Starry, Starry Lunch

It seems that already I'm turning into a blog slacker. Yesterday was my last day of classes and once I get my students' final papers graded, I think I'll find more time for Pearl the Squirrel (and other important aspects of life).

 

Today I did find time for something important—making things. And even better, teaching other people to make things. Anne, a designer in my office, asked me last week if I had any ideas for making stars—she wanted to add them to a garland she has on her stairs. I had just made stars at Pam's, so I told her about the Moravian stars (these weren't in the previous post). We found some instructions online here and here and away she went. She learned so quickly that I thought we should team up and offer lunchtime instruction. 

We cut paper strips from old proofs that we snagged from the recycling bin. We tried a variety of widths. The length of the strips should be about 20-24 times the width. (The little ones were half an inch wide and about 17 inches long.) The gold ones were made at Pam's from ribbon. The grey, iridescent one was made from a paper sample Anne had in her office. The tiny stars in front are Taiwanese stars, which Anne also found online, here and a video here (scroll down).

Our lunchtime crew consisted of 8 trainees—nearly everyone got it with relative ease. It really brought out the old Montessori teacher in me, showing them how to make the folds, but letting them do it themselves. It takes making a couple of the Moravian stars before you get the hang of it—there are several places you can go wrong. But once you get it, you can spend a lovely evening folding plenty: they're great for tree ornaments, package toppers, or for stringing together to make a garland. Twinkle, twinkle.