Fröbel Star Gift Box

Okay - you've done a quick study and you've mastered all the moves (as seen in yesterday's blogpost). Now you want to show off your new Fröbel Star-making skill to the world. You need a gift box - the perfect way to show off a single-sided Fröbel Star. It is the ideal adornment for a box lid - a fun alternative to a bow.

So - for you today, I have a freebie printable/print-and-cut box - sized exactly to fit a Fröbel Star on the lid. (The star must be constructed with 1.5cm/5/8in weaving strips.)

Here's the box:
FröbelStarGiftBox.pdf 
FröbelStarGiftBox.svg 
FröbelStarGiftBox.studio 

There's not much to know about making the box. Print, cut, score, fold. I've coloured-blocked the flaps to make them easy to fold. You need to attach the top flaps to either side of the top edge of the box, as indicated by the arrows. Quick method: d/s tape does the job.

Stick your Fröbel Star on top with a sticky dot.

I thought I'd give you an easy day today, since I ran you through the paces with all that Fröbel-folding yesterday. There's still more to come - playing with modular Fröbels!



 

Fröbel Star - Secrets of Success

Fröbel Stars - marvels of paper weaving. Beautiful to look at, a challenge to make. After wanting to crack Fröbel construction for ages, I had my aha-moment the other day, thanks to Armin Täubner's book and to Jo Nakishima's You Tube video. Now I want to share the knowledge. This post is not a conventional step-by-step Fröbel Star tut - but a crib sheet sharing my "Fröbel epiphany" tips for success. Look, listen - and you, too will soon be producing your very own Fröbel Star turns!


The first thing in getting your head round Fröbels is to understand the operations involved in the making process. You will be doing three main things - setting up the weaving (like warping a loom), folding the 8 star points, and looping the cone-like projections.

So - although there appear to be lots of moves - it is " super-symmetry" - similar actions, done repeatedly. Star points x 8. Pointy cones x 4 (or 8). Not so daunting, after all!


Fröbel Star Prep - Make the Strips

* The first thing to do is to make your weaving strips. Each star is constructed of four folded strips of paper, interwoven. To make your strips, use a paper trimmer to cut A4 sheets of paper into 1.5mm (5/8in) longitudinal strips. The strips need to be double length. Stick a strip of d/s tape across one strip end and join two strips together. Fold below the join. Voilà - a batch of weaving strips in the correct proportions for making your stars. (Don't worry about the strip joins - they will be obscured in the folding.)

* To facilitate weaving, trim both free strip ends into not-quite-points (above).

* It is important to used double-sided paper for Fröbel Stars. This is because the paper strips sometimes turn back on themselves when woven, revealing the flip side. So, for a consistent look, double-sided paper is required. Recommended papers: 90 gsm coloured paper, or Centura Pearl d/s. If you want to use prints - do it yourself. Print a piece of photocopier paper on both sides, then cut your strips. (Get the patterned paper design from a craft CD.)

 Fröbel Star - Initial Weave

* The base weave is of four interlocking strips - much like those "seats" made of four grasped hands. Two strips each of two contrasting colours. The best beginner's set-up is like colours together. When interwoven, this produces a chequerboard, which helps you to see your "moves" clearly.

The diagram above shows you how to construct the Fröbel base weave. The top of the folded strip forms a loop through which tail ends are passed in pairs.

Okay. Base weave successfully completed. Now - eureka moment - the star is woven from two sides. You make four points on one side, then flip it over to complete the second four. 

In order to weave the star points, you must create "weaving slots" through which to pass the working strip. This must be done on top of the base weave on each side of the base, prior to constructing the star points.

Here's how to make the weaving slots:

* Fold the weaving strips down consecutively, going clockwise. One, two, three, four. Secure the last strip by passing it through the weaving slot, as shown in the pic above.

You are now ready to construct the first batch of four star points. Each point is angled on the inside and straight on the outside. 

* Pic above shows how to make the star points. Take a strip, fold it back to front to make the peaked triangle point. Fold the triangle point in half, swinging it to the centre of the woven base. Tip the triangle base backward to facilitate weaving. Passe the angled end of the weaving strip through the weaving slot. Your first star point is made!
Turn your weaving 90 degrees to make the next point - you now have a weaving slot facing the right direction. Make three more star points in the same way as the first. 

* Sometimes it is necessary to lift a weaving strip to reveal the weaving slot.

* When the first four Fröbel Star points are constructed, flip the weaving over. You must now create the weaving slots on side two, as for part two of the intial set up. See pic below:

Okay. You now have an 8-pointed woven star. Time for the really fancy moves.

Pic above shows the set-up for making the 3-D pointy cones, the really special Fröbel Star feature. Simply turn back each strip so there is a fold at the centre of the weaving base.

Now it is time to loop-the-loop. To start, fold the strip downwards from the centre fold. Swing the strip to the side. Next, insert the strip tail through the channel, underneath the turned-back centre strip. The ribbon tail will emerge from the end of a star point! A raised cone-shaped projection is formed. Turn the star 90 degrees and repeat.
Make three more cone-shaped projections. 

Big decision time: do you want a flat-base Fröbel Star or a full Monty 3-D star? After you've decided what to do - trim the ends of the weaving strips.

Congrats - here is your finished Fröbel Star. Now you know your Star turns!

Wow. You did it. You are turning out zillions of magnificent woven paper Fröbel Stars. What to do with them? Well, you will have noticed that the star points are slots. Yup. Fröbel Stars form modular units and can be interlocked. But that's another blogpost!

Folded Paper German Stars, by Armin Täubner

Folded Paper German Stars

Creative Paper Crafting Ideas Inspired by Friedrich Fröbel

By Armin Täubner

Stackpole Books, May 2015

Paperback, £11.99 UK/$15.95 US/$19.95 CAN

Fröbel star rating: ***
 

I zoomed in on this title because it celebrates the work of Friedrich Fröbel. Fröbel was a 19^th century German educationalist and papercraft guru. He brainstormed the concept of kindergarten. He - wait-for it - re-introduced the craft of origami to Japanese schoolchildren. And his papercraft legacy lives on in the celestial contribution of his famous 3-D woven stars – a trad Christmas decoration – and in his folded paper shapes. (The big idea is that paper folding teaches creativity, logical thinking, and improves motor co-ordination.)

Back to the review. This is a reprint of a German edition. Armin Täubner is a prolific papercraft author, whose delightful Floragami, I have reviewed on this blog. 

The book begins with a collection of folded modular shapes - kind of the origami equivalent of paper snowflakes. Slight permutations, no two alike. Lots of geek appeal. The “moves” are indicated with step-by-step folding diagrams + text. A winning idea is to fold the shapes in translucent paper to make window decorations. After the basic folded shapes are shown, the author moves on to 3-D constructions. This section is not for origami purists because – shock horror – glue is involved. The resulting spheres are very attractive – and are “cheats” kusudama. The gluing enables an openwork appearance, which is extremely appealing.

As you would expect, the Fröbel star section kick-starts with detailed, illustrated how-tos on how to weave the eponymous stars out of strips of paper. The steps are pretty clear – but, if you are like me –  you may zone out when things get to about step 28 (and I like learning from books). My suggestion: check out a You Tube video and use it in conjunction with the book. And always bear in mind that the paper weaving steps are repetitive – so there are fewer folding operations than the number of steps. Super-symmetry. Everything is done in quad! When you master the star, you will be very proud of yourself, and you will have added a life-long papercraft skill – and party trick- to your repertoire.

The Fröbel star projects are mostly slight permutations – but, hey - you would not be reading this book if you were not a papercraft geek. The comet is a fun idea. Most of the variations involve trimming the tails in some way, or varying the colours of the paper folding strips. A bit obvious.

So – this title is a pleasant tribute to the papercraft innovations of Friedrich Fröbel. It is suitable for entry level to intermediate papercrafters.