Perfect paper snowflakes

January 31, 2011

11:25 AM

If you're tired of looking out your window at the dreary winter sky, improve your view with some beautiful paper snowflakes. This is a fine seasonal project for kids-and adults, too. As any experienced paper snowflake-maker can tell you, it takes more than a piece of paper and scissors to create a flake that resembles the real thing. But with the proper cuts and folds, you and your kids can make a unique and attractive window decoration. Need some inspiration? Try these print-and-cut patterns

Instructions:

Cut your paper into a perfect square using a ruler. It doesn'treally matter how big or small your square is-it just needs to havefour equal sides.
Fold the square in half on the diagonal, matching up thetips.
Take this triangle and roll it in half again without actuallyfolding it. Pinch the paper to make a crease at the center of thetriangle and unfold. This mark is the dead center of yoursquare.
Fold your right triangle into even thirds, keeping the pointintact. This step is important to achieve the natural hexagonalshape of real snowflakes.
Fold that triangle in half again, being careful to keep thepoint intact. The shape should now resemble a paper airplane.
Snip off the uneven ends so that you have an isoscelestriangle.
Now comes the fun part. Cut any patterns or shapes you like. Besure to use sharp scissors because you're cutting through severallayers of paper. A small manicure scissor also works well. Considerusing a hole punch to add detail in those spots your scissorscannot reach. Be sure not to cut the center point that is keepingyour snowflake intact. When you are satisfied with your shape anddetail, carefully unfold the snowflake.

If your snowflake doesn't lie flat, cover it with a piece of plainwhite paper and use an iron on a low setting to press it. If youwant more embellishment, use a glue stick to cover the entiresnowflake and add glitter to the surface, shaking off any excess.Proudly display your creations in your window.

Materials:

Paper
Scissors
String or tape to hang your snowflakes

Perfect paper snowflakes

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