6-Pointed Star
Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay
Exact methods for creating 6-pointed stars depend on the handy identity cos 60 = 1/2. It's almost as easy to make a 6-pointed star as the more familiar 8-pointed stars. Needless to say, you can repeatedly bisect the angle to make 12- or 24- pointed patterns.
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| Start with a square piece of paper folded in half as shown. The crease is at bottom. |
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| Fold it in half again |
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| Unfold it to reveal the center crease |
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| Fold one half inward so the end of the paper meets the center crease |
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| Unfold it to reveal the new crease |
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| Fold the lower left corner over to the rightmost crease as shown. Since the upturned lower edge equals 1/2 and the bottom edge of the narrow rectangle equals 1/4, it's easy to see that the upturned edge makes an exact 60-degree angle with the base of the paper. |
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| Fold in the lower right corner to make a 60-degree wedge. This wedge can be the basis for three-fold symmetric designs, or you can bisect the wedge to make 6- or 12- pointed stars. |
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| The wedge bisected to create a 30-degree angle. |
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| Cut the wedge as desired and unfold as shown below. |
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| Below is the process animated. |
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Created 22 March 2006, Last Update20 January 2020