Sunday, July 26, 2009

Winter Wonderland Challenge-Christmas Tree Decorations

I haven't made German folded stars in years but pulled out some paper and made a few for today's Winter Wonderland challenge. This type of star was a traditional decoration on German Christmas trees as early as the 1700's. They are made by weaving and folding 4 strips of paper. Only pure white stars were acceptable but I have made one with a reversible wrapping paper to give you a better idea of the folding involved.
This side view gives you a look at the dimension of the stars. All I need to do with them now is add a thread hanger and wait for Christmas!

ETA: My instructions come from an old Pennsylvania German folk art book but I just found an easy to follow tutorial if you would like to give this star a try. How to make a "Froebel Stern".

13 comments:

Jean Franks Beck said...

WOW!!! These are gorgeous! I can't believe how tiny your were able to get with some of them. A tree full of these and some white lights.... that's all the decoration you would need!

Powerful Search Engine said...

Wow what an amazing idea. I have not seen these before. I love all the different sizes you have made.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful idea at Winter Wonderland this week,
Hugs Pascale

Teri said...

These are great!
You'll have to do a tutorial for us folk who want to know how you did it!
Thanks for playing with us this week at Winter Wonderland.
Hugs,
Teri S.
x

Sherry Eckblad said...

These are amazing and I like that you gave a little history of the ornament and a tutorial to try. Thanks for sharing.

ScrappyPam said...

These are beautiful!

Olde Dame Penniwig said...

I make these! We call them Moravian Stars and the geometry involved is fascinating. I made very tiny ones, about the size of a penny when completed! Many people dip theirs in paraffin or beeswax when completed!

Teri said...

Sarah ... these are beautiful! They look so intricate too ... they must take an age to make. I'll definitely check out the tutorial on these :o)

Thank you for joining us at Winter Wonderland.

Teri xx

Anne said...

How absolutely fascinating!!! My mouth was wide open looking at these and reading all about them! These are just so stunning, so clever and really effective!! Thank you soooo much for sharing all this with us and for joining in our theme! Fabulous!! :o) xx

Louise (KardKrazy) said...

I love these! Can't believe I never heard of them. What great little creations.
(I was going to put a countdown on my blog, but I think I'll just come over to yours to check out how many days till ship sets sail!)

Anonymous said...

wow these are fantastic!! xx jo xx

Unknown said...

Wow!! These are fantastic, so pure in the white!! Thanks for the link I will have to try this one!!
Hugs Angela x

Unknown said...

Gorgeous! I'm german and I know this stars. So lovely.
Good work.

Robin said...

These look wonderful and I bet a tree covered with these would be absolutely stunning!