How to Make Triskele Balls From Cardstock

In this tutorial I will teach you how to make these Triskele Balls.  When I saw them I knew I had to make them!  They are so beautiful!  They were hard to design, but I did all that work and you don’t have to.

I have to thank Craft SJ Inspired for posting the PDF file I started with.  I never could have made them without that template to measure.

What you will need
Paper Selection

I made these from cardstock.  All the online tutorials used cardboard covered with paper.  You don’t need the cardboard.  I used plain and patterned paper.  Just make sure the pen shows up.  And the design fits on 8.5 X 11 paper so use what you like.  I wouldn’t use vellum or glitter paper though.  Vellum is too thin and glitter paper can’t be written on and cracks when folded.

Cutting the Triskele Balls
The Design Space Files work best for these Triskele Balls.  The Rainbow ball doesn’t even have an SVG file because I couldn’t get one to work to my standards.  But the other SVG Files work OK.
Cricut does all the drawing but make sure the pen shows up on the paper.  On the Fireworks ball I used the We R Memory Keepers foil pen and it looks great.  On the black ball I used the Gelly Roll White Pen.  If you are going to use a white pen buy a good one.  Cheap ones aren’t worth it.

 

Assembling the Triskele Balls

While learning how to make Triskele Balls I worked with plain cardstock with no drawings.  I decided it was better to teach them that way.  Start with the three strips flat (picture 1 below).  I used three different color strips and drew in the fold lines by hand so you could see them.  Next pre-bend the strips slightly and then flatten them again. (picture 2) 

Next, glue two of the strips into rings and let the glue dry.  Don’t glue the third one yet. (picture 3)  When the glue is dry, put one ring inside the other (picture 4).  Thread the third strip over one ring and under the other ring like picture 5.

Folding the Triskele Balls

When you are done gluing the Triskele Ball should look like picture 6.  Adjust the rings so that the arcs are all showing like picture 7.  You may have to keep adjusting these as you go.  The easy way to turn the rings is to push from below to create a little slack and then push from above.  Repeat until the arcs are lined up correctly.

Start bending in the arcs like picture 8.  Be gentle but firm and make sure the whole arc is folded from end to end.  When it is done thr ball looks like picture 9.  Of course yours will have drawings on them and the arcs wont be visible but I think you understand. 

In Conclusion

I showed you how to make Triskele balls with plain balls.  I suggest that you start with Ball 2 which is the black ball (you don’t have to make it black) because the arcs are filled with a rainbow and makes it easier to see where the arcs are.  Until you are used to making them, having the arcs marked is very helpful.

And now you know how to make Triskele Balls.  Some of the braver of you may even design your own now.  I would love to see them!  Please post a picture in my Facebook Group.

Below is a picture of all of them in a bowl as a display piece.  I will have the cubes and a triangle maybe tomorrow.

3 thoughts on “How to Make Triskele Balls From Cardstock

  1. Thanks for these files!! They will be perfect for my great-granddaughter to make when she visits me!!

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