TUTO Braided Japanese Paper Star

At the start of December, I'm offering you a new Christmas tutorial, which I really fell in love with! In this article, I will teach you how to make an elegant braided star using Japanese paper. It's a DIY that's much simpler than it seems (but it immediately makes an impact)!

In order to make a braided star in Japanese paper approximately 25cm in diameter, you will need:

• 2 quarter sheets of Japanese paper in the pattern(s) of your choice, knowing that you will need to laminate the two quarter sheets together (for this article, we have chosen to use two matching Japanese papers) - 2 laminated quarter sheets will allow you to make 4 braided stars of approximately 25cm in diameter,
• 8 small clothespins for holding Japanese paper, 
• a cutter or pair of precision scissors (according to your preference) for cutting paper,
• a cutting rule for cutting paper ,
• white vinyl glue for gluing the paper,
• gel glue for gluing the strips,
• a brush for gluing the paper ,
• a pencil ,
• and a few sheets of “rough” paper which will serve as a support for the collage.

TIP: To optimize bonding, do not hesitate to have a small wet towel on hand so that you can wipe your hands regularly.

First, we will prepare the strips of paper by laminating our quarter sheets together and then cutting them out.

1. Cut off the white edges of your quarter sheets to keep only the screen-printed surface of your Japanese paper.
2. Take one of your quarter sheets, white side towards you. Apply glue evenly, using your brush, stretching it outwards.
3. Take your other quarter sheet, colored side towards you, and place your quarter sheets, edges to edges and wrong sides together. Make sure to cover everything well.
4. Let dry.
5. Then take your laminated Japanese papers. Using your cutting rule, cut 12 strips measuring 1cm wide by 25cm long.
   
   Your 12 strips of Japanese paper are now ready!

We will be able to move on to weaving the strips in order to start forming our star.

1. Take a strip of paper. Fold it in half to mark its center. Do the same with a second strip. Repeat the operation for the other 10 strips.
2. Take your 2 strips, previously folded in step 1. Apply glue to the center of a first strip, placed vertically, then take a second strip and stick it horizontally on your first strip. You get a cross shape.
3. Take your paper cross and 2 new strips. Take a first strip and slide it vertically onto the paper cross approximately 0.8mm from the central strip. Do the same for the second strip that you slide to the right, in the same way. Apply glue to the center of each strip, previously folded in step 1, that you have just added to your braiding.
4. Take the braiding of your star, which is starting to take shape, and 2 new strips. On the upper part of your braiding, lift the central strip and slide a strip into it horizontally. It will therefore pass below the central strip and above the right and left strips.
5. Repeat step 4 for the bottom part of your braid.
6. Make sure that the strips are well spaced from each other with the same distance, then apply glue to join them together.

The first braid of your star is now ready! Repeat the 6 steps above to make the second braiding of your star.

We are now going to add volume to the two braided parts of the star.

1. Take your 8 small clothespins with you, which will help you bulk up the strips of paper.
2. Join the top strip of the left part of your braiding with the left strip of the upper part of your braiding. Apply glue to one of the two strips and assemble them together. Use a clothespin to hold everything together.
3. Repeat step 2 for the other 6 strips, following the same pattern.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 on the second braided part of the star.

The two braided parts of your star are now full of volume! 

Finally, we will assemble the two braided parts of your star to form the final result.

1. Place one of the braided parts with the hollow side facing you. Take the other braided part, rounded side towards you, and place it diagonally on top of the other.
2. Grab a first strip, from the braided part below, and tuck it into the loop, from the braided part above. Then grab a strip from the braided part above and tuck it into the loop of the braided part below. Repeat these operations for the other strips.
3. Apply glue to one of the loops of the star and let the strip, previously entered in step 2, protrude and leave about 1.5/2cm protruding. Use a clothespin to hold everything together. Repeat these operations for the other strips.
4. Using a pair of scissors, cut off the excess paper to form neat corners.

Your braided star is now complete! Using your 2 laminated quarter sheets , you can make 3 other stars of the same diameter.

For this article, I imagined a colorful, elegant and festive range, in tones of gold, mustard yellow, midnight blue, duck blue, enhanced by sea green and turquoise blue. If you like this, find below the references of the Japanese papers in question:

I hope you enjoyed this article ! If you make braided stars, don't hesitate to share the result with us by email or on social networks.

See you soon for new creative tutorials!
Have a wonderful end-of-year celebration,

Adeline