Last Minute Home-Made Valentines: How to MAKE a Lucky Star Lamp.
Still fretting about what to gift your Valentine on Sunday? I have no pity! I gave you your gift guides a week ago!! Hehehe! KIDDING! Here's a nice little #Make that you can do while watching TV of an evening. Origami Lucky Stars are one of the easiest folds going - and you can tailor your paper to your Valentine's passions. Naturally for Make Tracks Travels, I've gone down the music paper and map paper route.
There's links below to pre-cut lucky star strips, the bottle and lights used in the project. SKIP TO PRODUCT LINKS
Note From the Ed: This post is NOT sponsored. Some product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something we'll receive a small commission. However, it's entirely possible to cut your own strips, and up-cycle a used clear wine bottle and some battery-powered christmas lights! For those of you who prefer to watch a 'How To' - click HERE, or on the video below. For readers... Read On!
How to Make Lucky Stars. 1) Cut your Desired Paper into Strips.
1cm wide and at least 20cm long (or buy pre-cut strips - SKIP TO PRODUCT LINKS
2) Start the Fold. Pick up your strip, with the index finger of your right hand on the top.
Turn your hand over to create an arch from the paper strip.
Bring the backs of your thumbnails together, to correctly place the strip against itself.
Turn it back over - it should look something like an 'awareness' ribbon broach.
Take the shortest tail behind and through the loop from back to front. No folding or creasing just yet - instead gently nudge the loop closed, rather like tightening a neck-tie, until the corners meet nicely and you will form a pentagon - at which point you can flatten the sides. The tiniest tab of the short tail (the one that you just put through the loop) can be folded behind the pentagon and out of sight.
3) Fold Until the Strip is All Gone.
Take the long tail around behind the pentagon, running horizontally.
The top of the paper-strip should make a line between the upper pair on points. Bring the tail around in front, and fold it upwards and away from you. Then behind and down, in front and up - on and on until all the tail is used up.
4) Finish the Fold When you fold the last of the tail across the front of the pentagon, check if it reaches past the other side - cut of any excess. Look for a triangle-shaped pocket, pointing left into the centre of the pentagon. This pocket is made by the top two layers of paper criss-crossing. Tuck the end of the tail into this pocket until you have a clean side to the pentagon.
5) Create the Star Points. Using your thumbnail, the thin end of a chopstick, or a slim dowel - make a dent as the mid-point of each side on the pentagon. Start with a small dent, do each side, then go back round to increase the dent, or pinch the points of the star to define the shape.
6) Rinse and Repeat - Ad Nauseam! You will need a lot of stars to fill a bottle.
(The wise ones choose smaller bottles, of course!) This is a great little busy-hands job while you're watching TV in the evening. 7) Fill the Bottle! First, take the 'open' end (non-battery end) of the lights. Feed them down into the bottle.
If you are using 'cork effect' lights - keep going until the whole set is in.
If you have a battery back, leave only enough to let the battery-pack sit on the surface, behind the bottle/lamp.
If you need to give things a prod and poke into the right position - a chopstick or a long handle wooden kitchen spoon will do the trick. Next, begin dropping stars into the bottle. Shake and shoogle the bottle as needed to let the stars fall to the bottom. More chopstick prodding will also help.
Keep going until the bottle is full.
You're DONE! Let me know if you have a go at this #MAKE - how did you get on? What paper patterns did you choose? Did you fill the bottle randomly - or make layers of different colours and patterns?
LINKS TO EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS.
Lucky Star Strips Mix Pack (Color, Luminescent, Glitter): https://amzn.to/2MWnrwH Lucky Star Strips (Galaxies): https://amzn.to/375KzQ9 Lucky Star Strips (Marbling): https://amzn.to/2MV9WgM Cutting Ruler & Mat: https://amzn.to/373Rx8y Music Paper (Origami Pad): https://amzn.to/3d3T8Pa Map Paper (Origami Pad): https://amzn.to/3aOkMgk Craft Bottles (Pack of 3 500ml): https://amzn.to/3rKabtK Galileo Flint Glass Bottle with Cork (Pack of 4): https://amzn.to/2Z8VO6c 'Cork Effect' LED Fairy Lights: https://amzn.to/3rDWmNm
