Ok so I timed it. Because someone always wants to know how long they take to make. ⁠ And the answer seems to be somewhere between half an hour and an hour (mostly depending on how complicated the folds are and whether I've enlisted the services of a helpful kitten supervisor to keel me on track and whether we're counting the time needed to clear off my desk and remember where I put the paper I wanted to use for this one). ⁠ This is one of the simpler ones and it took just about exactly half an hour to [...]

Ok, lemme give you the quick run down on how these work. Because I super duper pinky swear they are easier than they look!⁠ You start by cutting 8 pieces of the nifty paper. It's called glassine paper or kite paper. It's translucent and rather like that crinkly waxed paper you often see used for the bags a cookie might come in at the bakery.⁠ Then you fold each piece of paper up the same way. The folds are shockingly simple (seriously, if you can fold a letter to put it in an envelope, you can do this). All the [...]

I swear they look like some magical cross between stained glass and hat crowns. And yes, I have totally toyed with the idea of making a hat to match at least one of them.⁠ The tricky bit is that you'd need Rather A Lot Of Stitches to get that much detail in something the size of a hat, and you'd have to do something fairly clever to do the thing where you actually end up with five (or six...or seven...or more) different intensities of the color you're using.⁠ And that sounds hard. And time consuming. Whereas these are easy. And [...]

I am having too much fun. Or, alternately, the exact correct amount of fun. Because really, if you can bring yourself an hour of enjoyable making (as you fold them up) and then weeks and weeks of ongoing delight (as they hang in your window and make those 4pm sunsets a tiny bit more bearable) with four pieces of paper and a sticker, why not do exactly that. Seems like a pretty good effort to reward ratio if you ask me.⁠ (I'm folding through all the stars from last year's star book with the nifty new paper. Which does indeed [...]

Remember how I said I found better paper? I totally wasn't kidding. Check this out! Gorgeous right? Not only is it nicer colors (and more of them), you can also find it with this glorious gradient that does amazing things when folded up. The only trick is you have to order it. From overseas. And yes it absolutely does cost the earth and take a while to arrive. So, the deal is I'll tell you where I found it and how I get it, but everybody has to super duper pinky swear not to get mad at me for what [...]

The sun is setting...early. Too early. And that's not getting better any time soon. Which means it's time for these. Piles and piles and piles of these. ⁠ You deal with the dark your way, I'll deal with it my way, and with a little bit of luck, we'll all make it to spring.

Last one! Thank you all for indulging me while I played with my new toy. I realize it may well have had that 'small child asks you if you'd like to meet their favorite stuffed animals' vibe. ⁠ This is star F from the book with fold 6 nudged out so it doesn't quite meet the midline, the bottom point folded up at a slightly different spot, and assembled following the widest lines on the assembly guide. The white picture shows the original from the book.⁠ And with that, the obsession's grip has slightly loosened. I'll *probably* be able to [...]

Ok, so this one in particular makes me really really want to do a whole set of these where they've got six points like a snowflake. I'm blaming the lovely soft blue. It's totally doable, you just have to resign yourself to sliiiiiiightly fiddlier folds at the start. But really, I suspect the jack frost vibe would be worth it!⁠ This (colorful picture) is star C from the book with the fold in step 5 nudged out a bit so it doesn't quite meet the center, the fold where the bottom point comes up to the top moved around a [...]

Yup, yup I continue to be easily amused. ⁠Fairly sure it would be appropriate to carve 'easily amused' on my tombstone when the time comes. There are worse ways to be.⁠ This (colorful picture) is star E from the book made with slightly wider paper, with the bottom point folded up so that it extends well past the top point, and following the widest lines on the assembly guide. The white picture shows the original from the book (no, really, I promise it does, even though they look quite different, that's sort of the point of this whole exercise).⁠ And [...]