Making a Ninja Star

As previously discussed (see Lessons in Knitting) I'm not the best at following, scratch that, reading directions. I wanted my first Let's Learn Something blog to be a success. I decided to go with something simple with which I had some experience. I chose to learn how to make an origami star, better known as a Ninja Star!

When I was in junior high school my hometown became the home to a Japanese elevator manufacturing plant called Fujitec. Many Japanese families moved to town and one couple became my neighbors. The wife, Miyuki, was home most of the day. She was a very kind woman with sad eyes. They seemed to smile but they didn't. I spent a bit of time with her and have many really great memories of their short time as my neighbors. Among them Miyuki let me dress up in an authentic Kimono and she also taught me how to fold origami cranes. I could easily do that still today so I thought an origami star would be a piece of cake.

There is a big difference between learning to fold paper as someone else shows you each step vs. learning to fold paper looking at pictures of the completed step. I've never been very successful at following diagrams. Strange that I have no trouble at all reading maps.

The process started simply enough and I was breezing through the steps when I suddenly got stuck at step 9. I stared at the picture and stared at my paper. I was having trouble understanding how the fold was made so I began just twisting the paper around in my hands until it looked right and then made my folds.

The remaining steps were bumpy but I eventually made it through and had a completed Ninja Star which Jamie inspected and approved. All in all, it was pretty cool. Now I'm thinking about buying some sparkles and putting it on my Christmas tree.

Keep your brain alive! Learn something! Today I learned how to make a Ninja Star. What did you learn?

Paper Ninja Star