Google+ House Revivals: Christmas Swedish Advent Star -- A New Variation

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Christmas Swedish Advent Star -- A New Variation

I never get tired of folk art, vintage paper, or Christmas! 

Seriously, an heirloom ornament for inspiration, some Christmas carols, an old book and some glue = my happy place.  I first shared how I make woven advent stars from folded strips of vintage paper in this post.


I shared a picture of my dear friend's family heirloom woven star, as well as some history and important copyright information in this post.



For this variation of the woven star made from folded strips of vintage book pages, I played with the widths of the strips, making the center cross strips skinny, and the other strips fat.  Like generations (literally) of artisans before me, I have enjoyed playing with variations on the woven star concept.


This is actually my favorite eight-pointed woven star! I call it my sweetheart star, because I love it. I think I want to marry it.


For this star, you will need twelve strips -- four fat strips, and eight skinny strips. My skinny strips are one-quarter inch wide and my fat strips are one-half inch wide. The strips are about six inches long.  I base my dimensions on the size of the book pages I am using. Of course, you don't have to use folded pages -- you can simply cut strips of card stock if you like!


I begin the stars by finding the halfway point on the skinny strips and gluing them together as shown. The next few steps are identical to the steps shown in this post. Once you get the basic concept down, the different variations will be easy.


For this variation, weave the fat strips, as shown, gluing the cross-points together. Then twist the fat ends together and secure with glue. You may need to secure the tips with clips or clothespins until the glue dries.


Next, take the two sides of the star and rotate one slightly and put them together.  Weave a skinny end through each fat star tip. Glue to secure.


Tidy your star by trimming the tips up a bit, if necessary.


Embellish as desired.  I like to make a hanger from a folded strip and glue that to the star, but a length of pretty ribbon would also be lovely.  Add glitter, if you like.


What kinds of crafts do you like to do during the Holidays?