Paolo Bascetta's stellated dodecahedron, also known as the Bascetta Star is, I think, the most well-known of Bascetta's creations. I also love this Compass Rose folded quite some time back. 

During these coronavirus times, I tried out yet another of his modulars - a modular 2D star, called the New Year's Day Star. While folding it, I was wondering if it was possible to restart this year, minus the pandemic! 

Coming back to the modular, it is folded from 18 modules and is similar to the Mette Ring. In the mette ring, the final step is folding the module into 2. This step is not included in the New Year's star. Instead, the unfolded modules are slipped into the little pockets to form the star. Though I assembled it with glue, it can be done without glue. I used 2 inch squares and 2 colours, in the classic black and white combination. And I quite like the way it has turned out. 

Model Details:

Model: New Year's Day Star

Creator: Paolo Bascetta

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 inches

Model Size: ~ 4 inches across

Number of Modules: 18

Tutorial: Youtube

Diagram: Free Download

 This Christmas has been a very busy time for me. I had participated in a couple of Christmas sales and have been busy making paper jewelry! And paper jewelry is time-consuming work! So I didn't get a lot of time to make anything special for Christmas 2014.

One thing that I did try was this modular star. The star is actually made from Bascetta Star modules. The star requires a total of 24 modules. The modules are folded as usual. For assembly, instead of using 3 modules for the pyramids, here we use 4. From then on, it is pretty straight forward. Keep adding modules in a circle. I found it easier to assemble the circle first and then worry about fixing the centre. I used glue to hold the joints well, since I had planned on adding it to my Christmas tree.

The first star that I did was in rainbow colours. I think a better choice of paper would have been paper coloured on both sides, like copy paper. So I did another star with Christmas colours. Very happy with the result this time :)

So that is my Christmas decoration for this year. Hope you have fun with this model :)

A very merry and joyous Christmas to my readers. Have a wonderful day :)

Model Details:

Model: Modular Star

Creator: Paolo Bascetta

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 3 inches

Model Size: ~ 6 inches diameter

Number of Modules: 24

Tutorial Link (for making the modules): Youtube

Summer is a hot, hot time here, with temperatures touching 100 F (~ 38 C). So I am hardly in a position to go out. The next option for me is of course, to fold something. And what is the most appropriate origami to fold, than the sun?

The first origami sun that popped up was Jo  Nakashima's sun. But before I started working on this one, I chanced upon an Origami Compass Rose (Wind Rose), made from 8 squares of paper, designed by Paolo Bascetta. When I tried it out, I thought it looked more like the sun than a compass rose, with the rays of the sun in alternating colours of yellow and orange. :)

So here is my origami sun/compass rose. I used thick paper, similar to printer paper, essential to hold the sun/rose in shape. It isn't very stable, because the fold that holds the units, is small. That is not to say that you need glue, the shape holds together without glue, but it is wise to use some if you plan on hanging it up.

Model Details:

Model: Compass Rose

Creator: Paolo Bascetta

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 2 inches

Model Size: ~4 inches

Modules: 8

Instructions: Origami CZ

The Stellated Dodecahedron, commonly called the Bascetta Star is a very popular modular origami and was designed by Paolo Bascetta. This spiky star becomes especially famous during the Christmas season. Though there is still some time for Christmas, I decided to give this a go.

It is a very simple design to work on and will be a good one for beginner origamist who wish to do some modular origami. As with most modular origami, folding the individual modules is an easy job and creating the star from the modules is slightly more complicated.

The design works best with dual coloured paper.

Model Details:

Model: Stellated Dodecahedron (Bascetta Star)

Creator: Paolo Bascetta

Difficulty Level: Low Intermediate

Paper Ratio: Square

Paper Size: 4 inches

Number of Modules: 30 Units

Tutorial Link: Youtube