Saturday, December 19, 2015

Craftmas Part Three: A Star Is Born

What's a Christmas tree without a star, right? I'd seen a nifty Himmeli-inspired tree topper on Pinterest and thought I could DIY something along those lines from materials I already had on hand. I dug out these 2-inch long wooden beads, originally salvaged from a thrifted placement years ago, along with some fishing line and a pair of scissors, and I got to work!

Himmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

I cut a piece of fishing line about 2 feet long, strung two beads onto it, and slid them to the center (top left corner of photo below). Then I threaded the two ends of the fishing line (denoted by blue and red arrows) through a third bead in opposite directions. A fourth and fifth bead were then added, one on each end of the fishing line. And finally, both ends of the line went through a sixth bead in the same direction.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

I then folded this shape in half and tied the two ends of fishing line in a knot around the fishing line between the original two beads.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

I repeated this process to make a second pyramid, and then repeated it again for a third one.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

I placed two of these pyramids next to one another and threaded a new 2-ft piece of fishing line through the adjacent legs of each pyramid as shown. Then I added four more beads following the same pattern as above.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

These last few beads were folded upward and the fishing line was tied in a knot around the same corner where the original pyramids' knots were (green circle). Then I rotated this piece so the newest pyramid was pointing to the left (green circle still shows where knots are) in preparation to join the third of the original pyramids.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

A cut another 2-ft piece of line and threaded it through adjacent legs of the large piece and the third pyramid as shown. Then a new bead was added across the top of that triangle.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

I added three more beads in the same pattern as before and knotted the fishing line at the bottom to complete this pyramid.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

I rotated the whole piece to close up the ring of pyramids following the same pattern as each of the previous pyramids.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper
Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

To add the uppermost point to my star, I got a new 2-ft length of fishing line and threaded it through the inner triangle of the top edge as shown. Then three new beads were added, following the same pattern as before.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

I knotted the fishing line at the opposite corner to form the last pyramid. All that was left was to clean up all the bits of fishing line sticking out. I simply threaded each of them into a nearby bead and snipped the excess at the other end.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree TopperHimmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

In the end, I used 33 beads total. I decided not to add an 8th point on the bottom of my star, so it will sit nicely on top of my tree, but you certainly could if you wanted to do so.

Himmeli-Inspired Tree Topper
Himmeli-Inspired Tree Topper

8 comments:

  1. Fantastic! Thanks for all the details.

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  2. Crikey, my head hurts! I think you must be very mathy ... but as always, your instructions are so clear. Even I could do this. Bravo!

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    Replies
    1. I do loves me some math, especially geometry! :)

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