Construction of a Herrnhut Star
- December 18, 2023
The Herrnhut Poinsettia
A construction aid - the imaginary basic body
The starting point for constructing the star is a base body onto which the 26 points are placed. To do this, first 8 squares (here each represented by tubes on the square edges) are connected in a surrounding structure, with the neighboring squares each rotated by 135° relative to each other.
This structure is supplemented by a copy rotated by 90° around a horizontal or vertical central axis.
The pyramid tips: 8+6+4 = 18
A hollow pyramid made of a flat material (cardboard/sheet metal) is now constructed on a square of the base body. The flat material of the unfolded pyramid has four sides with an adhesive tab and four perforated tabs as connecting elements to the neighboring tips. The following images show the successive arrangement of the 18 pyramid tips over the imaginary base body.
The tetrahedron vertices: 4+4=8
Analogous to the pyramid, the hollow tetrahedron is constructed from flat material with appropriate adhesive and connecting tabs and arranged 8 times above the triangles of the base body.
The entire Herrnhuter Star with 26 points
The construction of the star - the cutting patterns for the pyramid and tetrahedron
Please note: the “imaginary” base body described above is not required to build the star. This was only used to illustrate the construction process. In order to recreate the star, the 18 pyramids and 8 tetrahedrons must first be made. To do this, download the relevant sheets, print them out in the appropriate number and cut them out. Then fold the respective tips together and glue them to the corresponding tab. After punching holes in the connecting tabs, the individual tips can be attached with clamps (see https://www. google.com/search?q=musterbeutelklammer ) or connected by gluing.
Download the patterns for Tetrahedron and Pyramid
Have fun!