Five Pointed Origami Star

I love that this star is neatly finished and attractive on both front and back.

Update: March 2013. It has recently come to my attention that this design should be credited to Tomoko Fuse. I haven't been able to find it in a published work--can anyone confirm this?

The secret? Start with a pentagon shaped piece of paper, not a square. (Mine just fits on a 7" square of origami paper.)

How to make a five pointed star with pentagon shaped origami paper
Start with a pentagon shaped piece of paper. Cut your paper precisely as any deviation will show in the finished star.

Download PDF set of pentagon templates in various sizes.

Cutting files for machine cutting here.

Fold the pentagon in half down the center of any point. Unfold. Repeat for each point of the pentagon.



Pull one flat side toward the center of the paper, keeping the center fold line aligned. Note that you are not aligning the center point of this flat side with the center of the piece of paper. You are sliding the center of the flat side up the center fold line a bit. (The center of the paper is just about where the point of the bottom red arrow is.)




When the side points intersect the fold lines as shown, stop and hold in place.



Crease across the bottom, just between the fold lines.



Repeat for each of the five sides. When you are done the folds will form a small pentagon around the center of the paper.



Fold each point in half, working toward the inner (small) pentagon.





Flip the paper over and pinch the corners of the (small) pentagon to make sure they are well creased.



Flip back to the front side.
Start pushing the folded corners to the left, working around the circle until they all flatten.



As you are flattening the star you are creating a new set of folds around the center. These folds were not precreased. You can see me flattening them down to form that center rosette.



Turn the star over.



Pre-crease each star point.



Fold each point in half, matching the center of the star with the folded up angle,



and the side of the star point with the fold line indicated. Unfold.



Fold the star points in, one at a time, working in a counter-clockwise directions.









When you get to the last fold you will need to tuck it into the first one, making sure none of the folds get crumpled in the process.



I unfold the first one slightly, make sure the folds on it are smooth, tuck the last point inside and then rub my finger back and forth inside the join to smooth the folds.





Next post: how to make a pop up card with origami stars!



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