Julie Finn
My kids and I love making window stars to decorate the windows and glass doors in our home. Light shines beautifully through the waxed kite paper, and the window stars have an added benefit of hopefully keeping birds from bopping their heads against all those expanses of clear glass.
Frontier Dreams uses the same kite paper and origami folding techniques of traditional Waldorf window stars to make these themed 4th of July ones. See her post for the complete tutorial.
On a roll, and want to make some more window stars? Check these out!
1. traditional Waldorf window star: You can use tissue paper if you must, or even origami paper, but nothing is as beautifully translucent as real kite paper.
2. window star variations: If you’re a visual learner, you won’t need the (absent) English instructions to help you make these many variations on the Waldorf window star.
3. tiny window star: Cut the kite paper into quarters before you begin, and make your window star even more adorable.
4. checkered window star: It’s like the traditional Waldorf window star, only fancier!
5. lotus flower, butterfly, and dragon fly: Each of these is a take-off of the checkered window star.
6. heart: I’d have these on my window all year, not just on Valentine’s Day.
If you’ve got kids who are interested in crafts like these, do some more research into Waldorf education. It’s a little fairy- and gnome-centric for my tastes, but you’ve got to love a children’s curriculum that encourages regular handwork with natural materials, and if you want a kid who can draw like a champ and for whom knitting is as simple as breathing, then Waldorf is where it’s at!
Otherwise, feel totally free to do what I do, and just crib the craft supplies. Modeling beeswax, beeswax crayons, and wet-on-wet watercolor painting are all traditional Waldorf crafts and supplies that anyone can enjoy.
