I’ve seen this ornament made with fabric, and thought I’d give it a try with paper. To be honest, I think hot glue would have worked a lot better than using tear tape and Glue Dots, but that didn’t occur to me until I was hot gluing the trim in place.

I started with a 4″ Styrofoam ball ornament and recommend you make this with a 3″ or even 2 1/2″ Styrofoam ball instead, as 4″ is a lot of work.

You’ll need three different paper patterns and I recommend very light weight paper for this project, the lighter the better. If you use a 4″ ball, you’ll need four patterns.

Cut your paper into 2″ squares. Fold each 2″ square in half and then fold that piece in half so you have a 1″ square, then open the square and fold the sides into the center line on an angle..do this with both sides so you have a piece that is a triangle with an opening in the center. I added tear tape to the back near the bottom, but I think hot glue might be easier. I added a mini Glue Dot to the back at the top, as well as one inside the opening to make sure the two pieces that might stick up, is now not going to move.

The first pattern will be for the very top and bottom, and you’ll only need a total of 8 squares. The second pattern takes a total of 16 squares and the third takes 16 as well (remember you need 8 for the top and 8 for the bottom.) I had to do another row and that 4th row took 18 for one side, so I needed a total of 36 of those.

You’ll start with your first pattern and you’ll want to start at the very bottom of your ball, completely opposite from the hanger. Lay one of your folded pieces so the center point is at the very top of the ball, and then put the second piece so the point touches the point of this one..they are at opposite sides from each other, then lay the next piece so it’s between these two and then add the fourth one so it is opposite that piece, making sure they all touch at the center. When you add the second row, you want to follow the center line of your first pieces down about 1/2″ and make sure the first piece’s center line is a continuation of the center line of the first row. Continue around the ball making sure each piece’s center line is lined up with the row above it. When you get to your third row, you’ll still try to line these up, but make sure you don’t leave any gaps where there’s no paper, so you might not be able to go 1/2″ below the row above. The fourth row, you’ll lay pieces on either side of the ones you are continuing their lines on, as you’ll have gaps in the paper if you don’t put these extra one in. Try to make sure all of the bottoms of your paper are lined up, as this layer is the one you need to have an even bottom for adding trim.

Remove the hanger and do the same steps on the other end of your ball trying to make sure the two ends are lined up.

I painted my ball with acrylic paint in a stone color, to hide the white under the gold trim. I bought the trim at Dollar Tree but couldn’t find a link for it online, and since I bought it several years ago, I’m not sure if they still sell it. I used hot glue to adhere the trim down and then added a very thick red and gold trim on either side of the gold trim to hide the paper edges. You definitely need to add a thick trim to the edges to hide the thicker paper…

After the ball is finished hot glue the hanger back in the center of one end of your ornament.

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