Catch a Falling Star
We’re back from the Convention in New York and our head is still spinning a bit, but not so’s you’d notice. We can report that a good time was had by all and that Mélisande*’s and my class on Monday went very well, indeed. Tato boxes were the topic of the day and it was a sell-out crowd — an enthusiastic crowd, methought, as well.
Since the spinning continues, a twist fold seems in order and as it’s Independence Day, a star-shaped model is not inappropriate. This is from a decagon, though I think it could be easily adapted to a pentagon or a circle, and is very much a tato — a tato marked by manifest inutility, no doubt, but a tato, nevertheless. It’s called Falling Star Tato, since the purse section is so small that it could not contain much more than a wish.
Here is a crease pattern and the same in postscript and some general notes:
- Make a decagon from a square
- Connect every fourth corner, to make a decagram
- Inscribe a pentagram inside the decagram
- The central pentagon of the pentagram is the purse portion
- The puff star is made by folding another pentagram inside the central pentagon and by making another pentagon around it.
- Make your tato and then hide the edges
- Pop the sides of the tato in to make a puff star
That will make more sense if you look at the crease pattern and pay some special attention to the gray lines. And I will confess, that after teaching pentagonal shapes all weekend, I realize it can sound a bit like gnostic formulae if you’re not used to it. Let those who can hear, hear — the rest of you lot, study up.



Hi,
I love this, i just can’t make sence of the directions – could I posibly trouble you to point me in the right direction? I’ve reatlly tried!!
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:16 amI got it…..
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:50 pmBefore I could even ask you where you got stuck! Excellent, it was probably more satisfying to puzzle it out.
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:32 pmYour models are stuning!!!
December 12th, 2008 at 9:08 pmBut I´m trying to fold this to make a star for my christmas tree, and I can´t fold it!! Have you some step-by-step picture directions? Please help me!!
Hi, Kenia, thanks for coming by. There are no picture directions, I’m afraid. But if you start with a decagon — there are directions for that, linked above — and then follow the prose instructions, while looking at the crease pattern, I think you’ll see how it works.
December 19th, 2008 at 5:22 pmone thing that does make it a little easier is to imagine red lines where there are currently grey lines ajoining the tips of the centre star (to make a slightly smaller pentagon inside the red pentagon that is already there.
Or is this giving away too many of your secrets??
June 9th, 2009 at 3:38 pm