Paper Sphere Decorations (by Kat)

I've seen spheres for sale in catalogs and at all the "cool" stores.
No way I'm paying money for those!


The other day I came across a 'How-To' on the web, but it was clear as mud.
After a few hours, I finally figured it out, though.

As it turns out, these are a piece of cake to make.
I hope my pictures and instructions help you out,
and save you the frustration I was feeling last night.

One word of warning: if you have an addictive personality, welcome to your newest addiction!

I learned how to do these using white card stock.
Bad Idea! Use colored paper (the first time at least)and stay sane!
At least, saner...

Stack the paper, and cut to a width of about 3/8 inch.
One centimeter is also a good width.

Using scissors, make a little notch on the top of the strips
going from right to left.

On the bottom of the strips, cut a notch from left to right.

Choose one strip and interlock the notches to make a ring.

You want the tabs on the inside, not sticking out like this one below.

Lay the remaining five strips out in a star pattern.
Notice that the ends overlap; they do not come to a point.

Now, each strip must be woven.
Notice that the lefty of each pair is underneath the righty.
Then, each strip continues over and under the others until it comes out the other side.
The lefty starts underneath, but ends up as a righty on the far side.
This takes several drinks to get right when you're using all white paper.
Just sayin'.

Now, tighten down all strips until you have a little pentagon in the middle.
The strips will feel somewhat locked into place .

Now, lay your closed ring right on top of the star.

Facing me, in the photo below, the purple strip is underneath the brown strip.
Pull that strip up through the center of the ring.

Here, the black is under the pink, so the black strip comes up and through.

Continue all the way around, then tighten the ring down solidly.

This part's cool. Flip it over and you'll see a star.
If you don't see a star, or it isn't woven properly, take the ring off and try again.
I spent a good 45 minutes getting this right last night!

Now, arbitrarily choose one strip and close the ends.

Make sure the little tabs are inward-facing.
Here, I chose brown.

Then black.
When I got to purple, I could see that since it came over the orange ring,
it should then go below the brown, then over the black.

Next came light blue.
It had gone over the orange, so I knew it went below the black
and then over the purple.
You can see that pink will go over the orange, under the purple, over the blue.

Inspect the ball for non-conforming weave patterns.
Just undo the tabs and reweave if you find any.
I always do. Lots.
But that's between you and me.

And here it is! One ball down, millions to go!