Stitched Plywood Icosahedron Holiday Ornament

Make it with an X-Carve or with WoodWorking Tools. You decide, like a choose your own adventure!

If you are using the X-Carve simply scale the Stitched Wood Icosahedron up or down to fit your needs. A few of the Ideas I had were christmas tree topper, hanging holiday ornaments, bowl, basket, pet cave, lamp shade, lamp base, decorative vase.

Disclaimer: I designed an easel project for making the triangles with all those holes, BUT I didn’t make it on the X Carve…..yet. My 1000mm X Carve is built, but I have no motion controller because I am waiting for the X Controller. My wife and I really wanted to see how it would come together, so I decided to use my table saw and drill press to make her one. After drilling 900 holes in 20 triangles, I learned that the next one will have to made with the X Carve when I get my X Controller.

For this project I used 1/4" BC plywood, but any 1/4" sheet material should be fine.

NO X-Carve: go to STEP 3 Table Saw

YES X-Carve: Cut out the 20 Triangles complete with 45 holes. Then skip to STEP 7 Sand it Smooth

I used my table saw to rip lengths of 1/4" BC Sanded Plywood down to 6" wide strips.

I set up the miter saw to cut 60 degree angles, I also attached a stop block. This set-up allows me to make a cut, flip the board over, cut, flip, cut, flip, cut… you get the point. What you left with is a bunch of triangles. You will need 20 in total for a full Icosahedron.

First off you will need to mark locations for the drill holes. Each triangle has 15 holes on each of its sides for a total of 45. These holes are spaced 3/8" apart, and sit 1/4"oc from the edge of the triangle. Then I set up my drill Press with a 5/16" Drill Bit. Set the Fence and started drilling.
…nine hundred holes…

I switched out my drill bit for my drill press drum sander. I used a metal washer and traced a curve to round out the pointy triangle, angles. Then with the drum sander I rounded them out by following the line I had just traced.

I took my sanding block and sanded the edges smooth.

I used paracord to stitch this Icosahedron together, but you can use anything of similar diameter. Bailing twine or Zip-Ties could be cool. I melted the ends of the paracord. For one end I melted it and pulled it into a point, this allows me to thread it in the holes really easily. The other the I melted into a mushroom shape with helps it hold inside a hole, good for keeping the ends of the rope in place. There are no rules for the style of stitch you use, so go nuts.

By this point you should have a finished Icosahedron, and you are probably thinking:

X Carve User: That was fun, I should make another!

Woodworker: …ninehundred holes… never again! Gotta get an X Carve!

Happy Holidays!