Paper Fold-Out Christmas Star - Assorted Designs

These Paper Fold-Out Christmas Stars are part of a cross cultural project, designed in Australia and handcrafted in Jaipur, India. The handmade paper is made by up-cycling cotton off-cut scraps left over from the garment industry. A traditional handicraft where no new resources are used, carbon is captured, and trees are saved. 

The stars come flat packed in a small paper pouch, and simply fold-out with a clasp to hold them in place. Individual stars measure approx. 20cm dia.

The Designs:

Family and Country Design - The design is owned by Damien and Yilpi Marks.

This is a teaching painting, describing a dry season in Damien’s homeland, Mount Liebig, in the Northern Territory. It illustrates aspects of landscape and culture that was told to Damien by his great-grandparents. Women sit with children collecting bush potatoes (the red shapes at the top of the painting) and are preparing for inma (ceremony). One man, wati, sits down with his waru (spear). Controlled burnings are taking place as the spinifex is dry, and this means good fruits can grow. The small star-like symbols represent women’s body paint that the women paint on each other for inma. A dry creekbed runs through the painting (in red and white), and there are cracks in the claypans, dried rockholes (tjukula), and sandhills (tali).

Pikilyi Jukurrpa Design - The design is owned by Theo (Faye) Nangala Hudson.

Pikilyi is an important natural spring and water-hole at Mt Doreen Station in the Northern Territory. Pikilyi is the home of two rainbow serpents, a married couple. The wife was a Napananka skin group and the husband a Japangardi, a taboo relationship in the Walpri culture. The serpents are the “kirda’ traditional owners of that country.

Seven Sisters Design - The design is owned by Nelly Patterson.

This is an epic Tjukurpa, creation story. A man, Wati Nyiru chases 7 sisters across Australia shaping the land as they went. He wanted to marry the big sister and sang about how much he wanted her. The girls kept running and escaped into the sky becoming the pleiades constellation, and Wati Nyiru became Orion, forever unable to catch the sisters.

Sandhills Design - The design is owned by Damien & Yilpi Marks.

This beautiful image depicts the Sandhills of Damien's country. Mount Liebig, towards Papunya. When you see the hills from a distance, the wind blows through the sands, making the hills move and change form. The wind makes ripples, undulations and ridges in the sand in the same shapes and patterns that can be seen in this painting. These sandhills are a common sight around Papunya, some of the hills are so large they can only be walked across. In between the sandhills are dry claypans and rockholes.