Using Circles and Pentagons To Make 12 Sided Dice or Ball

This week's Silhouette (as in silhouette cameo cutting machine) challenge is to make something using circles. Inspired by a school project my daughter brought home a few weeks ago, I cut out 12 circles with embedded perforated pentagons.

 My pentaball cutting shape.

Here's how to make the pentagon shape using Silhouette Designer Edition.

1. Draw a line. I made mine 4 inches.

 2. Move the rotation point (looks like a little target) to the end of your line. It kind of snaps in place. This feature is only available in the designer edition (and it's my favorite feature too). The crosshairs and ruler you see in this picture are also designer edition features.

3. Go to the replicate window and select advanced options. You should see something similar to the above screen shot. Select "1 copy," "custom position," change the x and y positions to 0.000 inches, and set the rotate angle to 108 degrees. Then press "Replicate" and you should get the above image.

4.Repeat by moving the rotation target to the other end of your new line and replicate again.

5. Repeat until pentagon is complete. Then combine the lines into one shape.

6. Set the lines to perforate instead of cut. And size to fit your circle (the centering feature doesn't really help so zoom in and eyeball it if you have to).

After cutting out 12 copies of your nifty shape, fold the edges of the circle up on the perforated pentagon lines. Then assemble with a stapler or glue (but I'm not patient enough to glue it).

Fold on the pentagon lines.

One half stapled together

Two halves.

Completed pentaball (I'm sure there is a real word for it, but I don't know it).

I put the numbers 1-12 on my 12 sided die and tricked my kids into practicing their math. They each got 5 rolls and the person with the highest total won!









This post joined the party at Gingerly Made