origami throwing star (thing)

There are many types of origami throwing stars, and here is one of them. It is composed of 8 modules (modular origami), and it also serves as a sort of iris.

Note about ASCII art: ':' means folded, and the line characters define borders of the paper. There is no indication of "hidden" edges or folds.

The module

Each module is made from the same sized square piece of paper.

1. Fold the module in half, then open it up.

    _____
   |  :  |
   |  :  |
   |__:__|
   

2. Fold two of the corners into the "valley".

     /|\
   /__|__\
   |  :  |
   |__:__|
   

3. Close up the valley, while at the same time tucking bottom part into the valley.

      __        ___
     /  | -->  /  /
   /____|    /__/
   

4. The module should have two prongs on the tucked end.
5. The module is complete. You need to have 8 total.

Note: P stands for the two-pronged end. Modules must be oriented correctly.

1. Place one module in the pronged end of another, making sure that the open edges of the modules are on the inside.

     ____
     \___\_P
     /    /\
   /____/\___\
              P
   

2. Fold the tips of the prongs into the prong area of the other.

     ____
     \___\...... folded
     /    /\
   /____/\___\
   Slide the module down
      ____
     /    \
   /____/   \
         `\___\
   
   Go back to step 1
   

The result

  Retracted            Active
    _____                 |\
   /|    \           _____| \ /|
 /  |__/   \         \_____\ | |
| \ /    \__|        /  /\|/\| |__
|__|     |  |  or  /__/|--*--|/  /
|   \___/ \ |        | |\/|\/__/
 \  /  |   /         | | \     \
   \___|_/           |/ \ |~~~~~
                         \|

End notes

• I didn't come up with this masterpiece, so if somebody can inform me as to who originated it, I will include a reference here.
  
• Ah, I now see that this has already been done in How to Create a Throwing Star out of Post-it Notes. However, I have better diagrams. So there. :-)