Starstruck with straws, chopsticks, twist ties and candles

Chapter: DIY + techniques

There are always packs of unopened straws from Yakut and package drinks left behind in our fridge. Sometimes I use them as glue applicators or paint stirrers. But these days I’ve been giving them a little “star” treatment. And since then, chopsticks accumulated from takeouts and twist ties have also been recognised for their star quality. Even candles too. I just love to make a whole batch of the same thing with different things that I have around me.

A star-studded cast…starring gift wrap twist ties, drinking straws, wooden chopsticks and birthday candles.

Each 5-point star, with the exception of the candle, consists of 5 pieces of its own kind and held in place with glue. I’ve used straws to show the following how-tos.

SUPPLIES

  • 5 drinking straws
  • Glue (I tried Glossy Accents and found that it works well, better than white glue, when adhering plastic straws and candles.)

A 5-point star is simply “A” plus “X”.

HOW-TO STEPS

  1. Snip off any bended ends on the straws.
  2. Apply glue on the ends of 2 straws and adhere one on top of the other to form an inverted “V”. Next, go through steps 3-5 to test out the arrangement before applying glue. Use a small amount of glue to avoid creating a large glue mass.
  3. Lay a third piece across to make sort of an “A”.
  4. Align the fourth piece diagonally onto the left of the “A”, as shown.
  5. Repeat with the fifth piece on the opposite side.
  6. Leave to dry.

Smaller straw stars were made by cutting the straws in half. An extra pair of chopsticks could be adhered to the star to make a wand. Twist tie stars, well make interesting bookmarks.

Birthday candle star, for viewing pleasure, not lighting.

As for this candle star, performing step 5 on the fifth candle was not possible. It wasn’t long enough to touch the other end. What I could do was turn over to the underside and carried out step 3 (requires 1 more candle for this) & 4 to make a corresponding pointed end.


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