Rustic week made me recall my old handmade stars, plaited of willow twigs. The decorations look somewhat harsh, but attractive in absolute naturalness. These stars can adorn Christmas trees, garlands, wreaths, windows, fireplaces or gift wrappings — just use your imagination. Here we go.

For one star you need not much:

- some sticks with the thickness of 5-6 mm

- 5-7 thin and flexible branches, their thickness should be not more than 3 mm

- a little of flexible copper wire — it's got an auxiliary role

- pruner

- ruler

Cut 5 sticks of 12 cm each (or any size you want to get the star) of thicker twigs.

Take a pair of sticks and tightly bind their ends with wire. Do the same thing with the second pair of sticks.

Now, fix them the way it is shown in the photo: pass the ends of one pair throught the ends of another. Pay attention to the encircled area: one stick passes over and the other under the twigs of the second pair. It is necessary to frame the stars and prevent them from falling apart, so that the sticks could cling to each other.

Now wire the two sticks that are free in pictured 4. Then apply the last stick and firmly wire its both ends. You've got the frame of the star.

Remove the wire from one of the tops holding the sticks with your fingers. Take a thin twig, apply its tip to the corner and twist around it, thereby fixing it.

Begin to braid the ray with a twig — pass it through the middle of the ray, then around the stick, again in the middle, around the second stick and so on up to the middle of the star. Fix the tip of the thin twig in the middle the way you can :)

Do the same with the rest of the rays.

As a result, youwill have such a rough, but very charming star :)

Such decoration is beautiful in itself but also can be painted when the twigs are dry. Here's how I designed a star garland at home:

Thanks to all who's read the tutorila :) And, of course, take patience and develop your skills. If the first time was a failure, you would suceed for the second time!