DIY Shadowcaster

The Icosahedron Shadow Caster by itself is a beautiful piece of art and it also creates a stunning starry night effect on your ceiling!

You will need

1) Quick dry liquid glue

2) 12 sheets of cardstock

3) Scissors

4) Printer, laser cutter, or Cricut

5) Single led work light, or a flameless candle

6) Star whole punch or Exacto knife

7) Binder clips

8) Paint brush

This step may varies depending on your cutting method.

If using a printer, print 8 of paper.pdf and 4 of paper 2.pdf on card stock. Once all 12 sheets of paper are printed, cut on the solid line around each of the big and small triangle pieces. Then cut out any shapes you wish to cast a shadow. I recommend using a star hole punch to punch out stars randomly inside the dotted lines. Here is a link to a nice affordable kit ( https://www.walmart.com/ip/1-16-1-4-Star-Circle-1-... )

You can also use an exacto knife to cut out your own intricate designs.

If using a laser cutter or Cricut, use the enclosed dxf file to cut all the way through on the solid lines. Score the paper on the dotted lines (be sure not to cut), which will help with folding the paper.

To use my already made star plans use the shadow caster 1 and 2 files.

Printer users - Fold inward along the dotted line. Do this with all the triangles before you move to the next step. Keep large triangles and small triangles separated.

Laser or Cricut users - Fold outwards along score lines. Do this with all the triangles before you move to the next step. Keep large triangles and small triangles separated.

Starting with the small triangles, using a paint brush on the tabs you folded glue together the shorter sides of three triangles and let dry. Do this with all the smaller triangles.

Repeat this process with the larger triangles but in groups of 5 making sure to let the glue dry.

Once the groups of 3 and 5 triangles have dried, glue the remaining tabs on the first and last triangle together to form a pyramid shape, making sure that the tabs are on the inside of the pyramid, and secure the tabs together with a binder clip until they are dry.

You should have 12 of the larger pentagon pyramids glued together and 19 of the smaller triangle pyramids glued together.

Once you have 12 five-sided pyramids and 19 three-sided pyramids, you are ready for the final gluing.

Glue 3 five-sided pyramids to the tabs around one of the three-sided pyramids. Make sure all the tabs are facing the inside. Use binder clips as needed to hold together the tabs while gluing. Then after all five-sided pyramids have dried onto the three-sided pyramid, glue the tabs of a three-sided pyramid between each of the five-sided pyramids.

Looking at the yellow and red picture will help you keep track of what to glue next.

You will continue the rows of the three- and five-sided pyramids until there is one last triangle hole left.

The hardest part of this project is choosing the right light to cast a shadow. Normal inconstant lights will not work well in this project. The best lights to use for this project are either an LED work light with one LED inside ( https://www.walmart.com/ip/HT-2500LM-PORTABLE-LED-... ) or a flameless tea light (it is not as bright). If you don't have access to these lights you can also use the led light on your smartphone or a flashlight!