Light Up My Life

It's definitely an understatement that I love paper... I would love to make everything out of paper if I could. Another odd thing I really like is lighting. Well, maybe that's not so odd, but every time I see a new lamp I want it, and of course don't have enough places to put them all, or enough things needed to be lit up really. But I figure it would be kind of nice to put both together. Making a light out of paper! Now I know heat and paper really shouldn't go hand in hand, but the beautiful thing these days are energy saving and LED light bulbs! They don't get hot, and can be put in almost anything!

I thought I'd share with you all a simple light you could make yourself with a few pieces of paper and a little bulb.

What you need:
. 12 pieces of paper
. Light Source

First you need to build the paper octahedron. I made a giant one which was NOT easy... plus the paper I used was pretty flimsy which make it even harder, but the result was pretty nice.

Each paper needs to be a square. To do so fold one corner of your paper diagonally across to make a triangle and tear off the bottom portion.

Next, fold your page in half and open it again making a crease down the middle for reference

After you open it back up, fold one side up to the middle like and then do the same on the other side

Now flip your paper over so the folds are on the bottom. Take the right corner of your paper and fold it to the opposite side of your paper, and do the same on the left side

Now those little extra pieces you can fold over to follow the diagonal line of the shape

Take the right point and fold it down the middle and so the same with the left point

Now you have the shape you need to start making your octahedron! all you have to do is make... 11 more! that's right, you need 12 of these pieces to make this shape. But trust me it's totally worth it! So get yourself back up to the top of this post and go through the instructions 11 more times and the move on :)

Having 12 of these separate pieces, you must be wondering how they all go together to make the shape. Well it is a little tricky with flimsy paper like I said, but it isn't that hard. Below I have linked a video from a little one that can help you put together the pieces:

HERE!!!
Once your pieces are together, simply separate (carefully) an area where 4 sides meet and slip in your light then turn it on!

You've made your own beautiful lamp :)

Making one of these makes me think of so many variations you could do and I'm sure I'll get a chance to make them and when I do, of course I'll share them with you all! Have fun making your own pretty lamps!