge.

use a paper cutter

Paper cutters can cut very straight strips, and even do multiple sheets at a time depending on the type.

Most also have marks on them making it easy to measure your cuts.

The one main downside of using paper cutters is you often get a wider strip at the end that's too narrow to cut safely/effectively. It also relies on a fairly specialized piece of equipment that not everyone has access to.

fold and tear

This is good because you don't need anything besides paper, your hands, and perhaps a hard surface to crease the paper against. You don't even need a measuring device!

Simply fold the paper in half, crease, tear, and repeat until you have a strip of paper within your desired size range.

This one can be somewhat slow, but has the advantage of not producing any waste, as the paper will be evenly divided into strips. This makes it nice for using up those bits of paper that are too narrow to fit in your paper cutter.

ruler+knife

This is basically a paper cutter for those who don't have a paper cutter. A boxcutter or exacto knife would probably be best.

You might need a pencil to mark your measurements, or maybe a second ruler.

where to start the star

Whichever end you start with will end up on the inside.

If one end of the strip is larger than the other, start the star with the knot at the larger end. This ensures that you can tuck the end in at the end. You can check this easily by folding (without creasing) the two ends towards each other and lining them up

If one end is messier than the other, start at that end.

the knot

<wrap the right way (this is hard to describe in text)>

if you want a specific side to be on the outside, put the other side on the outside of the initial knot