These DIY paper stars have been going viral all over the internet lately and since you’re reading this, I’m sure you’ve been wondering if it really is that easy to create 3d stars with just a strip of paper. So, no points for guessing that the answer to that question is “Yes”, yes you can easily make these in just a few minutes. Stick with me for the next 10-15 mins and you’ll not just learn how to make stars with paper strips but also find inspiration and ideas about what you can do with them.
Don’t worry my friend this wishing stars origami tutorial is very easy and I’ll show you how to make them step by step. You’ll soon be making hundreds and giving out these paper star jars as gifts to everyone you know!
Table of Contents
Origami Lucky Stars Story
You see…I’ve always loved stars – whether they’re the twinkling ones in the night sky or these tiny colorful ones that I can hold in the palm of my hand.
I first saw this paper stars origami craft around 5 years ago in a Pinterest post, and was immediately intrigued. I wanted to learn to make them but I was also curious about the story of why they were called ‘Lucky Stars’. I wanted to know if these origami lucky stars had history, or if its origin was based on any true story. So I Googled it and found a very cute version of the Japanese origami wishing stars story –
It is said that there was a little girl in Japan called ‘Hoshi’ who loved looking at the stars every night. She’d wonder how those tiny stars floated in the sky and were always shining so bright. Every day she looked forward to nightfall, when she’d get to spend time watching the stars. As time passed by, she began to feel a strong connection with the night sky. These stars had become her friends.
But one night as she looked up, something seemed to be wrong and suddenly she saw a star fall down from the sky. As she looked on in horror, more and more stars kept shooting down. And soon, so many were falling out that Hoshi got worried there would be none left in the sky. She ran home in tears because she didn’t know what to do to help her beloved stars.
As she was lost in her worries, a glint of something caught her eye – it was a glass jar lying nearby. And suddenly she had an idea – there was one thing she could do to help her stars. It may not work, but she had to give it a try. So after that, every time she saw a star falling down, she began folding a paper star and placing it into the glass jar. This was her way of saving a star that had fallen.
She kept making more and more origami stars with paper strips, but her tiny hands couldn’t fold fast enough for the rate at which the stars were falling down.
She felt hearbroken to realize that her efforts might be in vain – it just wasn’t possible for one person to create enough handmade wishing stars all on her own. Soon there were hundreds of stars falling onto the grass, and the sky seemed to be getting darker & darker every minute.
She felt so helpless and was almost in tears. She didn’t know what more she could do.
But as she sat there, feeling burdened and full of worry, a tiny spark of hope somehow flickered to life in her heart and gave her another idea – maybe she could ask for help.
Immediately she took off running and knocked on the doors of all the kids in her village.
When they heard her story, they instantly agreed to help her out. And soon they were all folding stars of their own and wishing upon them to keep the stars in the sky safe. As the jars began to be filled with hundreds of colorful tiny paper stars, somehow as if by magic, more and more stars in the sky began blinking back to life!
Hoshi was overjoyed. Her stars were back in the sky, and she believed that the paper stars were the reason that her wish was granted. These origami stars that she’d made with her friends were in fact ‘lucky stars’ because they had saved the stars in the sky.
She believed that whenever a lucky paper star was made, a falling star was saved.
That day all the kids in the village went home believing in the magic of the wishing paper stars that they had made. As they grew up, they kept this story close to their hearts and passed it on to the next generation. And thus the myth of the wishing stars origami paper craft seemed to have been born.
So what did you think of the story?
I’m sure you have a lot more questions – are origami stars actually lucky? What do these origami stars symbolize? And what are these paper stars used for?
I’ll try and answer all these questions in just a moment.
I don’t know how true this paper stars origin story is but I do love this version. It just gives so much more meaning to this simple paper craft, literally turning them into handmade wishing stars!
I loved this story. Not because I believe in ‘luck’ but because it reminded me about the power of loving, & believing in something you care about.
There are so many lessons I took away from this it –
When that little girl saw that something she truly believed in and loved with all her heart was in danger, she decided to take action. She didn’t just sit there and weep over all the lost stars but instead she did something about it, no matter how small.
And when she felt that she wasn’t able to do it alone, she told her friends and asked for help. She wasn’t ready to give up on her beautiful stars just because she couldn’t do it on her own.
And lastly when she had done everything in her power to remedy the situation, she just put her innocent trust into the goodness of the world and believed with all her might!
And I’d like to think that the power of that little girl’s belief was so strong that the universe literally listened to her far-fetched logic and gave her back her stars!
I know, I know it’s an impossible and childish story, but sometimes I just want to believe in magic and forget about the real world for a while. Don’t you?
If you answered yes, then let’s dive into this paper stars tutorial and believe in magic for just a little while.
And if you were just too cynical to say yes to believing in magic, that’s okay too. You’re still welcome to join us delulu folks – these origami stars don’t discriminate!
So let’s get back to learning how to make origami stars. I’ve listed out the material you need alongwith my tips and observations. The main factor in making a decent looking star is the kind of paper you use, so don’t take my suggestions lightly. So here’s what you need to make origami stars from strips of paper –
Material for Origami Stars in a Jar
- A4 sheets of paper in any colors of your choice
– If you’re wondering what paper is best for paper stars, my suggestion would be to use regular office printer or copier paper. This type of paper is generally quite thin and easy to fold. Do not use cardstock or any other high GSM paper as that will not give you the desired results for your star. You can use colored paper or even paint it over after making the stars.
– To create strips for the paper stars, the ideal paper length and size is A4, which is the standard size terminology for regular printer or copier paper whose measurements are 21 x 29.7 cm.
- OR you could also just buy the ready-made origami star paper strips from Amazon or a craft store. That way you can directly start folding the origami star, no cutting, no scissors needed.
- A pencil and a ruler to draw the lines.
- A Paper cutter or scissors to cut the strips.
- A pen if you want to write messages inside the stars.
- A glass jar if you’re planning to keep the stars in a jar. (I just used an old jam jar)
- Miscelleous items to decorate the jar (optional)
Easy Origami Star Instructions: Step by Step Tutorial
- Cut the paper into strips measuring 1.5cm by 30cm. You can try other sizes if you want but this length & breadth worked best for me in making the perfect star.
- The trick to this lucky star origami craft is in folding the paper. So, once you’ve cut out your paper strips, take one and hold it in between your fingers as shown in the picture.
- Now knot the paper as shown –
- Tighten the knot and try to get it as close to the edges as possible.
- Once you’re sure that the knot is good, you can flatten the edges.
- You can fold and flatten the short remaining part of the strip that is still sticking out and insert it into the pocket created by the knot.
What do you write in Lucky Stars?
Now comes the fun part! You get to decide how you want to use these pretty little stars. The reason I’m interrupting the tutorial at this point is because, usually people write a message inside the origami star BEFORE folding it.
So if you want to do the same, then you will have to decide at this point what you want to write.
If you don’t want to write anything inside and just fold the blank star, then you can scroll past the next few lines and move on to the next step in the tutorial.
But if you are wondering what do you write in lucky stars paper strips, then here are a few ideas for you to try out –
Origami Stars with Messages Inside
Write secret messages inside the stars and pass them onto your bestie, boyfriend, girlfriend or even to your future self.
Write your message, fold the star and give them along with a gift on special occasions like a birthday or anniversary.
It’ll be the perfect surprise to see them unravel the star on a special day or time and read the secret message hidden inside!
Origami Stars of Gratitude
You can also make a star jar to express gratitude about your life. You can create one star every day and write 1 thing that you feel grateful for on that particular day. Then create the star and put in inside your gratitude jar. Just imagine doing this for a month and then looking at a jar full of stars reminding you that you have so much to be grateful for.
Or you can try out different versions of this and assign different meaning to different colors.
Here’s what I did –
I allotted colors to each category of things that made me feel good in my day-to-day life and this is what I came up with –
Green – Things that made me happy.
Blue – Things I’m grateful for.
Yellow – Reasons I’m proud of myself.
Red – Things that made me laugh.
Pink – Positive Affirmations.
Every day I would choose whichever color I was feeling like writing about. For example if I was feeling really proud of some big task that I had completed that day, then I would choose the yellow color paper and write the reason I was feeling proud of myself. In the same way I chose different colors and things to write, depending on my mood that day.
Now it’s up to you how you want to do this – you can choose to write 1 positive thought every day or you can write as many as you can remember right at this moment.
I chose 1 of each to begin with.
Origami Wishing Stars in a Jar
If you felt inspired by Hoshi’s story, then you too can write your own wishes inside the stars and turn them into your very own lucky wishing stars! It’s just like wishing on a coin and tossing it into a wishing well or a fountain, or making a birthday wish before blowing out your candle! It’s just a fun way to send out your hopes and dreams out into the Universe!
Paper Stars for Mental Health
If you’ve been wondering why are people suddenly making paper stars these days? Then one reason could be that recently a video went viral when a girl posted about making these paper stars at a mental hospital.
And I can totally see how soothing the repetitive process of folding these stars can be.
When I first started making these, the process felt so therapeutic that I ended up making tons and didn’t know what to do with all these origami stars. That’s when I began looking for ideas and ways I could use them. And that’s actually one of the reasons for this blog post!
These kind of crafts are so good to calm your anxious thoughts because it gives your brain a very stress-free outlet to focus on. So next time you find your thoughts racing, do give this a try.
Paper Stars from Hidden Love (a Chinese Drama)
So if you are here after watching the popular c-drama called Hidden Love then you’ve already seen how ‘Sang Zhi’ the main female character creates these stars to write her innermost thoughts at key moments in her life.
If you haven’t watched the show then here’s a quick summary of what she does – from her school days right through to college, she writes her secrets and goals in these stars, throughout different stages in her life. The first time she creates a star is to write the name of her secret crush! Later on as she’s growing up she keeps writing her inner-most thoughts, dreams and goals inside these stars. One year, she even uses this star to send new year wishes to her crush! She writes a Happy New Year message inside and gives it to him in an envelope!
She keeps all her stars in an old milk bottle. Years later when she’s home for the holidays and finds all her childhood treasures, she unfolds the stars she had made as a kid and realizes that most of her dreams have come true! The stars became a good memory and tangible proof of how far she’d come in life.
It’s quite a cute drama of young love and the ups and down that young adults go through, in case you’re thinking of watching it. The stars feature quite prominently in quite a lot of episodes. It’s available on Netflix. If you want to just watch a scene with the stars, go to episode 22, start at the 32.00 minute timestamp.
How to Fold Origami Lucky Stars
Now that you’re ready with all your messages in the star let’s see how to fold it –
- Take your paper strip and start folding it along the edges of the pentagon. Keep folding until you reach the end of the paper strip.
- Fold the tail end into the pocket like we did before. The basic shape for the star is ready.
- Now hold the pentagon between your thumb and forefinger as shown – this position provides maximum support and helps while puffing the star.
- Now, I’ll show you how to make puffy paper stars. First hold it in one hand as shown and with the other hand gently push in from the middle. The star will begin to puff up. Do the same on all sides, and slowly your star will begin to take shape!
Ta-da! Your pretty little star is ready to go into the jar.
I hope you’ve understood how to make this stars in a jar origami craft. Check out the following wishing stars origami tricks, tips and FAQs if you are having any trouble making the star –
Why are my paper stars flat?
–> Try using a different type of paper. Regular office printer or copier paper is a good fit for this craft as it generally quite thin and easy to fold. Do not use cardstock or any other high GSM paper as that will not give you the desired results for your star.
My paper stars are not puffing up
–> Again try using a different type of paper or check the size of the paper strip. Sometimes it also doesn’t work out because we end up stressing too much about it and trying too hard. You can also check out the video tutorial below to see if that gives you a better idea. Or maybe you’re just feeling too much pressure today to make the perfect star. It’s okay if today is not your day, you can try again tomorrow.
Wishing stars origami is too hard
–> Two of the only reasons this feels hard is if you’re not using the correct type & size of paper or if you’re feeling too much stress about making the perfect star. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Just check out my recommended paper type once more and try again another day. If for any reason you’re not able to create the perfect star then don’t worry too much. It happens to the best of us.
Just a few days back, at the end of a really long day, I decided to create a star because I wanted to end a bad day on a positive note, but things kept going wrong. I used a dark pen on yellow paper and the ink could be seen on the other side. But I kept going and began to make the star, but by then I was feeling too anxious and the star just wouldn’t puff up. I could have just scrapped this star and made another one or just given up altogether, but I didn’t want to quit. I had already written my positive thought and I knew it was that thought and the positive feeling it gave me when I was writing it down that mattered, not the shape of the star; so I came up with another idea. I just unraveled my star and rolled it into a cylinder instead! These DIY projects are meant to be stress busters, so if it’s giving you more anxiety, then it’s okay to try something else that you find easier and have more fun with.
How to Make Paper Stars 3D - Easy Video Tutorial
What To Do with Paper Stars
Now that you’ve learned how to make little origami stars, I can guarantee that you’ll want to keep making more! But by now I’m sure you have a lot of questions – What do origami wishing stars mean? What do people do with all these origami stars? What does a jar of stars mean?
Don’t worry, every question will be answered. But for now, here are a few ideas to use your paper stars diy –
Paper Stars Easy Room Decoration
You can make your own paper stars collection with a wide variety of colors and sizes. You can then use these origami stars as simple decor around the house. They look really cool and add a pop of color to minimalist rooms. You can choose different colors based on the color scheme of your room and place the cute origami star jar on a bookshelf or as part of a wall gallery. You can keep these paper stars in a jar or even sprinkle them around as party decorations to add a festive touch at themed parties.
Origami Stars Simple Jewelry
You can create these paper star mini versions and thread them together to create bracelets or earrings.
Paper Rainbow Stars Wall Art
Another fun idea is to make this origami star craft in all the colors of the rainbow. You can then arrange them together in the shape of a rainbow. Frame it and use it as a wall print or you can even gift it to someone who loves rainbows.
Origami Lucky Star Jar Gift Idea for Couples
Did you know that these are also known as Origami Chinese Lucky Stars in a Jar? In both Japan and China they are given as gifts, and are supposed to bring love and good luck to the recipient.
As far as I know they are either given by lovers to each other to show their love and commitment, or they are given to the couple by their well-wishers to bless the relationship.
Number of Origami Stars Meaning
So I’m sure you’re wondering what do these small paper stars represent? What does giving paper stars mean? Well, turns out there is a different paper star meaning according to the number of lucky stars you give. I found this meaning online so I don’t know how true it is but no harm in reading about it.
1 star : You are the only one I love.
2 stars : Wishing happiness & compatibility to the couple
9 stars : Wishing you a lifetime of love
55 stars : I love you with no regrets
99 stars : May your love and friendships last forever
101 stars : You are my one true love
129 stars : I will love you forever
365/366 stars : A whole year of blessings
520 stars : I Love You (in Chinese languages, the word for 520 sounds similar to the words for I love you)
548 stars : I can’t stop loving you
999 stars : Blessing you with everylasting love
1314 stars : Blessing you with eternal love
10000 stars : Love you for 10000 years
I also read somewhere that giving these small origami stars in a jar gained a lot more poularity since the 80s, when a famous Chinese movie showed a woman gifting a jar of paper stars to a man!
What does 100 origami stars mean?
As far as I understand, if you give someone a 100 stars, they can make a wish on it. You can basically gift these origami lucky wishing stars in a jar as a blessing or a good luck charm to someone you care about, it need not be a romantic partner. Like in Hoshi’s story, they are also used to make a wish
What does 1000 origami stars mean?
All the lucky star numbers have different meanings. Some people also give 1000 stars which is similar to the meaning behind making 1000 origami cranes. In Japan, the crane is considered holy and is said to live for a 1000 years, and that is why 1000 cranes are made – one for each year. Folding 1000 origami cranes takes a lot of time, patience and commitment so it is said that this dedication to task will be rewarded and the maker will be granted a wish. The 1000 Chinese lucky stars origami seem to have a similar theory.
So that’s the end of the tutorial. My paper star jar is currently looking all cute and pretty in my bedroom decked up with motivational tags and fairy lights. I love how it all looks together and adds a nice colorful element in any room while reminding me of all the good things I’ve collected in my life in the form of these stars.
I’d love to know if you try out this project and what you do with the stars.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to answer your doubts.
