HOW TO MAKE A FROEBEL STAR

Position on flat surface with top left going up as shown and fold only ONE of top left pieces down, leaving the back piece where it is. Fold strips in half and interlock as shown in Figure 1. Rotate your work clockwise 90° and flip next piece down. Continue this way until all four top pieces are turned down, and on the fourth piece you will thread it over and under the previous strips. Pull strips gently on all sides to tighten. Then TURN IT OVER and tighten the other 4 pieces in the same manner. After tightening and flattening, your work should look somewhat like Figure 4.

Fold this same strip forward at the opposite 45° angle. First, take the top rightmost piece (in this illustration it is purple). Fold it toward the back of the star at a 45° angle. It is very important that you fold this to the back Fold this same strip forward at the opposite 45° angle. Next is the tricky part. Fold this "point" you have just created by lifting the right side of the point and folding it in half vertically so that it is flush against the left side. Hold the point in one hand and with the other hand, take the loose end of that strip and thread it through the loop right below it, and pull it all the way through. Now rotate 90° clockwise and do the same thing to the next top right strip. In this illustration, it would be yellow. Continue all the way around. On the last strip, blue here, you will need to lift the purple flap out of the way to thread the blue strip through the loop. Your star will look something like Figure 8 now. At this point, everything should feel secure. If any of the points are loose check your work. Now flip the star over, return to Step 6 and repeat for all four "top right" strips on this side.

Turn your star counterclockwise and continue folding down the rest of the front four pieces. Remember to make sure you are folding from the center. The front of your star will look like Fig. 11. Take the top left of the four front pieces ( in figure 9, it is the red/pink piece) and fold it down from the center. See Fig. 10. It helps to scoot the blue piece out of the way during this fold.

Take the top right of the center-most four pieces and fold it toward you and to the right at a 45° angle. In this illustration below, it is purple. Do this to each of the four center-most pieces. This makes the following step much easier and your points will be more consistent. Now take the end of the strip you just folded and, with a sweeping motion, and keeping the top side UP, tuck the end into the center-most fold to it's left, in this case: yellow. You will see the end of it emerge from the (yellow) point on the left. Pull the end gently until the point forms. Now flip your star over and continue making your points on the other side. It is best to hold your work in your hand while making the points on the second side, rather than laying it on a table. This will prevent crushing the points on the first side. Rotate your star to the left and continue making the points on the other three center-most pieces. Rotating to the LEFT, or counterclockwise, allows you to pass the strip under the previous point and I have found this to be easiest.