Make a Geodesic Dome out of Newspaper

geodesic dome

You can make a geodesic dome out of newspaper that is big enough to sit inside. This dome is about a meter and a half (5 ft.) in diameter.


Materials

  • Newspaper
  • Masking tape. I used two inch wide tape for this model, but any width will do.

Steps

  1. roll newspaper tightly roll newspaper tightlyRoll up about 85 sheets of newspaper from one corner to the opposite corner. The tighter you roll up the newspaper, the stronger the strut will be. You might want to use a toothpick or a bamboo skewer to help you start your roll. Remove the toothpick once you get the newspaper roll started. Tape the end.
  2. Cut off about 10 cm (4 in.) off of one end of each roll. This will remove the weakest part of each roll. You can cut off more or less depending on how long each roll is. Since each roll will yield two struts, you will need about 60 cm (24 in.) of usable length.
  3. Mark 30 cm. (12 in.) on 80 rolls and wrap a piece of tape at that spot. The tape will keep the rest of the roll from unraveling when you cut there.
  4. Cut 80 struts 30 cm. long. It is difficult to cut through the roll. Use heavy-duty scissors, shears or a utility knife.
  5. Measure and cut 55 struts 29.3cm (11 3/4 in.)long. Measure from your previous cut toward the end of the roll. You don't need to tape before you cut this time.
  6. Measure and cut 30 struts 25.1 cm (10 1/16 in.) long.
  7. Color code the ends of each strut with a magic marker. Code the longest struts red, the next longest yellow, and the shortest struts blue.
  8. first row of strutsPlace 15 struts in a circle on the floor alternating two reds and a yellow. Place 30 more struts as show in the diagram. (Note that these diagrams are not to scale, they illustrate the placement of the struts only. The thick lines are new struts, the thin lines are struts placed in previous steps.)
  9. tape jointsTape the ends of the struts together by sandwiching them between two pieces of masking tape.
  10. add second row of strutsTape the next row of struts in the sequence of two reds to a yellow as shown.
  11. add third rowAdd the third row of struts.
  12. fourth rowAdd the fourth row.
  13. fifth rowAdd the fifth row
  14. sixth rowAdd the sixth row.
  15. seventh rowAdd the seventh row.
  16. final strutsAdd the final struts.

Notes

  • You might have noticed that my strut lengths aren't exactly what you would calculate. I am allowing for a small gap inside the masking tape joint.

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