In search of a fairly simple ornament to make as a gift, I dug around online for a bit and got some inspiration from various different sites. I had hoped to do something more three dimensional, like a Moravian star, but didn’t have the right stock for constructing the pieces. So, I ended up with this design, fairly straightforward construction of eight parallelograms cut from a couple different pieces of wood to the same dimensions.
I happened to have long strip of maple that was rough on one side and sanded on the other and about an inch and a quarter across. I set my miter saw to 45 degrees, sliced off the end, and then measured the length of the angled cut. I then transferred this measurement to the straight side and used that to make another 45 degree cut further along the board, yielding a parallelogram with 4 equal sides. Repeat many more times. 🙂 For a little visual interest, I traced the shape on to some scraps of walnut that I had from an earlier project.
Assembly was a matter of laying out the pieces on the workbench and moving them around until I found the design that was most pleasing to my eye. Finally, to glue it all together took several shifts, gluing and clamping two pieces together at a time, until the entire star was assembled.
Scott Weber 